appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Anders Modig Davin

The independent watchmaking scene could be defined by strong-minded individuals making between 15 and 1,500 unique watches with extremely artisanal content and unusual designs. At SIHH they have a dedicated hall – the Carré des Horlogers.
What is independent watchmaking? Think in terms of haute couture. Just as in fashion, you can also make a timely statement with a watch. The unique Moser Nature Watch is nothing short of a miniature garden for your wrist. It comes with a positive message urgently needed by every industry: a commitment to a zero carbon footprint, ethical sourcing, local suppliers and supporting education.
SIHH and Baselworld unite behind April 2020 dates – making life easier for visitors

When I talked business with Edouard Meylan, CEO of H. Moser and Cie., he, as always, kept it real. “Some markets are amazing and booming. The Middle East, the US and Europe are quite stable, so the big question mark is Asia. Retailers in Asia are very cautious, but that could change very quickly. And you can have great surprises in that region with collectors buying very expensive watches, but it is really binary. I would say that the standard businesspeople want to wait and see for the first quarter,” said the head of a company making 1,500 watches per year.
Time is fluid, it is a constant flow. Just like Heraclitus said – no man steps in the same river twice
François Nunez, creative director, HYT
When it comes to sheer, instantly recognisable beauty, few watches can match the drop-lugged precious works of Kari Voutilainen. The Finn is a former teacher at the top Swiss watchmaking school Wostep. In 2002, Voutilainen started the brand that carries his name and soon became famous for his own kind of energy-conserving escapement, very large balance wheels and a unique balance system combining a Breguet overcoil with a Grossmann Curve. And his guilloche and enamel dials are so perfect they might have led Plato to rethink his allegory of the cave.
Top 11 timepieces for men at SIHH 2019
With Type 2, Ressence addresses a real problem with mechanical watches: unreliability. Founder and industrial designer Benoît Mintiens calls his smart crown system the e-Crown, which allows the fully mechanical automatic watch to be connected with your smartphone. When it is, you simply tap the glass a couple of times for the watch to set itself automatically – even if it has not been used for months.
This practical feature aside, the mechanics are also singular: the separately rotating discs for hours, minutes and seconds move thanks to magnetic transmission.

“We have improved mechanical watches when it comes to legibility, wearability, trust and functionality. No more do you have to double-check the time on your phone,” says Ressence brand director Gaëtan Gaye.
A somewhat related idea can be found in the AMC from the independent pioneer Urwerk. Here it is, however, about setting and controlling the automatic watch when it is not worn. You plug it into the centre of a rather cumbersome, 35-kilo Atomolith – an atomic clock. This enables an ex-machina dialogue with the watch on three levels: synchronising the watch with the atomic clock, adjusting its rate and winding the mainspring.
SIHH 2019: 6 of the best women’s timepieces unveiled in Geneva
The Atomolith thus becomes a spectacular vitrine for showcasing the AMC. This space fleet aesthetic works perfectly for the sci-fi-oriented universe initiated by design director Martin Frei and watchmaker Felix Baumgartner 22 years ago.

MB&F, founded in 2005 by Max Büsser, has become the most famous independent watchmaking showcase in the world. At SIHH, the spotlight was on the Horological Machine No. 6 Final Edition. These house the last eight of the 100 movements produced. Sharing the biomorphic traits, central flying tourbillon and spherical time indicators with the previous 92, this model, however, employs stainless steel for the case.
MB&F is also bringing the table clock into the 21st century in partnership with L’Epée 1839. The 10th collaborative clock is called Medusa – like the jellyfish – an obsession that started when Max’s wife was stung in 2013. The 2.5-kilo green, pink or blue top of the clock is made of glass hand-blown in Venetian Murano; the clockworks, in Switzerland. The 50 pieces in each colour can be hung from the ceiling or placed on a table. And just like a jellyfish, these glow in the dark.

HYT Time is Fluid is inspired by the 4,000-year-old idea of the clepsydra, the water clock. The three-dimensional sculpture features a micro fluidic device with two bellows that compress to push two immiscible liquids (one dyed, one transparent) through a borosilicate glass capillary tube with a nano-coated interior. Everything is activated and energised by a hand-wound, mechanical movement.
Minerva inspires ‘hero products’ at Montblanc Heritage Collection
“Harmony and creativity happen when two worlds that normally don’t meet collide,” says creative director François Nunez, apropos the fact that watchmakers normally do all they can to keep liquid out of a watch.
In a philosophic meandering, Nunez explains his obsession with showcasing time with liquid. “Time is fluid, it is a constant flow. Just like Heraclitus said – no man steps in the same river twice. It is not the same river, nor the same man. Similar to the river, time is unstoppable – just like our imagination.”
Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter


Watches and Wonders 2021 in-person salon may be no more due to Covid-19, but organisers say the show must go on(line), with brands like Rolex and Patek Philippe invited to go digital instead

Watches & Wonders 2020 highlights: Cartier, Panerai, Hermès and more launch daring luxury timepieces at Geneva’s first digital-only fair

Baselworld 2021? As Rolex, Patek Philippe, Tudor, Chopard and Chanel quit, can the world’s biggest watch fair survive?

How Bulgari, Jaeger-LeCoultre and others are rediscovering the forgotten skills of watchmaking

SIHH

SIHH 2019: Independents allow creativity to shine through in original timepieces

Moser’s showstopping Nature Watch is made out of live plants.

Ressence's liquid-filled Type 2A watch.

The HYT H20 “Time Is Fluid” watch.

MB&F's Medusa clock in Green.

The MB&F HM6 Final Edition in steel.

SIHH 2019: How Vacheron Constantin stays relevant – 260 years after it was founded

Vacheron Constantin’s Fiftysix Complete Calendar Moonphase watch with the new Petro Blue dial.

Vacheron Constantin extends the Overseas series with a tourbillon reference.

Vacheron Constantin's Fiftysix Complete Calendar Moonphase watch with the new Petro Blue dial.

Vacheron Constantin's Traditionnelle Twin Beat Perpetual Calendar watch.

SIHH 2019: At Hermès, the wolf howls, and the moon is the star of the Arceau L’Heure de la Lune

The handpainted dial of the Arceau Awooooo watch.

Hermes's Arceau L'heure de la lune.

SIHH 2019: Greubel Forsey ‘takes it all the way’

Gruebel Forsey’s Balancier Contemporain

Gruebel Forsey's Balancier Contemporain

Magazines

Style

Watches

Luxury


Watchmaking’s equivalent of haute couture makes timely statements with artisanal content and unusual designs



Timepieces

SIHH 2019: Independents allow creativity to shine through in original timepieces

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Watchmaking’s equivalent of haute couture makes timely statements with artisanal content and unusual designs

Watchmaking’s equivalent of haute couture makes timely statements with artisanal content and unusual designs