FTS
BERTUCCI
BRILLIER
Hang around them long enough and Naik will no doubt come up with
some marketing idea he is jazzed about while Yazijian is clearly already
calculating in his head how the heck he is going to make it reality.
Once you are immersed in conversation with these two visionar-
ies, you discover there are so many aspects to the FTS story it is
difficult to narrow the focus. Their facility breaks many of the rules
of movement building and makes up new ones all its own. The clean
room’s back wall is lined with windows and a beautiful view. Try to find
that in any other modular clean room.
Every movement is assembled by hand. Yes, you read that right
– quartz movements assembled by hand. The list of technical benefits
of their movements is too long to recite here. Just a few are the use
of synthetic ruby jewels at the friction points, extensive use of metal
components, certified to meet the Made in the USA label (that’s a bitch
to achieve, by the way), completely serviceable quartz movements
(these aren’t throw away engines) and much more including a five year
warranty.
Yazijian puts it like this, “The Ameriquartz movements are ef-
fectively a combination of the robust structure and components from
the era when quartz movements were designed to last a lifetime and
beyond, combined with modern Electronic Circuit Boards and Surface
Mounted Technology with the latest innovations that brings together the
best of both worlds.”
It’s not just in the components and construction of the final prod-
uct where FTS is taking innovative approaches to movement manufac-
turing. For instance, Yazijian won’t hire experienced watchmakers.
“I don’t want to have to undo someone’s bad habits,” Yazijian said.
“I would rather bring in people who have the dexterity and technical
minds that we need and train them to do it right in the first place.”
Yazijian has innovative dexterity and analytical tests that every
potential technician must pass. These are no easy tasks. One in-
volves taking apart and putting back together several components of
mechanical clock movement. The test taker is timed. Go too long and
chances are you won’t be asked to join the FTS team.
Currently, they produce 16 total calibers ranging from simple
2-hand and 3-hand movements to more complicated ones like big date,
world timer, and moon phase. Capacity is 1000 pieces built per week
and growing.
42 | AboutTime Magazine
“We are just getting started,” Naik says. “Stay tuned.”