In the Swiss watch industry, hardly a week goes by without someone announcing a new initiative in the domain of – how do we call it exactly – “Haute horlogerie,” “Prestige watchmaking,” “The art of watchmaking,” “Timekeeping excellence”…? In our preceding issue, we talked about the creation of the Foundation of Haute Horlogerie, which we will bring up again during the SIHH in Geneva, at the beginning of April.
Today, it is the turn of five well-known independent watchmakers – Philippe Dufour, Steven Forsey, Robert Greubel, Vianney Halter and Kari Voutilainen – to present their “Time aeon.” What precisely is “Time aeon,” whose name comes from the Greek aiôn, meaning “eternal substance” or “Golden Age?”
It is, according to its creators, “an open alliance” of independent and “quite alive” master watchmakers who have decided to “give themselves the means to develop and communicate their art in an ethical perspective, based on solidarity and the transfer of the savoir-faire that is at the root of watchmaking excellence.”
To formalize this union of independents – who will remain so – they signed a charter detailing a series of engagements whose essence explains the special state of mind that drives them: “uphold one’s savoir-faire and savoir-être, adhere in all circumstances to the values of friendship and solidarity; realize entirely one’s own masterpieces; use the watchmaking art as a means of personal and original expression… etc…”
In the current landscape, dominated by a form of marketing that dictates the words to use and the behaviour to have, simple and beautiful words such as “friendship”, “solidarity”, “savoir-être”, “honour”, and “duty” resonate particularly strongly to our ears that are weary of the apparently virtuous language, which, in reality, merely hides furtive competitive schemes.
What gives weight to this new form of “companionship” is the quality of work accomplished by these five men. Philippe Dufour is, without a doubt, one of the most authoritative voices in the watchmaking chorus, whose rare and magnificent pieces testify to an exceptional understanding and ability. Steven Forsey and Robert Greubel surprised the watch world with the stupefying quality of their “Double tourbillon 30 degrees,” and will present the prototype of their third experimental watch, the “Inclined Tourbillon 24 seconds” at BaselWorld. Vianney Halter, a firebrand in the watch world, will present the prototype of his Cabestan at BaselWorld (see Europa Star 6/05). Finally, Kari Voutilainen, who deserves to be better known, presented last year the first minute repeater “to chime the time as it is read,” which means it chimes every ten minutes rather than the quarter-hours.
One of the major preoccupations of these watchmakers, besides “giving back their role to the creators, to the artisans,” is to transmit, to the younger generations, the savoir-faire that today allows them to innovate. This knowledge is being lost today, according to Philippe Dufour, who is aghast at the watch schools where “no longer does a student learn how to use a file.”
But don’t be fooled by these words. These five men are not addicted to the past. They are among the most innovative in the watch world today, and believe that the future of watchmaking is buried in its fundamental values.
At a time when the mask of “Swiss Made” is falling apart, it is this type of new “companions” that will re-paint the landscape (if not in economic terms, surely in artistic terms) of great watchmaking in the 21st century. They are in fact quite international: Philippe Dufour is quite Swiss; Robert Greubel and Vianney Halter are French; Steven Forsey is British; and Kari Voutilainen hails from Finland. Will the next “companion” be Chinese or Indian?


Source: February - March 2006 Issue