For a long time, a large proportion of independent mechanical watches used ETA movements.
ETA, a subsidiary of the Swatch Group, supplied reliable, tried-and-tested calibers that were available in quantity and easy to integrate into a wide variety of watches.
For many brands, it was an almost obvious solution.
Then this balance shifted.
From the 2000s onwards, Swatch Group gradually reduced the supply of ETA movements to brands outside the group.
This decision profoundly transformed the independent watch market.
Brands had to reorganize.
They sought out other suppliers, diversified their sourcing, and adapted their cases, dials, prices, and sometimes their entire product strategy.
It is in this context that Sellita, Soprod, La Joux-Perret, Miyota, and France Ébauches have taken on a new role.
Understanding this transition provides a better insight into the current choices of independent brands.
Why do some use Sellita? Why do others choose Soprod? Why can the same collection change movement from one generation to the next? Why can a Japanese caliber sometimes be a rational choice?
These decisions are never trivial.
They reflect real industrial constraints.
ETA: the historical supplier of Swiss mechanical movements
ETA long held a central position in Swiss mechanical watchmaking.
Its best-known calibers, such as the ETA 2824, ETA 2892, and Valjoux 7750, equipped watches from numerous brands at very different price points.
Their strength was simple: reliability, standardization, availability, and ease of maintenance.
An ETA movement was known to watchmakers.
Parts were available.
Dimensions were controlled.
Brands could design their cases around proven calibers.
For independent houses, it was a comfortable industrial base.
But this dependence had a limit: a large part of the market relied on a supplier belonging to a group that itself owned numerous watch brands.
As long as deliveries were guaranteed, the system worked.
When Swatch Group began to restrict access to ETA calibers, the entire independent sector had to reorganize.
The Swatch Group decision: the end of a model
In the early 2000s, Swatch Group announced its intention to progressively reduce the supply of ETA movements to third-party brands.
The idea was clear: the group no longer wished to be the main supplier to external brands.
This decision did not take effect overnight.
COMCO, the Swiss competition authority, intervened on several occasions to organize a gradual reduction and avoid an abrupt disruption of supply.
In practice, the effects were mainly felt between 2010 and 2020.
For large brands, this transition was easier to anticipate.
For independent houses, it was much more sensitive.
Some had to abandon references.
Others modified their collections.
Still others switched to Japanese movements or Swiss alternatives.
From this period onwards, easy access to ETA calibers was no longer the norm for independent brands.
The market then entered a new phase.
Sellita: the most direct alternative to ETA
Sellita existed long before the ETA crisis.
Founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1950, the manufacture long worked within the ecosystem of standard Swiss movements.
But it was the reduction in ETA deliveries that gave it new importance.
Its strategy is pragmatic: to offer calibers compatible with the most widespread dimensions and architectures.
The Sellita SW200 thus became the natural alternative to the ETA 2824.
The SW300 positioned itself in the segment of thinner automatic movements, close to the ETA 2892 universe.
For brands, this compatibility is essential.
Changing a movement can require redesigning a case, a crown stem, a hand height, a dial, a back, or a movement ring.
The more compatible the new caliber is with the old one, the more manageable the transition.
This is what allowed Sellita to gain a major place in independent watchmaking.
Today, a well-regulated Sellita movement is a reliable base, known to watchmakers and suitable for demanding mechanical watches.
Soprod: a more specific Swiss alternative
Soprod occupies a different place.
The manufacture develops its own calibers and offers a more specific approach than Sellita.
Where Sellita is often perceived as the most direct alternative to ETA, Soprod offers movements designed to meet certain uses or architectures.
The Soprod P024, for example, is an automatic movement used in watches looking for a reliable Swiss base, with a different technical identity from the Sellita SW200.
This type of caliber interests brands that want to offer something other than a standard movement while remaining on a solid industrial base.
Soprod belongs to the Festina group, also linked to the relaunch of France Ébauches.
This organization shows an important trend: movement production has once again become a strategic issue.
Watchmaking and industrial groups are seeking to better control their supplies, production capacities, and alternatives to ETA.
La Joux-Perret: a more premium alternative
La Joux-Perret occupies yet another territory.
The Swiss manufacture, owned by Citizen since 2012, notably develops automatic movements used by several independent brands and established houses.
Its G100 caliber is one of the best-known examples.
It uses dimensions close to market standards while offering a longer power reserve than many classic automatic movements.
La Joux-Perret does not position itself merely as a replacement supplier.
It offers calibers designed to provide more modern specifications, often with improved power reserve and a more premium image.
This point is important: alternatives to ETA movements are no longer just backup solutions.
They have become structuring players in the market.
Miyota: the reliable and available Japanese answer
The ETA crisis also paved the way for Japanese movements.
