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Sébal SA · Bassecourt (JU)

From a grain of alumina to the watch crystal, our sapphire never leaves the Jura.

We make, produce and shape all our sapphire crystals and components in Bassecourt. Their raw material is grown in Delémont by Timsaph, our sister company.

Follow the sapphireContact us
1978Founded in Bassecourt
100 %Swiss, from raw material to crystal
10'000pieces per run, and more
2'000 °Cand above: where sapphire is born

The chain

From powder to crystal, within one canton.

Through Timsaph, which makes the raw material in Delémont, we master the whole process: from raw sapphire to the finished crystal. An almost unique case in Switzerland.

From alumina powder to the sapphire boule, step by step
“Complete independence in sapphire work.”
Shaped sapphire crystal on a black background
Alumina powder and the first sapphire rods

01

The powder

Sapphire starts as alumina powder, the raw material.

Delémont · Timsaph
Diagram of the Verneuil process in front of a row of furnaces

02

The birth

Melted at over 2'000 °C, the powder grows sapphire drop by drop: this is the Verneuil process.

Delémont · Timsaph
Sapphire being machined under a coolant jet

03

The shaping

We machine sapphire with the most advanced processes and shape every crystal.

Bassecourt · Sébal
Hand inspection of a sapphire crystal

04

The inspection

Every piece is checked by the trained eye of qualified staff, to rule out any defect.

Bassecourt · Sébal
Finished domed sapphire crystal

05

The case

Finished products are ready to be fitted to watch cases.

On to the manufacture

The Verneuil process

Sapphire is born drop by drop, from melted alumina powder.

2'000 °Cand above. The boule takes several hours to grow and several days to stabilise.

Crystals

Sapphire, given its shape.

With our machine park and our know-how, we shape sapphire crystal into many different forms.

Sapphire crystals of various shapes on a black background

  • Flat crystal

    Schematic profile

  • Spherical crystal

    Schematic profile

  • Domed crystal

    Schematic profile

  • Box

    Schematic profile

Anti-reflective coating, metallisation, screen printing: for these additional services we work with the best partners in the watch industry.

Complex and specific

Beyond the crystal: case middle, dial, movement part.

We also machine complex, specific products in hard materials.

Sapphire watch case middle

Case middle

Sapphire
Sapphire dial with Roman numerals

Dial

Sapphire
Tinted sapphire movement part

Movement part

Sapphire

Development

From model to part.

We take on every product development and industrialisation challenge, to each client’s wishes and requirements.

Drag to compare ↔

3D model of the same case middle
Photograph of a sapphire case middle
Sapphire part3D model

Production

From 20 to 10'000 pieces, and more.

Small or medium runs, from the most restrained shape to the most imaginative.

With the best partners in the watch industry:

Anti-reflectiveMetallisationScreen printing

“A flexible structure, fully responsive to market fluctuations and technological change.”

CNC machining centre
Automated handling of a part
Camera measurement of a part

History

A family firm, two generations of sapphire.

From the mineral glass of the early years to today’s sapphire components, three factories tell the same progression.

1978

Sébal’s first factory, in black and white

The first factory

Martin Sangsue and Josy Aebischer found Sébal with a few machines. Mineral glass first, then sapphire.

2005

Sébal’s second factory, in black and white

The second factory

Son of one of the founders, Sébastien Sangsue joins the company in 1994 and takes it over in 2005. He broadens the range of sapphire products.

2015

Raw sapphire boules in a row

The material, in Switzerland

Timsaph, our sister company, produces sapphire raw material in Delémont using the Verneuil process.

2018

Machining station in today’s factory

Today’s factory

Modernised and extended in 2010 and 2018, the Bassecourt factory employs more than twenty people.

Film

Where our sapphire is born.

In Delémont, Timsaph grows sapphire using the Verneuil process. This film by the Republic and Canton of Jura presents our sister company and its craft (in French).

Timsaph SA · 2022
Film by the Republic and Canton of Jura, June 2022, in French. The video loads from YouTube only when you play it.

Towards fifty years

A short chain becomes proof.

Most sapphire crystals in Swiss watchmaking still come from Asia. Ours is born in Delémont and takes shape in Bassecourt.

As brands measure the origin and footprint of every component, this short chain stops being a manufacturing detail and becomes proof.

In 2028, Sébal will be fifty. The question that comes with it: how to make the most of a case almost unique in Switzerland.

48years, in 2026

1978 → 2028 · fifty years

About this page

A reading of your craft, set on a page.

This page is a proposal made to Sébal SA from its public content. The three packages, from the CHF 1'200.– fixed price to additional materials, are set out on a dedicated page.

See the termsThree packages, SEO and AEO included.

Contact

A sapphire project? Write to us.

Sébal SA · Espace industriel 26 · 2854 Bassecourt · Switzerland

info@sebal.ch+41 32 426 51 15