GENEVA, Switzerland—Details about watchmaker Tudor's manufacturing operations are scant. However, the company recently allowed a writer from GQ magazine inside one section of its campus to see how Tudor assembles its watches. 

Tudor's sizeable assembly floor is sealed and pressurized like an aeroplane to minimize airborne dust, and the space is divided into separate groups of workers that organize their tasks autonomously: at the start of the week they assess how many watches they need to produce and divide the labor accordingly. Each person has a workbench supplied by the same company that kits out Rolex’s assembly rooms.