Gradually, the theme of ecology has entered the heart of the watch market. Starting with financial support for the environmental protection, to the development of environmentally friendly production facilities, to the use of reclaimed materials.
This latter virtuous practice started in consumer watchmaking and then moved to the higher end of the market. To the point of studying specific ecological materials for the making the straps or to considerably raise the percentage of recycled steel in the manufacture of cases.
A necessary transformation, which provokes different reactions. On the one hand there is lenthusiasm of those who are sensitive to these issues. On the other, the scepticism of those who think that any non-tangible added value is a pure marketing operation. La division between the two attitudes confirms that this is in any case an issue that should not be underestimated. Calculating how much this affects the motivation to buy a watch not easy, but lhe manufacturers' commitment to eco-sustainability suggests that the weight of this content is not negligible.
To this I would add another evaluation, purely on the product. Of all watches, mechanical ones in particular are objects that have a life expectancy of at least 100 years, and even longer if properly maintained. For these objects it makes little sense to fear lThe impact of material disposal, for example, or the risk of planned obsolescence.
If one then takes into account that the quantity of steel used for the manufacture of Swiss watches is about 0.06 per thousand of the entire world production, you will agree with me that a watch mechanic is among the most environmentally friendly industrial products in existence. Or is it?
