Horage just invented a new way to regulate your own watch

Russell Sheldrake

Watchmaking can often seem very anti-technology. With all the talk of heritage, archives, and the importance of maintaining the old way of doing things, encouraging technological innovation never seems like a high priority. But that’s not the case for the small, young, manufacturer Horage. Proudly able to make pretty much every component of its watches, Horage has always seemed to embrace this innovative spirit that we would normally associate with the tech space. And it’s this spirit which has led to the brand’s latest release, known as the Microreg.

What is the Microreg? To put it in the most simple terms, Microreg is a small piece of metal, sandwiched between two pieces of gold-coated ceramic, which reacts to an external electromagnetic pulse to make micro adjustments to the regulating organ of the watch. In a sense, it is doing the job of a watchmaker, from inside the movement itself. While this is highly technical, and if I’m honest a little over my head when it comes to the nitty gritty details, the concept is simple enough. So stick with me here.

Every mechanical watch is regulated (to a certain degree) before it leaves the manufacture, the level of accuracy it needs to be regulated to is dependent on what certification the brand is sticking to. The most well-known is COSC certification, where the movement must stay between -4/+6 seconds of variation a day over the 15 day testing period. However, this is done in lab conditions, and once the watch has been shipped to your local store and spent time on your wrist, that variation is no longer guaranteed. As you go about your daily life, the accuracy of your watch can drift further away from zero.

So if you want your new, luxury watch to be as accurate as possible, what are your options? Well, once the regulating organ has settled to your wearing habits, you can take your watch back to a watchmaker, and they can regulate it again for you, and that should get it back to its certified parameters. But this can take time and money to do. With the Microreg from Horage, it can be done on the fly, by anyone with the ability to measure the accuracy of their watch.

With no electrical parts inside the movement, the classical integrity of the mechanical movement has been maintained. And all of the electronics are kept in the small device that attaches to the watch through two contact points on the side of the case that look no different to the pushers you might find on a perpetual calendar.

The way this new invention works is by utilising the accuracy in movement afforded by very small electromagnetic fields acting on micro-motors. The device that is inside the watch is able to move the adjusting pin nanometres at a time, changing the active length of the balance spring. In doing so, it can add or take away 0.1 second to the timing variance of your watch at the push of a button.

The original prototypes of this device acted directly onto the regulating pin, but the latest version goes through a gearing system to allow for even more accurate adjustments. This is something that has traditionally been done by the very steady hand of a watchmaker, which means it’s not always the most accurate or repeatable process. As there are no electronic parts in the watch itself, when the adjustment device is not connected, this entire system lies dormant inside the watch. Nothing moves, nothing wears down, it sits there waiting to be activated when called upon.

I should note here that I was lucky enough to visit the Horage manufacture and shown how this technology was developed alongside Horage’s partner Miniswys, a leading micro-engineering firm based not far from Horage in Biel. During the presentation, they showed us how this concept was developed from rough prototypes that they had on display, to the final form that is close to being ready for production, although we are unlikely to see it until 2026.

While this is a very cool piece of technology, and something that Horage hopes to develop further, what does it really mean for the brand and for watchmaking? It’s clear to me that this is a fairly niche product. While there is certainly a passionate core of collectors who love to track how accurate their watch is, this is still the minority of people who buy luxury watches. The main draw for people to part with their hard-earned money on these products still remains design, prestige, and brand association. So what might Horage’s angle be here?

Well, Horage is open to selling this technology to other brands to use, and to me, that will be the sign of whether or not it is successful. The first watch getting the Microreg treatment is the Revolution 3, placing the innovation front-and-centre by putting the movement on the front of the watch, with time telling relegated to a rotating disc at the bottom of the dial and the caseback, essentially acting as a billboard for the new technology.

If we see other, likely independent, forward-thinking brands willing to adopt it, and maybe even develop it further into their own designs, that will prove that this has been a worthwhile project for the teams at Horage and Miniswys. Could I see this going into a highly classical Patek Philippe or Breguet? No, absolutely not – but if we look at some of the more liberal independent brands like Urwerk, MB&F, or even Greubel Forsey, it would make much more sense. Urwerk has even dabbled in something similar in the past with its nuclear-powered, sympathy-style clock, the AMC, but in order to reset the watch to the exact time, you needed to plug it into a suitcase-sized device. Compare that to the stick of gum-sized corrector being used here, and it’s a remarkable feat of micro-engineering.

Whether this technology is widely adopted or not, it fills me with enthusiasm that it has been invented. The fact that a company has taken the time and investment necessary to develop something like this is extremely encouraging to me. It shows that, despite the current difficulties the industry is facing, there is still room to grow and try new things. It is exactly this kind of activity which helps keep the industry full of fresh ideas and energy. While the brand is keen to compare it to developments such as the use of silicone, it’s hard for me to find the parallels given how widespread the adoption of that material has become to what I foresee being an extremely useful, yet niche product, that can add an entirely new element to the world of watchmaking.