Miyota, a subsidiary of Citizen, has become an important supplier for many independent brands, especially in the more accessible segments.
The Miyota 9015 has established itself as a well-known reference: a thin, reliable, available, and competitive automatic movement.
It does not have the prestige of Swiss Made, but it has a true industrial logic.
For an independent brand, choosing a Miyota can be rational: availability, reliability, controlled cost, ease of supply, and relatively simple maintenance.
During certain periods of tension over Swiss movements, these calibers allowed many brands to continue production.
This choice is therefore not necessarily a default choice.
It can be consistent with a price positioning, a use, or a collection strategy.
To better understand the differences between the major families of calibers, you can read our guide on mechanical, automatic, or quartz watches.
France Ébauches: the return of a French name
The relaunch of France Ébauches is part of this recomposition of the movement market.
Historically, France Ébauches played an important role in the French watchmaking industry.
Its rebirth allows a French name to be put back on the map of contemporary mechanical calibers.
For French brands, this possibility is important.
It does not mean that the entire watch automatically becomes 100% French.
A contemporary mechanical watch often remains the result of an international supply chain.
But integrating a France Ébauches movement can make sense when it is consistent with the project, the expected level of finish, and the brand's strategy.
This is a subject we explore in more detail in our article on France Ébauches.
After ETA: a more diversified market
The end of easy access to ETA was initially perceived as a constraint.
But it also made the market more diverse.
Before, many brands used the same ETA bases.
Today, choices are more varied: Sellita, Soprod, La Joux-Perret, Miyota, Seiko, France Ébauches, and other specialized suppliers.
This diversity forces brands to make real choices.
A caliber is not chosen solely on its origin or image.
It is chosen according to several criteria: reliability, availability, precision, power reserve, thickness, cost, access to spare parts, adjustment capability, and compatibility with the case.
For the end customer, this is also good news.
The market is less dependent on a single player.
Brands can offer watches better suited to their specifications.
Ranges can evolve more freely.
But this diversity also requires more education.
It's no longer enough to say "Swiss automatic movement" or "mechanical movement."
It is necessary to explain what the caliber actually brings.
The impact on Akrone: from K collections to C collections
Akrone's history illustrates this market evolution well.
The brand's first collections went through several phases: Japanese movements, ETA calibers, then a return to Swiss and French alternatives depending on the collections.
The K-01 used a Miyota 9015 movement.
Subsequent collections allowed Akrone to work with high-end ETA calibers, particularly on the K-02, K-03, K-04, and K-05.
This period corresponded to a phase when access to ETA calibers was still possible for an independent house.
Then the market changed.
With the gradual closure of access to ETA, collections had to be rethought.
The first generations of C collections used reliable and available Japanese movements, such as the Miyota 9015, Miyota 9039, or Seiko NH35 depending on the models.
This choice responded to an industrial reality: continuing to produce reliable watches, consistent in price, and available to customers.
Then, when the Swiss market reorganized, Akrone was able to integrate new Swiss Made calibers, notably Sellita and Soprod, as well as France Ébauches on certain projects.
This trajectory shows something important: the choice of a movement is never fixed.
It depends on availability, specifications, price range, desired level of finish, and the service the brand wants to provide over time.
Changing a movement is not just changing a part
For the general public, changing a caliber may seem simple.
In reality, it often involves complete design work.
A new movement may have a different height, a different date position, a crown stem located at a different level, a different power reserve, a different oscillating weight, or specific casing requirements.
This can necessitate revising the case, back, dial, hands, crown, movement ring, and sometimes the entire internal architecture of the watch.
This is why a new generation of collection does not always correspond to a simple restyling.
When a movement changes, the watch can be largely rethought.
At Akrone, this constraint is also an opportunity to improve collections: new materials, better readability, better integration, evolving finishes, adjustment of specifications.
The collection name may remain the same.
But technically, the watch can be new.
Regulation: what turns a good caliber into a good watch
A reliable movement is not enough.
It must also be properly regulated, controlled, and integrated into the watch.
Two watches equipped with the same caliber can offer very different performance depending on the care taken in regulation, casing, quality control, and after-sales service.
This is often overlooked.
The caliber is the foundation.
But the final quality also depends on the work carried out in the workshop.
Regulation in multiple positions, control on a timing machine, amplitude verification, water resistance check, power reserve verification: these operations directly influence the customer experience.
This is also why watch certifications do not only refer to a movement name, but to a measured performance.
The myth of the manufacture movement
The manufacture movement holds a special place in the watchmaking imagination.
In its strict sense, it refers to a caliber designed and produced in-house by the brand that markets the watch.
This is the case for large manufactures capable of investing in the design, tooling, production, control, and maintenance of their own movements.
