Ref. LH-081 · 34 mm · steel
Huit 34
Rhodié silver dial, heat-blued steel hands, small seconds. 34 × 8.9 mm, sapphire both sides, shell cordovan strap.
€ 3,850Delivery Nov 2026
Manufacture d'horlogerie · One calibre
Ligne Huit
One movement, made entirely in-house.
A hundred and sixty-eight parts. Thirty-four days at the bench. Two complete assemblies. We make a single hand-wound calibre in Besançon — and we make all of it, down to the hairspring most manufactures buy in.
Semi-oscillations since you arrived — 21,600 / hour
Calibre LH-08 · hand-wound · 100 h reserve
Hairspring drawn in-house since 2014
Creed
We do not
buy time.
We make it.
Most watch brands assemble movements built elsewhere. We took the other road in 2011: one calibre, no complications, every component cut, finished and regulated inside four walls on the Rue de la Préfecture. When the going gets fast, we get slower.
I · The movement
Calibre LH-08, opened
Five levels, drawn to scale. Hover a part to find it in the stack — or close the movement and see how 168 pieces disappear into 3.1 millimetres.
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Free-sprung balance & hairspring
Hardened bronze rim, four gold masselottes, no index. The hairspring is drawn, coiled and studded downstairs — the step almost every manufacture outsources, and the reason our tagline is not a metaphor.
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Three-quarter plate
Untreated maillechort, striped by hand at 30 degrees — Côtes de Besançon, cut a little deeper than Geneva likes. Three jewels sit in polished gold chatons, held by blued screws.
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Going train
Five wheels cut, crossed and circular-grained in the atelier. Every pivot is burnished on a hundred-year-old Jacot tool because nothing newer does it better.
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Twin barrels, in series
One hundred hours of reserve delivered flat — torque stays level from the first hour to the ninety-sixth, so the balance never feels the tank emptying.
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Mainplate
Milled from bar-stock brass, perlage applied one overlapping circle at a time. Twenty-seven ruby jewels seat here. The engraved serial matches the dial, the case and the archive ledger.
II · Specifications
The sheet we regulate to
Numbers first, adjectives later. This is the document each movement must satisfy before it earns a case.
| Calibre | LH-08 · hand-wound · in-house, all 168 components |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 32.6 × 3.1 mm 14½ lignes — the founding eight-ligne blank, grown up |
| Frequency | 21,600 A/h · 3 Hz six semi-oscillations every second |
| Power reserve | 100 hours twin barrels in series, flat torque curve |
| Jewels | 27 rubies three in polished gold chatons |
| Hairspring | Drawn, coiled, studded and pinned in the atelier since 2014 |
| Balance | Free-sprung, hardened bronze, four gold masselottes |
|---|---|
| Escapement | Swiss lever · polished pallets · 16-tooth escape wheel |
| Regulation | −1 / +4 s per day six positions, verified over a 21-day observation |
| Finishing | Côtes de Besançon, hand anglage on 41 interior angles, blued screws |
| Build time | 34 days at the bench assembled twice, by one watchmaker, signed inside |
| Guarantee | 10 years serviced for the life of the watch by the hands that built it |
III · The collection
Three dials, one heart
Every reference carries the same LH-08. Choose a diameter and a light — the movement does not change, and neither does the price of honesty.
Ref. LH-082 · 37 mm · steel
Huit 37 Nuit
Obsidian grand-feu enamel, brass numerals fired in, ruby-tipped seconds. 37 × 9.1 mm, exhibition back as standard.
€ 4,300Delivery Jan 2027
Ref. LH-083 · 38 mm · steel
Huit 38 Réserve
The full argument: 100-hour reserve read off a brass sector at twelve. 38 × 9.4 mm, limited to 88 pieces a year.
€ 4,9508 of 88 remaining
IV · The atelier
Thirty-four days, twice through
One watchmaker follows one movement from bar stock to casing. This is the ledger pinned above every bench.
Day01
Blanking
Mainplate and bridges milled from bar-stock brass and maillechort. Each blank is stamped with its serial before it looks like anything at all — provenance starts before beauty.
Day06
Cutting the train
Five wheels and their pinions cut, crossed by hand, circular-grained. Pivots burnished on the Jacot tool until they read under a micrometre of tolerance.
Day13
Anglage
Forty-one interior angles chamfered with a boxwood peg and diamond paste. A machine can polish an edge; it cannot turn a sharp inside corner. This week is why.
Day19
First assembly
The movement is built completely, run for three days — and then taken apart to the last screw. The first assembly teaches the watchmaker where this particular movement wants to be.
Day27
Second assembly & regulation
Cleaned, oiled with five lubricants, rebuilt for keeps. Regulated in six positions to −1/+4 seconds a day, then watched for 21 days before it may leave the building.
Day34
Casing & signature
Dial, hands, case, cordovan. The watchmaker signs the three-quarter plate where only a service will ever reveal it — a letter to whoever opens the watch in 2066.
V · La charte
Three promises, in writing
Everything within four walls
Every one of the 168 components — hairspring, jewel settings, screws — is made on the Rue de la Préfecture. If we cannot make a part well, we do not offer the watch that needs it.
Assembled twice, always
Once to learn the movement, once to keep it. The first build is destroyed on purpose. No LH-08 has ever shipped from a single assembly, and none ever will.
Serviced by its maker
Ten-year guarantee, and beyond it a pledge: for the life of the watch, service is done here, by the watchmaker who signed the plate — or the one they trained.
VI · Visit
Come hold
the eight.
Photographs flatter; a loupe tells the truth. Book a fitting at the atelier, watch a hairspring being coiled, and try all three references against your wrist in north light.
- Atelier
- 14 Rue de la Préfecture
25000 Besançon, France - Hours
- Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 – 18:30
Closed August, weeks 32 & 33 - Tours
- Thursdays 17:00 · six visitors · one hour
Book two weeks ahead - Write
- atelier@lignehuit.fr
+33 3 81 47 26 08 - Fittings
- By appointment, no charge, no obligation.
Commissions numbered in order received.