Change in the watch industry - with the right accounting software

To make life easier for these smaller companies and to increase the expertise in watchmaking, the association openmovement wants to produce raw parts of movements that are available to all.

Openmovement was founded in Bern in 2009, out of a love for the art of watchmaking. The unique project of the association: the members would like to make the knowledge about the construction of watch movements, accumulated over decades, united in a first watch construction available to the general public. Something that, according to the association, has not existed before.

Thus, the small group of about ten experts from the watchmaking town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, revolutionizes the watch industry worldwide.

Growing community with 1200 members accessing the open source plans

After twelve years of work and the sponsorship of patrons, since 2021 the 3D files of a movement can be downloaded free of charge from the Internet, based on which twenty prototypes are currently being built. For Roman Winiger, president of the association, this is just the beginning: "The interest is great, the community continues to grow worldwide, currently 1200 people belong to it." The "community," as openmovement calls its followers, includes people who have registered as users on the website so that they can access the construction plans.

But it is not only private individuals who have become aware of openmovement. Active self-employed watchmakers and companies from the Swiss watch industry have also heard about the project and joined the association as members. "We now have 60 members, some of whom are simply open-source enthusiasts," says Roman Winiger, himself a watchmaker. The goal is to increase the number of members and to be able to offer the first movement parts kits in 2023.

Said "goodbye" to Excel and bet on the cloud

In order not to lose track of such a fast-growing association, those responsible said goodbye to the Excel spreadsheet at the beginning of 2022 and opted for CashCtrl's accounting software. "During an exchange with a young entrepreneur, I heard about CashCtrl for the first time five years ago," says Roman Winiger, adding "I liked it from the start." As a result, he has constantly followed the company and compared it to competing products.

But why did Winiger like the software so much? "It's understandable and simply designed, practical and user-friendly, it's just brilliantly done," says the club president. The only drawback, the language selection. Because the business software was only available in German and English, it was not suitable for the association, which is based in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. In the meantime, this has changed and documents and reports can also be created in French. To Roman Winiger's delight: "CashCtrl has developed magnificently over time."

Members distributed throughout Switzerland, central administration

The use is very customer-friendly and the interface is simple, the association president says of using the accounting software. "CashCtrl is intuitive and errors are easy to correct," he adds. Another advantage for openmovement is access. "Our association has board members all over Switzerland. CashCtrl can be accessed from anywhere thanks to the cloud solution," says Winiger. In addition, if at all necessary, support is also fast and precise, he adds. "And at a fair cost," adds the association president.

The business software is used for accounting, invoicing and the management of members and membership fees. Using it has simplified many things in the association, as Winiger says: "We are now up to date much faster." Now with openmovement, they have a better overview, of accounting reports, VAT management, as well as better collaboration.

So nothing stands in the way of the revolution in the watch industry.