LA CHAUX DE FONDS: The air is stifling and hot, and a heavy, metallic smell scratches the throat and stings the eyes.
In his foundry, whose walls are covered in black smoke, Alois Huguenin uses a huge ladle to pour molten bronze at 1,250 degrees Celsius (2,282 degrees Fahrenheit) into a metal frame.
For three generations, this century-old traditional foundry in La Chaux-de-Fonds in northwestern Switzerland – the cradle of the country’s renowned watchmaking industry – has been producing the bells used in the Olympic Games.
Bells ring for various sports, including athletics, track cycling, mountain biking and boxing.
Almost half a century after his grandfather made the first bell for the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Huguenin was preparing the bells for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris.
“If everything goes well, one Olympic bell is three hours of work,” the 30-year-old, wearing an apron, gloves and a protective shield, recently told AFP.
Huguenin said he had already delivered 38 bells to Paris at the request of the Games’ official timekeeper, Omega, whose chronometric testing laboratory is located about 30 kilometres away in Biel.
“The bell is used to inform athletes, as well as spectators, that the last lap has started,” said Alain Zobrist, head of OmegaTime and responsible for chronometry within the wider Swatch Group.
He tells athletes that “they have to give their all to get to the finish line as quickly as possible,” he told AFP.
Recalling that Omega has been timing the Olympic Games since 1932, he admitted that the bells are a “very traditional element”.
“Today, chronometry is done electronically. The bells are a nod to our past,” he said.
Ten minutes after pouring the molten bronze — which has the consistency and light orange-yellow color of volcanic lava — Huguenin can extract the thick liquid from the mold at a temperature of just 200°C.
With powerful blows of the hammer he breaks the hard, black, sandy mold in the frame, from which smoke emerges.
The bell that emerges is covered with a crust that reveals the work left to be done: deburring, grinding, filing and polishing.
Huguenin made his first Olympic bell for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
While he’s not as fascinated by bells as some collectors, Huguenin says he’s proud that his creations are viewed by billions of people.
“I put that same energy and passion into all the bells I make,” he said, explaining that he also makes bells for farm animals and, increasingly, for individual occasions such as weddings.
“But knowing that we are participating in a small way in the great Olympic celebrations is a reason for pride.”
Huguenin admitted that the Olympic bells have been part of his life for as long as he can remember.
“We watch TV every time to try to spot them,” he said, recalling how he would look out for his father’s bells when he was younger.
“I’ve been looking for a bell that I made myself for several years.”
The bells used at each Olympic Games remain the same, only the logo of the edition changes.
They are always decorated with colorful Olympic rings, are about 20 centimeters (7.9 in) high and 14 centimeters (5.5 in) wide.
However, as Huguenin emphasised, each bell is unique because it uses traditional techniques and recycling.
He added that the clayey Paris sand used for its mould is not synthetic and is reused over and over again, with some grains being in use for 100 years.
As for the copper and tin alloy used to produce bronze, it is made from recycled materials, sourced individually.
On shelves near his wooden workbench, Huguenin keeps a souvenir collection of flawed bells made for previous Games in Atlanta, Rio and Athens.
But with just a few weeks to go before the Olympic Games open in Paris, he already has one eye on the future.
Of course, the bells for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028 have to be made, he said, but “first there will be the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina” in 2026.
“I’m going to tackle it in the fall,” he said.
“I’m always one step ahead.”