… Skilled hands trim the main plate by removing burrs from it …

… done or still to do …

… a team of four women is in charge of trimming the main plates …

… these are traditional tools to press the jewels into various components…

… the work is mostly done by women …

… since some of the components are pretty tiny you need the right magnifying glass …

… first the lever is placed on the tool and then the jewel is pressed in with an exactly defined force …

… the close-up shows the red pressed in jewel at the left side …

… special tools can be found here …

… another component is first placed on the tool and then the jewel is pressed in it …

… this is the future: modern CNC-machines take over the work. The machine first picks up the jewels and then presses them with the exact defined force into the component or the main-plate…

… this photograph shows the machine just pressing one jewels into a bridge …

… at the left side are the trays for the jewels, in the middle you see the bridge and in front a try with more bridges that have to be machined …

… the Swiss machine is produced by CHMicrotech …

… the lady assembles the barrels …

… at Zenith each barrel is controlled and tested …

… it is essential that the barrel delivers the right amount of energy to the movement…

… an overview of this department at zenith in Le Locle…