efore being a watch expert with a long and distinguished career who has just created his own brand, for me, Michael Friedman is first and foremost... a neighbour and a friend. Although we have both been working in the watchmaking industry for a long time, we did not meet at a press event or during an interview. Switzerland being a small country, we met... at day care, where my daughter and his son are in the same class. With young children, we both have very practical experience of what a “flexible” or “elastic” concept of time means!

But Michael goes further: with his brand Pattern Recognition, he introduces a mechanical and poetic ode to B-Theory. A watch that rejects the idea of linear time in favour of a broader perception, where past, present and future coexist. With its longitudinal moon, three time planes and curved architecture, the B-Theory embodies this vision: an object that doesn’t just tell the time, but tells the story of how we perceive, feel and project it.

Michael Friedman

When talking about Pattern Recognition, his new independent brand, Michael Friedman speaks above all of a return to basics: pure creation, a direct link with craftsmen and customers, and the freedom to build a watchmaking business that draws as much on the philosophy of time as on technical knowledge. After more than twenty-five years of an extraordinary career – spanning museology, history, fine watchmaking, legendary collectors and product design – Friedman has now chosen the intimacy of a microstructure to bring deeply personal objects to life.

With its longitudinal moon, three time planes and curved architecture, the B-Theory embodies this vision: an object that doesn’t just tell the time, but tells the story of how we perceive, feel and project it.

Strong ties to the academic world

Born in New Jersey and deeply influenced by New York City, Michael Friedman grew up with a multidimensional curiosity. At university, he studied psychology under Bernie Kaplan, theorist of Symbol Formation. It was there that he discovered the concept of pattern recognition: the way in which human beings understand the present and project the future by identifying patterns in the past. An idea that would become the philosophical foundation of his brand... thirty years later. This reflection on the structures of time naturally led him to the objects that measure it. From hard science to history, from astronomy to mechanics, Friedman explored all layers: the first sundials, the birth of atomic time, the transition from mechanical clockmaking to electric to quartz and onto atomic timekeeping.

At a very young age, he joined major institutions: Willard House, the National Watch & Clock Museum, and learned directly from a mentor at the Smithsonian. There he learned to analyse objects, reconstruct their history, verify authenticity and distinguish between what is original and what is not. He received training at the highest museum level, under the guidance of figures such as Robert Cheney, Chris Bailey and Carlene Stephens. “I have never forgotten the fundamental lesson: without 1st generation documentation and deep analysis, you can’t say anything for sure,” he explains.

Working with the greatest collectors

His destiny took a turn when he received a call from Christie’s offering him a position as a watch expert overseeing the Watches and Clocks department, something he had never considered. Friedman was not yet a “watch guy”; he did not know the references by heart, but he knew how to recognise an escapement under a magnifying glass. He quickly got to grips with the job, finding himself working with the greatest collectors and dealers: Matt Bain, Davide Parmegiani, John Goldberger, and then... Eric Clapton.

His working relationship with Clapton lasted more than a decade. He assisted him with both acquisitions and sales, gaining an intimate understanding of the market, the psychology of collectors and what gives a watch its cultural value. This experience led him to pursue a career in consulting, collaborating with VCA and Jean-Marc Wiederrecht for a special launch and numerous independent collectors and watchmakers before joining Audemars Piguet full time in 2013.

At the Le Brassus manufacture, Michael Friedman occupied a hybrid and rare role: simultaneously historian, product advisor, global spokesperson and member of the creative development team. He was involved in the Remaster 01 project, the design of movements, the creation of the Code 11.59 and the repositioning of complications. He navigated between workshops, engineers, designers and management, acting as a link between culture, technology and the market. He was on first-name terms with John Mayer and Kendrick Lamar, both great aficionados (his name even appears in one of Lamar’s songs).

But over time, the desire to create his own language became irresistible. When he left the manufacture after a decade of loyal service, he had his mind made up.

Pattern Recognition: radically contemporary

For his brand, which was launched in 2023 and whose first model has just been unveiled, Michael Friedman advocates a horizontal structure, similar to the workshop system of yesteryear. He is surrounded by a small circle of trusted individuals, most of whom were former colleagues. These include Nathalie Toubin, the first to join him, who is responsible for operations, development and supply chain management. Technical masters Fabrice Deschanel (Artime) and Axel Leuenberger (Vanguart) have been development partners since the beginning. Famed designer, Claude Emmeneger helped coach Friedman to bring his design to fruition. Speciality partners include Proud Technology, Swiss specialists in laboratory-grown diamonds whom created the diamond moon for Friedman’s astronomical tourbillon watch, as well as Thierry Clottu (TCL Concepts) and Marco Tedeschi (Kross) who offered additional consultation on the bracelet.

For his brand, which was launched in 2023 and whose first model has just been unveiled, Michael Friedman advocates a horizontal structure, similar to the workshop system of yesteryear. He is surrounded by a small circle of trusted individuals.

The approach is both artisanal and scientific, poetic and rigorous: a typically “Friedmanian” synthesis. The first creation, the B-Theory, is inspired by the B-Theory of Time, dear to philosophers and widely accepted by contemporary science: past, present and future coexist and merge. This perception is close to certain Buddhist currents... and relativistic physics.

Hence the three-plane architecture, a curved shape (18°), a titanium case (52 mm long, 32 mm wide, 9.9 mm at the top), an entirely new movement housed between two lines of the case, and an astronomical display constructed like a watchmaking landscape.

The main complication, a longitudinal moon, plays on the ambiguity between the real and the unreal: the disc is made of laboratory-grown diamond, chosen for its “natural and artificial” nature, like the moon itself. No numbers, no text: everything is concealed beneath an almost jewel-like aesthetic.

Michael Friedman rejects overly complicated watches. He wants the clarity of a string quartet: each instrument must be audible. He loves historical examples of shaped watches – the Movado Polyplan, the Cartier Tank – and embraces polarising design. Particular attention is paid to the strap: fine adjustments, quarter links, detachable system. Everything is designed to create an intimate relationship with the wrist.

Horizontal, controlled, human production

The fully decorated prototypes are nearing completion, the order book is open (and filling up fast) and the first deliveries are scheduled for Summer 2026. Production will naturally be very limited, with 30 pieces next year priced between CHF 120,000 for a leather strap and CHF 150,000 for a metal bracelet, which is particularly popular. The commercial strategy is straightforward, with a trusted network.

For Michael Friedman, watchmaking remains one of the last mechanical bastions in an increasing digitized world. In this sense, through this very contradiction, it constitutes an eternal segment. An intimate piece of reflection on the passage of time. The brand aims to be sustainable, without chasing volume. Every future development will be shared with customers in an ongoing dialogue.

However, as he has seen first-hand, certain craft skills are now under threat. Friedman therefore advocates a return to a more horizontal industry, where these skills are preserved before they disappear. His project embodies this symphony of expertise.

With Pattern Recognition, Michael Friedman is not seeking to create the next trend, but to recompose, pattern by pattern, a vision of time where history, science, poetry and mechanics meet. B-Theory is not simply a complication: it is a condensed reflection, almost a manifesto. That of a man who, after spending thirty years explaining other people’s watches, is finally building his own – starting not from the market, but from meaning.

B-Theory is not simply a complication: it is a condensed reflection, almost a manifesto. That of a man who, after spending thirty years explaining other people’s watches, is finally building his own – starting not from the market, but from meaning.