Back to a high-tech and emblematic cigar box
Baselworld watch fair, March 2017. An unexpected small stand: Imperiali, a young Geneva-based publisher of exceptional objects, a luxury cigar humidor — the "Imperador" — a mysterious jet-black chest, a round mechanical lock like an eye, a tourbillon watch as its iris, a limited edition of 12 pieces, and above all a price: one million francs. The media did not miss this alien in watchmaking territory, but nobody really took the time to stop and look, fixated on the shocking price point. Yet the humidor conceals a treasure of technologies and know-how — a pure concentrate of innovation.
Behind the creation stands FiveCo, the engineering firm from Mont-sur-Lausanne. For fifteen years, the structure has deployed all its ingenuity to meet every technological challenge put to it. The springboard mandate came from Xavier Dietlin, a manufacturer of watch display furniture. He dreamed of a security display case without a glass cover. It would be called the "Raptor", serve Hublot watches, and trigger a worldwide buzz. FiveCo earned its credibility through it, but not yet its public profile. Antoine Lorotte, director, stresses that his trade "remains very confidential." Translation: his only ambassadors are his clients, and they are most often extremely discreet. Communication therefore focuses on a handful of realisations that can be discussed publicly — the cigar box being one of them. But all the communication was swallowed up by the "one million franc" effect.
So let us talk about it. The project began in September 2013, on a single pitch: "Create the Rolls-Royce of cigar humidors." In December 2014, the prototype was delivered. In between: 18,000 hours of work. The team of 10 engineers had already delivered 4 boxes and was working on producing the remaining 8. A few more figures: each humidor comprises 3,675 components, of which a good third are manufactured, 71 printed circuits, and 21 motors. A network of 29 subcontractors — all in Switzerland except one — worked on this unprecedented project. The box weighs 47 kg, made of wood, lacquer, composite fibres, high-tech insulation, aluminium, steel, glass, leather, and gold. A complete assembly procedure and a protocol of 157 tests before delivery.
"Everything is complex." Hyper-complex, in fact, since it is not only a matter of mastering all the technologies involved, but also of controlling the interaction between the different parts.
All of this to produce a completely independent humidor, operating on low voltage and capable of generating and maintaining the climate essential to cigars — the finest of which require constant temperature and hygrometry. The system generates its own humidity, drawn from the ambient air, transformed into ice before creating the essential drop of water. To achieve this, everything had to be rethought: the openings, seals, insulation, contacts, materials, right down to the heat sinks — and the way to produce and assemble them. The upper lock alone, which is code-operated, comprises 750 components and is crowned by a tourbillon watch with its own winding system, with the cooling system below the lock. The front drawer contains three peripherals, all connected and controlled: a plasma arc lighter with a standby reserve; a diaphragm ashtray with a presence detector and lighting; and finally a guillotine that calibrates the cut of the cigar with a laser, or pierces it — the owner's choice.
The ultimate complexity for FiveCo was having to integrate all the assembly protocols of the very highest end of luxury. With no right to error, nor to any going back. The engineers therefore work with gloves on priceless casing parts, manufactured individually. At one million per piece, everything must be impeccable. And one wonders whether the boxes are even profitable at that price…
An extended client base, from start-up to multinational
It all started at the Neuchâtel arteplage. A distant memory? Not for Antoine Lorotte, 40, who created FiveCo 15 years ago with four other partners. At Expo.02, these young EPFL engineers conceived Robox — robots that accompanied visitors. A playful installation, and in reality a concentrate of technology and innovation, which shaped the direction of the company and its 10 collaborators, all engineers in microtechnology, mechanics, electrical, and electronics, based in Mont-sur-Lausanne. Already 140 projects on the counter, crossing feasibility studies and developments through to prototyping or production management. The structure is well occupied, with a broad client base "from start-up to multinational" — including Nestlé and Nissan (through a subsidiary). It was not always this way. The five founding partners launched with family financing and lived on that support for three years before reaching the visibility threshold needed to establish and sustain the model.
