Mechanical watches have been with us for 100’s of years, and even in today’s digital world, these miniature mechanical machines continue to fascinate.

Mechanical watches that so many of us love very nearly went the way of the dinosaurs, during the period known as the quartz crisis. But like dinosaurs, some of these machines evolved and survived, the mechanical watch is one of the last truly mechanical machines to not only survive but to thrive.

At Horage we fully embrace what our modern world can offer in our pursuit of excellence in mechanical timekeeping. Innovative processes and outside the box thinking have enabled us to produce state of the art in house movements, which adhere to the strict industry accuracy standards. 

The “Quest to Zero” is what we at Horage call this challenge. One of key question being how we get regulation as close to zero deviation in timekeeping as possible whilst keeping the watch truly mechanical.

The premium Swiss watchmaking industry is driven by precision, delivering watches constructed of highly tuned and designed components that are manufactured to tolerances that are naked to the human eye, 2 to 3 thousand of a millimetre, we are literally chasing microns. All this in the pursuit of efficiency and the accuracy of timekeeping.

In lay persons terms, regulation is the process of adjustment and setting of the mechanical movement in the watch to run at a level of accuracy as close to zero deviation as possible.

In the Swiss watch industry, the regulation of a watch movement can be certified by an independent body who will test and validate the movement to give a quality mark that allows people to know that their watch movement is of a very high standard. The most well-known of these Swiss testing houses is COSC.

What are these set of rules that we call COSC?

Watch movements undergo 15 days of testing, the regularity of the watch is checked with two key pieces of data:

• Temperature
• The position of the watch in 5 positions

In short, a result born of an idealised set of strictly controlled parameters to show consistency and accuracy.

What are the challenges?

Regulation is an area of watchmaking that is impacted by many variables, many of which are out of the control of the watchmaker. Who’s wearing the watch? how are they wearing it? where are they wearing it? what environment is it exposed to? These are only a few of the plethora of variables that can affect the regulation of a watch which are broadly out with the control of the watchmaker.

Regulation - The management of a system according to a set of rules, in the case of Swiss watches, the rules being COSC* (*Other similar regulation standards exist, such as METAS, Geneva Seal amongst others)

Reality - The state of things as they are, rather than as they are idealised to be.

…the reality……we don’t live in, work in or operate in these strictly controlled environments, we are all different, our watches are exposed to a huge variety of conditions that are unique to us.

The question is how we solve this disconnect between Regulation and Reality, whilst maintaining the values, and integrity of a purely mechanical watch.

MicroReg is the vision of how we at Horage bridge the gap between Regulation and Reality.

MicroReg is an all new, revolutionary technology to simplify and personalise the regulation of mechanical wrist watches, whilst protecting the true mechanical nature of the product.

Over time many have worked on this issue, Quartz, Tuning Forks, Spring Drive, are all successful solutions to improve regulation, but all suffer the same issue, they deviate and detract from the true nature of a mechanical watch.

MicroReg solves this issue, a technology driven solution, that retains the true essence and nature of a mechanical watch, whilst delivering an easy to access, granular level of regulation not before seen on a mechanical watch.

Working closely with our technology partner miniswys SA who are a spin-off of the legendary Biel-based innovation company Creaholic. Its core technology is based on a miniature actuator designed by Elmar Mock, the inventor of the Swatch watch. 

This miniature actuator requires just two elements, a ceramic and a metal carrier. It requires no coils, magnets or chips inside the watch and very little energy, as its power consumption at standstill is zero. Its service life is almost infinite thanks to the materials used and their processing. 

With the ultra-thin miniature motor, miniswys enables Horage to produce a Swiss mechanical precision watch with unrivalled accuracy. In future, any high-quality Swiss watch fitted with a miniswys actuator can be set forwards or backwards to suit the individual wearer in tenths of a second increments with a simple tap of the finger. 

Watchmakers, and importantly watch owners themselves, can perform adjustments to the watch in a timely and accurate manner, without opening the watch case.

Just as Silicon technology brought the watchmaking world the technological leap for escapements, Horage and Miniswys’s MicroReg technology promises to give the field of movement regulation it’s 21st century technological leap.

How does it work in simple terms?

Simply put, there is a ‘sleeping watchmaker’ residing inside your watch. When adjustments are required to the regulating organs of the watch, it can be ‘woken’ to allow adjustments to be performed, with adjustments being made as small as 0.1 seconds.

All this is possible without opening the watch case, and with access to the adjustment tool it can be performed quickly and easily in any location, by anyone with the correct knowledge. 

With everyone being different and use cases being so varied, each watch equipped with MicroReg technology will allow for quick and easy personal regulation, to ensure their mechanical watch runs as close to zero deviation as is possible. 

Join us in our Quest to Zero….

Introducing the revolutionary new Revolution 3 MicroReg Watch.

Horage announced the revolutionary new regulation technology, MicroReg in July 2024, and now introduce the first watch in the world to feature this revolutionary technology.

The Third Revolution - Revolution 3 MicroReg

We start with our in-house K2 micro-rotor movement and integrate our new MicroReg technology. The K2 has strength and endurance with 72 hours of power reserve with one of the most efficient winding rotors in the industry, the K2 is already a benchmark for modern movement engineering, the addition of MicroReg Technology further elevates the K2, now allowing a level of regulation finesse not before seen in a Swiss mechanical watch.

We decided to let the movement and the MicroReg technology do the talking, and literally inverted our thinking of how to present this. The movement is front and centre!

In another first for Horage the main time display is presented on a rotating disc, with time indication read at the 6’o’clock position with excellent legibility at night assured with Swiss Super LumiNova®. Everything protected by a sapphire crystal with multiple anti-reflective coatings.

Water resistance of 100 meters adds protection and ruggedness for life’s adventures, while the sapphire exhibition case back displays the secondary time indication, with an hour disc and independent minute and centre seconds hands.

has become our mainstay calibre and is the most attainable in-house Swiss micro-rotor in the industry, featuring a gold-plated Tungsten rotor and a vertical brushing that matches the case. The addition of MicroReg technology boosts it’s feature set into the 21st century.

As the K2 movement featuring MicroReg is the star of the show, the movement is finished in a Peacock Blue colourway with our signature open grid pattern with anglage and Côtes de Genève hand finishing.

Adding to the resiliency and reliability are an anti-magnetic silicon escapement and hairspring, which is a rare combination for an independent watchmaker and increases overall efficiency and isochronism.

Function: Time Disc on front face of watch with time shown in 5-minute increments. Hour Disc with Independent Minute and Centre Seconds hands on rear.

Case & Crown: 316L Stainless Steel, push-pull crown.

Dimensions: Diameter 41mm, Thickness 10.05mm, Lug to Lug 48.22mm, Lug Width 22mm.

Hands on Front Side of watch: Hour and Minute Disc with time shown in 5-minute increments. Numerals and 30-minute markers feature Swiss Super LumiNova® that glows blue.

Hands on Back Side of watch: Hour Disc with Independent Minute and Centre Seconds hands, Swiss Super LumiNova® marker triangles that glows blue.

Crystal: Multi-layer anti-reflection domed sapphire crystal.

Case Back: Sapphire crystal

Water resistance: 100 Metres.