e continue to push the boundaries of watchmaking madness!” exclaimed Dr Pablo Richard when we met him this year at the Cyrus booth at Watches and Wonders. A doctor by training, this smartly attired devotee of Havana cigars (he is also the man behind premium cigar brand Patoro) perfectly embodies the values of his brand: enjoyable, colourful, ultra-creative watchmaking, a symbol of success steadfastly refuses any form of compromise or moderation, instead aiming to push mechanical and aesthetic boundaries, while ensuring that form and function work in harmony.

Dr Pablo Richard, owner and president of Cyrus Watches.

Never mind the fact that recent years have seen modest dimensions and vintage inspirations reign supreme in the watch industry. Founded in 2010, Cyrus is part of the early 21st-century wave of decompartmentalisation that broke all watchmaking codes in order to better reinvent the discipline. A classicist “counter-revolution” was inevitable and has indeed occurred, yet the brand continues to blaze is own trail. With a production of some 500 watches per year, equipped with sophisticated complications and an average price tag of between CHF 30,000 and 40,000, it caters to a very select clientele. “We are growing in step with our retailers, most of whom are independent family businesses... just like us.”

This year, the brand is launching a new collection named Dominion: a first GMT model with a new 42mm round case housing a retrograde dual-time function. It is available in two versions: the Dominion GMT Gold in a 25-piece limited edition and the Dominion GMT Titanium in a 28-piece series. Both models are powered by self-winding Calibre CYR708 – developed in-house by master watchmaker Jean-François Mojon, Cyrus’ creative mastermind – featuring a regulating organ beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz) and a single barrel ensuring a 55-hour power reserve. Mojon is behind all of the brand’s creations with his workshop Chronode, which is also owned by the Richard family (read our profile of Chronode here).

Dominion GMT: the first model in a brand-new collection from Cyrus.

Cyrus is also presenting the new Klepcys Vertical Tourbillon Sapphire Blue, the latest addition to its Klepcys collection and most important line. Powered by hand-wound Calibre CYR625, this new eight-piece tourbillon complication edition stands out with its revamped design combining a precious 44mm sapphire crystal case with 18K white gold elements and vibrant electric blue detailing, lending the timepiece a more contemporary allure. Featuring a retrograde jumping hour and retrograde minute functions, this model also retains its unique signature: an innovative tourbillon cage at the dial centre, positioned on a vertical axis set at a 90° angle rather than horizontally.

At this year’s edition of Watches and Wonders, the brand also presented the Klepcys Vertical Tourbillon Sapphire Blue, a perfect embodiment of Cyrus’ principles of transparency and 3D architecture with its brand-signature central vertical bridge.

Our archives enable us to retrace the history of Cyrus. Launched in 2010 by Laurent Lecamp (now Global Managing Director of Montblanc) and his cousin Julien Lecamp, the Geneva-based brand called on the expertise of Le Locle-based Chronode for its technical development at a very early stage. In 2014, Hans-Peter Richard and his son Pablo Richard, initially investors, took over the entire brand including Chronode. The Richards are unusual in that they are both doctors, as well as being passionate watchmaking enthusiasts. Richard senior still practises internal medicine, while his son has given up his practice to devote himself to his entrepreneurial activities. There are certainly interesting parallels between the two worlds: precision, expertise, as well as a keen eye for aesthetics, since one of their specialities is plastic surgery!

In 2011, the Klepcys was presented at the Geneva Time Exhibition, bringing together the best of the contemporary independent watchmaking scene. The collection remains Cyrus’s most iconic to date and has given rise to numerous interpretations.

©Archives Europa Star 2011

“We enjoy great creative freedom at Cyrus, favouring 3D architecture and spectacular complications”, says Pablo Richard. The first collections – Kuros and Klepsys – were presented in 2011 at what was then the Geneva Time Exhibition, reserved for independent creative watchmaking. Two years later came Kambys, a hand-wound watch with a tonneau-shaped case and seven-day power reserve, featuring a secret animation.”Among the brand’s key milestones in terms of innovation is the release of our central vertical tourbillon with its highly recognisable bridge, as well as our single-pusher chronograph enabling two independent time measurements, or DICE for Double Independent Chronograph Evolution."

Mars, the red planet, inspired this version of the Klepcys presented by Cyrus at Baselworld 2012.

©Archives Europa Star 2012

Other strong technical and aesthetic signatures include unconventional “sculpted” cases, two functional crowns at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock, 3D dials, skeletonisation, retrograde displays, double orbital tourbillons, along with a pronounced taste for transparency and astronomical complications. Having Jean-François Mojon at the creative and technical helm definitely gives the brand a major advantage, thanks to developments reserved exclusively for Cyrus within Chronode – the Manufacture to which it is attached and that ensures its complete autonomy in the design, production and assembly of its calibres.

A portrait of Cyrus, with its master watchmaker Jean-François Mojon, published in Europa Star in 2019.

©Archives Europa Star 2019

Cyrus’s creations are particularly popular in Hong Kong, Switzerland and the Middle East, its three main markets. The CEO sums it up in these terms: “We want to distinguish ourselves through our relentless pursuit of mechanical innovation, continuing to push the envelope”, adding that “we launched a new round case design last year that opens up opportunities for us in a segment that is more elegant, refined and classic, yet also more affordable, while still offering high-end mechanics.”

The Klepcys DICE Lime made a big impression at its launch with its independently operating dual chronograph system. A resolutely Haute Horlogerie model with a bold design, featured here by Europa Star in 2022.

©Archives Europa Star 2022

The double orbital tourbillon is another Cyrus signature feature. This Etheral model also paved the way for round cases from the brand, with Benjamin Muller in charge of design, as illustrated by this 2024 article in Europa Star.

©Archives Europa Star 2024

Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Empire – the great Persian empire of the 6th century BC – had “singled out Mars” to be his next conquest, as the brand pointed out during one of its first appearances at the GPHG. The horizon is thus set for the creations of his contemporary avatar...