ormed in law at the University of Fribourg and holder of a barrister’s certificate in Zurich, doctor and author, Sébastien Chaulmontet never sat on the benches of a watchmaking school. That did not prevent him from becoming a specialist in movement innovation. He learned watchmaking in a different way: by dismantling, collecting and questioning history and its flaws.

In January 2008, he took a step forward by joining La Joux-Perret, which was undergoing major changes at the time. The company also owned the Arnold & Son brand. Chaulmontet became a co-shareholder and, above all, a creative force. Very early on, he also developed a fascination for Angelus, a pioneering chronograph brand that is now cult among collectors. He acquired more and more vintage models.

One day, during a wedding on the shores of Lake Thun, he received a call. “As I was in a bit of a hurry, I asked straight away what it was about. The person on the other end of the line replied that they wanted to talk to me about Angelus. I then asked them which model was involved, and that’s when they explained that what they were offering was not a watch, but the brand itself. That’s how it all started,” he tells us.

He discussed it with Frédéric Wenger, then owner of La Joux-Perret. With the support of Joël Pynson, he rebuilt the archives and relaunched Angelus.

Sébastien Chaulmontet, founder of Albishorn Watches (left), with Fabien Collioud, head of design for the brand, which has made the historical world of watchmaking its playground.

The high end at La Joux-Perret

Times changed in the new millennium and after Citizen bought La Joux-Perret in 2012 (read our article from that time here), Chaulmontet remained for another five years to oversee the transformation of the manufacture, which specialises in high-end watches. Panerai, Hublot and Franck Muller are among its most important clients.

As we reported at the time, the transaction was worth around CHF 65 million, with total sales of approximately CHF 40 million, generated by 150 employees manufacturing some 50,000 movements and modules per year. This was a period of major vertical integration: large groups were internalising their movements, while independent manufacturers were seeking alternative industrial solutions.

At La Joux-Perret, Chaulmontet oversaw the creation of split-seconds calibres, tourbillons and other innovations, some of which were very high-end. But industrial logic quickly caught up with creative momentum: ‘Often, a brand would succeed by moving upmarket with us, but then go on to develop its own movement,’ he summarises. Since then, the manufacturer has done well by returning to solid basic calibres and even solar quartz, recently prompting LVMH to acquire a minority stake (read our detailed article here).

The Maxigraph, Albishorn Watches’ inaugural piece, created with William Massena of Massena Lab: an imaginary single-push-button regatta chronograph designed for the 1939 Bol d’Or on Lake Geneva. Sector dial, patented 10-minute retrograde countdown, running indicator at 4 o’clock.

Arrival at Sellita: scaling up

In 2017, Chaulmontet joined Sellita, changing galaxies once again, within this alternative to ETA, which was rapidly gaining momentum and producing millions of movements per year. But here too, he developed the high-end range with Manufacture AMT, Sellita’s dedicated branch. Here, everything is about efficiency, industrial reliability and robustness. ‘Our return rate is 1.7%. Compare that with 10% for some internal movements. Industrialisation changes everything,’ he insists.

The Type 10 model designed by Albishorn Watches is a single-push-button military chronograph, officially certified by the COSC, featuring a patented movement. It is the hypothetical predecessor of the French Army’s Type 20 and may have been commissioned by the French Army in 1948 as its first official chronograph...

Sellita works with the biggest names, but always behind the scenes. ‘For the end customer, the most important thing is that the watch does not need to be returned for servicing and that it has a strong identity.’ This requirement pushes the company to go beyond its simple role as a subcontractor, seeking to provide brands with solid but distinctive technical foundations.

Chaulmontet maintains his characteristic critical view: “True success lies in volume. The tragedy is that there is no longer any volume. Everyone wants manufacture calibres, but without volume, it’s not viable.‘ According to him, the obsession with high-end manufacture obscures the essential: design, ’the primary language of watchmaking”, which is too often neglected.

Also a single-push-piece chronograph with a particularly slim movement and a 64-hour power reserve, the Marinagraph model combines the aesthetics of a diving watch with the precision of a genuine regatta timer.

Albishorn: uchronia as a language

A knowledgeable collector, he does not mince his words, which is rare in a profession that values discretion. This fifty-something, with his eternally youthful appearance (and spirit), is wary of the current wave of reissues: “As a collector, I have never bought a reissue. If I want a model from the 1950s, I prefer the original.‘ For him, the industry too often falls back on its past, to the detriment of invention. The same is true of the unloved quartz: ’It has been badly neglected, even though technologically it remains at the heart of innovation.” But this past can also be invented... or rather reinvented.

This observation led to the creation of Albishorn Watches, in the £3,000 to £5,000 price range. Its name comes from a small 915-metre mountain in the canton of Zurich, which offers a unique view of Lake Zurich on one side and Lake Zug on the other from its summit. A strange name for a strange concept: ‘Imaginary Vintage’. Not in terms of copying or reissuing, but in terms of uchronia.

The Thundergraph Himalaya chronograph model with rotating bezel, inspired by a Swiss expedition to Everest in 1952 led by Dr. Wyss-Dunant, with particular attention paid to readability and functionality, even in extreme cold and low light conditions.

Its guiding principle is clear: to invent watches ‘that could have existed but never did’. True uchronias of watchmaking. Like the Type 10, the imaginary ancestor of the Type 20, or navigation instruments that never took the form of a wristwatch. While at Angelus, he had already launched the U10, his first alternate history project. ‘It was a mechanical watch inspired by the aesthetic codes of 1970s electronics (Braun by Dieter Rams, Brionvega televisions, etc.), right down to the integration of a dead second, a nod to quartz technology.’

The ‘impossible’ complications that equip today’s Albishorn models are naturally powered by proprietary calibres, developed by this lawyer who, by force of circumstance, became a specialist in movement innovation. Sébastien Chaulmontet was given permission to develop his brand alongside his role at Sellita in 2021. Albishorn was finally officially launched in 2024, with a particular focus on the development of fine chronograph movements.

Limited to 99 pieces, the Type 10 Officer is inspired by post-war pilot chronographs.

Restoring watchmaking’s capacity for imagination

‘Watchmaking is full of ideas that could have seen the light of day,’ he explains. ‘We create original and unique watches that embody, so to speak, the missing links.’ Albishorn becomes a testing ground: not for nostalgia, but for uchronia. ‘What if?’

Sébastien Chaulmontet embodies a fruitful paradox: that of a lawyer turned watchmaker, an industrialist turned storyteller, a collector turned inventor of alternate histories. From La Joux-Perret to Sellita, he has navigated the logic of volume, industrial stress and legal battles.

With Albishorn, he is claiming another path: restoring watchmaking’s capacity for imagination, beyond reissues and copies, by inventing watches that extend history... through its missed possibilities.