Predominantly for the ladies, Façonnable watches capture one’s imagination by combining the skilful addition of diamonds and precious and semi-precious stones with originality and technical innovations. The brand’s mentor, designer and director is Michel Benatar who is based on the French Riviera in Nice. His goal was and remains to offer an inventive selection of watches that are totally different to anything else on the market. This he has achieved by constantly striving to “adapt design to innovations and we innovate so that we can design differently.”
Façonnable has already introduced a unique system of interchangeable straps, diamond-set hands, new case shapes and now, with their latest concept the Diamond Roll collection, interchangeable stones.




DIAMOND ROLL
The Diamond Roll is in stainless steel and comes with three different straps using an interchangeable system that functions by simply pressing on either side of the case lugs. The rolling barrel is set on two sides with either precious or semi-precious stones or diamonds and on the third side the message ‘Love’ is engraved at the 12 o’clock position. The 6 o’clock barrel has a blank stainless steel panel fixed by two screws and can be engraved with a name, date or event. Left to right: black enamelled dial with black sapphires on one side and yellow citrines on the other; mother-of-pearl dial with red garnets and blue topaz; mother-of-pearl dial with white and brown diamonds.


Europa Star: How did you get into the watch industry.

Michel Benatar: I was a jeweller in Monaco for 10 years. After designing two jewellery collections a year, and being a watch addict, I felt like going into branding. I needed to get out of my jewellery store and think internationally. So, I contacted the management at Façonnable and somehow convinced them that I had the right ideas for their brand.

E.S: That was 16 years ago. What was your role then since initially the watches were made under licenseı

M.B: I was the first Façonnable watch licensee, so all Façonnable watches produced since the beginning are my babies.

E.S: The first watches were a more conservative than now. What made you change direction when you took over the responsibility for design and productionı

M.B: In 1997, Façonnable watches came back in-house. We can consider that this was the real international start of the brand in regard to Façonnable Timepieces. As I knew quite well what the watch industry looked like, I tried to find a link between Façonnable’s new strategy (ladies’ ready-to-wear textiles) and a niche in the watch industry in which we could bring something new. We needed to find our ‘timepiece identity’. This was done with the ‘Design Jewellery Watches’ trend that we founded with some other operators. We were perhaps more discrete than others, but we were one of the first to choose this path.
Then we decided to go for more sophisticated designs and technical innovations targeting a longer presence in this niche. Today the markets show that we were right, because we are expanding when other brands are disappearing.

E.S: So what is your concept for Façonnable watchesı

M.B: It’s very simple. Façonnable watches symbolize a new access to originally designed and affordable jewellery watches. Façonnable is different because of its designs, its technical patents and its pricing policy.
Our watches are exclusively jewellery (set with precious stones) for the ladies’ [90% of Façonnable watches are ladies’ models], they are focused on different designs and technical innovations and they offer a wide choice of very reasonably priced original jewellery watches [650 to 2,000 euros].
We are not competing with the traditional jewellery brands, but we offer an extra option to a wider range of customers. Nowadays, Façonnable Timepieces are mostly displayed close to the famous brands in the windows of high-end jewellery stores around the world.
As to the men's watches, we try to keep them classically original. This means traditional manufacturing with remarkable designs. They are a tribute to the origins of Façonnable.

E.S: Façonnable is highly innovative in the watch world … however, there may come a time when it is perhaps difficult to do something that hasn’t been done before. What thenı

M.B: I am the first to be surprised when I come up with new concepts such as the ‘Princess cut Diamond Hands’, the ‘Interchangeable strap system’ (which is the simplest within the industry), or our new ‘Interchangeable stones system’ because I see that we are the only one to produce these kinds of innovative products. We also play on different and unusual case shapes, or different ways to treat dials. Up to now I’ve been lucky enough to regularly have ideas and I still have a quite few ready for the coming years. Will it end one dayı Only God knows! But I have the feeling that if you have an inquiring mind, are curious about most things and you spend your time feeding yourself with all kinds of ideas from the arts and various other disciplines, your imagination absorbs them, melts them down and gives birth to your own particular vision. Let's hope it will continue!

E.S: I know that the reaction of your distributors has been good for Façonnable’s originality. But what about consumer reactionı

M.B: My first job was to convince our distributors that we had to anticipate consumer's tastes and not choose the easy way by simply offering again what sold well the previous year decorated with a new ‘sauce’. They understood the concept and went into the markets to convince their retailers. This took a little time, I agree. But now, we have the returns on this politic. On our small scale, all our markets [25 countries worldwide] look to the following year and ask the question “what's nextı” And this is a great achievement, because our distributors, retailers and the consumers now know that they will be offered something new and exciting each year. This is very pleasant psychologically ... and financially.

E.S: Where are Façonnable watches most successful … and what countries are you still trying to developı

M.B: Our strong markets are the U.S.A and the Middle East. The U.S.A because the Façonnable brand has a very good reputation in the market there. As a reminder, Nordstrom owns Façonnable since the year 2000 and this brings a strong synergy within this market. In addition. we re-started our distribution this year with a very powerful operator called Nob-Hill Luxury Group, which is based in Florida. They have hired some of the best people in the industry to drive its watch activities.
As to the Middle East, historically, I built up very strong relations with many local operators, and once you prove that you are a reliable person in this part of the world, you have this capital – trust - and that makes the difference. All of them really tried hard to build our business with the knowledge that they had our full support. Today, in most of the Middle East countries we are No. 1 in this particular niche. I am very proud of this result because it took years to get there.
We are not that strong in Asia, but very serious and professional companies distribute the brand in Japan and the Philippines. In Hong Kong we are actually negotiating with the main retail chain there and definitely wish to develop our distribution in that part of the world. Concerning Europe, we are present in many countries, and we have great partners that know that on the old continent success is achieved step by step. We are actually trying to find a strong alliance in the UK, which can be considered as one of the most difficult markets in Europe. In fact, 75% of the business there is handled by chain stores. So, we need the right key to penetrate this network.

To conclude, I asked Michel Benatar what keeps him going as a designer.
“Pleasure! There is no better professional moment than when the first watch prototype comes out. What you have imagined and dreamed about becomes reality. That moment is magic.




HYDRA 3 WORLD
Stainless steel watch equipped with 3 ETA movements that function independently. Double sapphire crystal, black, white or multi-coloured dial, interchangeable straps or bracelet – rubberized leather and stainless steel and carbon fibre.




HYDRA LADY
Stainless steel watches, mother-of-pearl or black dial with Roman and Arabic numerals, interchangeable straps, one in galuchat and the one in satin.



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