But in watch marketing, this notion is sometimes used more vaguely.
Some brands present as "in-house calibers" movements that are actually based on an existing one, modified, decorated, or renamed.
The customization of a movement is perfectly legitimate: specific rotor, decoration, finishes, particular regulation, personalized mass.
But this does not automatically transform the caliber into a manufacture movement.
The distinction is important.
A customer has the right to know if the movement is genuinely designed in-house, if it is based on a Sellita, Soprod, Miyota, or France Ébauches, and what modifications have been made.
Transparency is more enduring than marketing vagueness.
Why a small brand doesn't always develop its own caliber
Developing a mechanical caliber from A to Z requires very heavy investments.
It is necessary to design the architecture, produce the components, test reliability, organize spare parts, train watchmakers, ensure maintenance, and amortize costs over a sufficient volume.
For an independent house producing a few hundred or a few thousand watches per year, the calculation is often unfavorable.
The cost would be very high for the end customer, without any obvious functional benefit compared to an excellent, well-regulated Sellita, Soprod, Miyota, or France Ébauches caliber.
There is also a question of durability.
A watch equipped with a widely distributed caliber will be easier to maintain over time.
The parts are known, watchmakers know how to intervene, and access to components is more secure.
A proprietary caliber produced in low volume can be appealing, but it can also create a strong dependence on a single brand.
The manufacture movement is therefore not always the best answer.
It all depends on the project, the price, the volume, the maintenance capability, and the real interest for the customer.
Transparency as a criterion of trust
Today, watch enthusiasts are better informed.
They can recognize a Sellita SW200, a Miyota 9015, a Soprod P024, or a France Ébauches.
They compare technical specifications, read specialized media, and follow feedback.
In this context, transparency becomes essential.
Clearly stating which movement is used, why it was chosen, how it is regulated, and how it can be maintained is more credible than hiding its origin behind a trade name.
A good, well-chosen, well-regulated, and well-maintained standard caliber is better than vague marketing talk about a supposedly exclusive movement.
For an independent brand, this is even an advantage.
Trust is built through clarity.
This transparency also ties into the broader question of Made in France in watchmaking, where the actual origin of components and operations must be explained unambiguously.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did ETA reduce its deliveries to independent brands?
Swatch Group progressively reduced the supply of ETA movements to third-party brands in order to regain control of its production and no longer serve as the primary supplier to a large part of the market outside the group.
The transition was overseen by COMCO, the Swiss competition authority, to avoid an abrupt disruption of supply.
What is the difference between ETA and Sellita?
Sellita offers calibers designed to be compatible with the most common ETA standards.
The Sellita SW200 is thus the best-known alternative to the ETA 2824.
The dimensions and uses are similar, which facilitates integration for brands.
The main difference lies in the supplier, the precise architecture of the caliber, and the sourcing strategy.
Is a Miyota movement inferior to a Swiss movement?
Not necessarily.
A Miyota movement can be very reliable, accurate if well-adjusted, and perfectly suited for an accessible watch.
It doesn't have the same prestige as a Swiss Made movement, but it addresses a real industrial logic.
The right choice depends on the price, use, specifications, and level of adjustment.
Why do some collections change movements?
A brand may change movements for several reasons: availability, price evolution, supplier change, improved power reserve, transition to Swiss Made, evolution of specifications, or desire to move upmarket.
This change can necessitate a significant technical redesign of the watch.
What is a manufacture movement?
A manufacture movement is, strictly speaking, a caliber designed and produced in-house by the company that sells the watch.
A standard movement that is decorated, re-branded, or modified does not automatically become a manufacture movement.
Transparency regarding the origin of the caliber is therefore essential.
Which movement should you choose for a mechanical watch?
There is no single answer.
A Sellita, Soprod, Miyota, or France Ébauches can be good choices if they are consistent with the project, well-adjusted, and properly maintained over time.
The name of the caliber matters, but it's not enough.
Adjustment, casing, quality control, and after-sales service are equally important.
Key takeaways
The ETA crisis transformed independent watchmaking.
It ended an excessive reliance on a single supplier and forced brands to diversify their sourcing.
Sellita, Soprod, La Joux-Perret, Miyota, and France Ébauches now hold significant positions in the mechanical movement ecosystem.
This diversity is quite healthy.
It allows independent brands to choose calibers adapted to their uses, prices, and specifications.
But it also demands more clarity.
The customer must understand what they are buying: the origin of the movement, its qualities, its level of adjustment, its availability over time, and the brand's ability to ensure its maintenance.
In a mechanical watch, the movement matters.
But what makes a good watch is not limited to the caliber.
It is the entire project that matters: design, adjustment, casing, control, maintenance, and transparency.
