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Although the importance of the high-ticket timepiece as a fashion
accessory has been increasing of late, with fashion leaders such as
David Beckham and P Diddy acquiring a wardrobe of watches, there
comes a time when polychromatic aesthetics and exotic, exaggerated
case design are no longer enough. There comes a time when technical
virtuosity, true innovation and rarity (as opposed to mere expense)
take over as the motivating factors behind serious watch purchases.
It is timepieces exhibiting such characteristics that enable the
watch buyer to make contact with the true horological masters of
today, people with true vision and passion, articulated through the
objects that they make.
This rarefied level of watch making, where watch prices can easily
stray into six figures, is one of the most interesting arenas of
true luxury remaining today.
Collectors will spend around quarter of a million pounds to lay
their hands on such sought after pieces as Parmigiani’s tourbillon
and Westminster chime with a second time zone, only one of which is
made every year with a different engraving on the dial and case each
year.
Such is the status of Patek Philippe’s complex pieces like the Sky
Moon Tourbillon, it is the brand’s CEO Philippe Stern who makes the
decision as to who should be offered the opportunity to buy the
watch.
Indeed the two names mentioned above are eloquent testimony to the
two separate poles of haute horlogerie – on one side there are the
grand old houses of watchmaking; names that ring down the centuries:
Vacheron Constantin, which celebrates its 250th anniversary next
year, Patek Philippe and Audemars Piguet. These houses have found it
necessary to adapt to contemporary market requirements by making
timepieces that appeal to modern tastes. Vacheron Constantin has its
Royal Eagle line of watches, with their handsome tonneau cases;
Patek Philippe has the sporty Aquanaut, based on its classic ’70s
sports watch the Nautilus; while if you are a Eurotrash playboy you
will already have a monster-sized Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore
weighing down one or other of your wrists. But for dedicated
collectors and the really rich, only the complicated pieces such as
perpetual calendars, tourbillons and minute repeaters will slake the
thirst for technical excellence.
At the other end of high watchmaking are what one might call the
one-man-brands. Usually, but not necessarily, smaller than their
grand old counterparts, these are companies in which the name that
appears on the dial of the watch is the same as the name of the man
that makes the watch.
The first such one-man brand of recent years was Franck Muller, a
man whose watches have appeared on the wrists of everyone from
royalty to rappers.
Franck started to repair and rebuild antique watches. By the early
eighties he had established a considerable reputation, restoring
important timepieces for auction houses and private collectors.
It was while working on the restoration of masterpieces of the past
that he decided to make some masterpieces for the present. In 1986,
he created a free-oscillation tourbillon wristwatch with jumping
hours and a regulator-type dial. It caused a sensation when it was
exhibited at the Basle Fair. Rather like a master couturier,
unveiling a daring new look, the annual arrival of a new Franck
Muller ‘World Premiere’ became a keenly anticipated event in the
horological calendar.
Like Muller, Michel Parmigiani started out repairing and restoring
vintage pieces before moving on to found his own eponymous brand.
While some watch marques make themselves heard, shrieking their
qualities from the wearer’s wrist in a manner that is far from
subtle, a Parmigiani is best appreciated using a jeweller’s loupe to
examine the exquisite composition and finishing of the movement
visible through a glass caseback.
As it is with the watches so it is with the man. Surprisingly
youthful looking for his 50-something years, in his own quiet,
quasi-academic way Michel Parmigiani is passionate about and deeply
involved in the living tradition of horology. Michel Parmigiani
maintains an almost monastic devotion to and a scholarly interest in
the practice and philosophy of watchmaking. He says that he founded
a brand under his own name because, “I can express myself more
freely and transmit a message that haute horologerie is not just
about gold and diamonds.” He is keen to stress that he is “not
making a consumer product but creating part of a tradition,” using a
“philosophy developed through years of restoration.”
Another man adapting the lessons of the past to the wristwatches of
today is F.P. Journe, whose distinctive looking timepieces boast an
innovative dial layout, with screwed on subdials. Journe is a
watchmaker’s watchmaker.
Typical of the sorts of timepieces he makes is the ‘chronometre a
resonance’, which draws upon the work of 18th century watchmaker
Antide Janvier. One of the problems watchmakers of that period had
to overcome was the issue of the beat of the pendulum and the
resonance this set up – it was not unknown for pendulum clocks of
that time to stop when entering into resonance with the driving
weight.
