True spurs of the great traditional manufacturers, independent watchmakers are moving the lines of watchmaking creativity, shaking up habits, breaking codes for the to the great pleasure of collectors in search of thrills.
By Olivier Muller
Deliciously subversive, subtly pernicious, the watchmaking independent does not refuse anything. Its case disdains the old-fashioned round, its movement is adorned with complications that one would have dared to imagine…
At first glance, there is nothing that brings Christophe Claret by Artya, Phenomen by Fiona Kruger, Hysek by MB&F. Yet, all are fully independent – and want to remain so. These houses have acquired an unexpected reputation over the years and the support of the of collectors who validate their creations – although sometimes confusing!
This is the case at MB&F. Collective Geneva watchmaker led by Max Busser, the brand started producing, there a few years ago, table clocks. So much so that the object was passed, for a good century, in the row of the oblivion… MB&F has resurrected it in collaboration with L’Epée. Flying machines, spiders, robots: the table clock has become quirky, playful and trendy again. The latest, Grant, is in the form of a lunar rover and modular that will look great on a designer desk.
Independent Fiona Kruger was successful the Skull watch that everyone dreamed of. Until then, all the brands was in a hurry to make round watches with a dial representing a skull, more or less successful. Fiona Kruger literally designed a watch whose case itself is a skull. Fiona Kruger’s Skull is masculine or feminine, black or in color, joyful and atypical. A total success of a independent designer who has brought creativity and femininity to the model.
In the decoration and complication department, Geneva-based ArtyA dares to do anything… as long as it’s a unique piece. His The last Lion’s Head is a high-flying minute repetition, regulated by a whirlwind. However, the most impressive feature is the dial, engraved directly in titanium – a feat considering the hardness of the material – then enhanced with gold. Inspired by the Renaissance, but deeply offbeat, the piece proudly displays its serial number: 01/01.
To this register of great complications, Hysek probably won the gold medal. The room wears well its name: Colossal. It uses an exclusive display mode, the roll. This display is rare in watchmaking because it is particularly energy consuming. It is very difficult for a movement to have sufficient power to do so. move more than two or three. That’s why the roll display is the more often, reserved for the date only. However, Hysek has managed to extend this principle to a perpetual calendar, completed with a moon phase and a second time zone. A tour de force of extraordinary complexity for a watch which happily exceeds 1,000 components.
Christophe Claret is a watchmaker different from the previous ones: before launching under his own name there is a few years, the man has accumulated two decades of innovations in the service of the biggest brands. Technician of the shade, master of the big bells, man has developed for his own account an extreme piece, the well named X-TREM-1. Its principle is simple: to associate, in the same movement, classic watchmaking and its sworn enemy, magnetism. Until then considered as the major disturbance of the precision of a watch, magnetism has here has been tamed in a watch where it allows the gravitation of two steel spheres The first one indicates the hours, the second the minutes. Unveiled in 2012, the X-TREM-1 has no equivalent in the watchmaking industry and will have none probably never. Its latest version offers a beautiful case in Damascus steel.
France is progressively occupying this niche of independent, creative and daring fine watchmaking. Last born: Phenomen. The brand is based in Besançon and combines a movement developer from La Joux-Perret, a watchmaker from Greubel Forsey and a designer from the group’s creative studio PSA. Together they created the Axiom, a first piece with 100% movement house with a sumptuous automotive design. Its exhaust placed at noon and its linear and retrograde display of the time make it an object of beautiful mechanics, supported by a sensual, subtle and masculine design.
