Michael Morawietz: There’s practically no component our watchmakers couldn’t make themselves. But parts production with machines has two significant advantages. Firstly, the machines achieve very high repeat accuracy: the blanks are all essentially the same, as specified by the engineers. This achieves a uniform stock of parts and minimizes the subsequent effort needed to fine-tune them. Secondly, manual production would mean a lot of additional work. Good watchmakers are rare, so we would only be able to manufacture a much smaller number of watches.

	Michael Morawietz: My machines can’t feel. They have no sense of aesthetics. They aren’t able to adjust the many individual components to each other so that they can interact together as a movement. And they’re also unable to tell when an edge or a surface looks perfect.

	Michael Morawietz: We work with many interesting materials. German silver is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc. Over time it acquires a beautiful pale-yellow patina. But German silver must be handled with extreme care, because it should never be touched with bare hands. In my spare time, I often work with wood. Wood is warm and easy to shape. I’m passionate about turning and make inlays with small pieces of wood in different colours.