Janvier sought to make a feature of the phenomenon by creating two
complete movements placed close to each other with the two pendulums
suspended from the same housing; with one recovering the energy
spent by the other creating a harmonious resonance. Journe has taken
this recondite – and, to those like me who do not have a masters
degree in physics, rather baffling – corner of physics and
horological history and after 15 years research adapted it to the
wristwatch, where it ensures smoother than usual running for two
separate movements in one case.
Entirely different is the uncompromising approach and stunningly
contemporary aesthetic of French-based watchmaker Richard Mille.
It is hard to use conventional nomenclature to describe such a
radically designed, sui generis watch as a Mille. For instance the
Richard Mille tourbillon, its case punctuated by titanium screw
heads of a unique five-point star design, has a stark, scientific,
almost space-age quality about it. The hands are beefy no-nonsense
affairs rendered elegant by piercing in the middle. However the
biggest surprise comes in the upper half of the dial: its
resemblance is, if anything, less horological and more akin to the
instrument panel of a sports car. There are two symmetrically
arranged gauges, rather like a speedometer and a rev counter; one
transpires to be for power reserve, the other is a neologism called
a torque indicator.
Mille’s intention was to make a watch that was easier to use for
both wearer and watchmaker. “For instance the winding system is at
the back of the case rather than underneath the dial, which means
that watchmakers no longer have to dismantle the entire watch to get
to the mechanism.”
However if there is one component of the watch about which he seems
particularly proud it is the titanium screw created uniquely for his
watch. He becomes almost Messianic as he recounts the remarkable
qualities of what others might regard as a rather humble component.
“The titanium screws of this watch allow phenomenal
screwing/unscrewing torque, thus avoiding any damage to the screw
that frequently occurs with a conventional screwdriver. The
particular shape of the screwhead means only specialised approved
retailers, who have the proper tools, can dismantle the watch. A
copper washer under each screw allows optimum tightening without
marking the bridges or plates. At critical points, such as the crown
wheel, wear-resistant washers, hardened and precision-ground, have
been placed to protect the functional components.”
I can also recommend the haute horlogerie of Gino Macaluso; there is
a passion, an aesthetic individuality and an ingenuity about his
watch brands, Girard Perregaux and Daniel Jean Richard, which makes
them amongst the most interesting and most undervalued on the market
today. Indeed it was when talking with Gino Macaluso that I asked
what it was in his opinion that makes the field of high watchmaking
and complicated timepieces so attractive.
Macaluso explains the situation thus. “Every watch collector desires
to have something very very personalised with a good sense of
innovation. And it is the innovation plus quality that gives
something unique for the future, as well as the pleasure of
discovering the magic cleverness of the watchmaker,” he says, adding
that a watch that really stands apart from its peers “is very
interesting because it could be a good investment.”
Certainly the more forward looking of watch brands are raising their
game as far as haute horlogerie is concerned. At last year’s Geneva
Watch Fair, Cartier showed a minute repeater and a perpetual
calendar, both housed in the Paris jeweller’s classic tortue case.
Meanwhile the jet set jeweller Chopard is taking its bid for haute
horologerie credibility so seriously that some years ago it
inaugurated a separate factory, in the quiet village of Fleurier
(near to the factory of Michel Parmigiani) where it has been
producing small numbers of highly desirable watches under the brand
LUC, of which the tourbillon is a real delight.
But perhaps one of the most remarkable entrants into the field of
haute horlogerie is Breitling. Breitling is the watch brand most
closely associated with aviation and its timepieces tend to be
characterised by a functional ruggedness. However as part of its
commitment to mark the 100th anniversary of flight last year, it
created a set of four Grande Complication pocket watches, which were
auctioned by Antiquorum in October. These watches exceeded their
pre-sale estimate and eventually sold for over a million Swiss
francs. This year Breitling will present another very special
complicated pocket watch, which will be dedicated to the car
manufacturer Bentley, with whom Breitling is a partner, and will be
presented at auction later this year.
As Count Larosee, Breitling’s distributor in the UK says, “It is
worth recalling that the creation of haute horlogerie specimens is
undertaken by Breitling to demonstrate its know-how in all fields of
watchmaking, including those with which it is not generally
associated by the public at large.” |