ETA, one of the industrial centres of the Swatch Group

Housed in a simple two-storey industrial building covering 17,000 m², ETA's Factory 25 in Sion is where all Swatch watches sold worldwide are made. This production unit, heir to the Fontainemelon company which opened the site in 1970, has become a symbol of Swiss industrial engineering applied to mass watchmaking.

The company controls the entire assembly process thanks to highly automated production lines. Each watch undergoes around a hundred operations in twenty minutes, in a process that combines cutting-edge technology with Swiss precision. The components, manufactured in other ETA factories in the Jura region, are assembled on robotic lines with a circumference of over 80 metres.

ETA's approach is based on the philosophy of lean manufacturing and continuous improvement. With each new Swatch collection, teams of engineers, polymechanics and automation specialists design a new, tailored production line. This industrial flexibility has enabled the successful production of models as varied as the MoonSwatch, the square ‘What if?’ and the recent Scubaqua.

Industrial expertise at the service of creativity

The Sion factory perfectly illustrates Swatch's duality between international creativity and 100% Swiss industrial excellence. Each watch produced has a precision tolerance of plus or minus one second per day and undergoes rigorous water resistance and quality testing.

The company employs nearly 300 people, mainly from the Valais region, with a balanced distribution between men and women. The average age of 41 and the average length of service of 14 years testify to the stability of this specialised workforce, representing 13 different nationalities.

Source of data: article in the daily newspaper Le Temps, 02.07.2025