Independents

Laurent Ferrier – some more pictures and personal thoughts …

 

Last year I had the pleasure to see their watches for the first time. It was in January 2011, in Geneva.

Some impressions from last year, first:

(Couldn´t resist to create a background for my computer monitor, based on Guy´s pictures, afterwards )

As much as I liked their approach in general, I was not 100% convinced (to be honest) with their continuity of quality. All of the watches shown high-level finished, but not all of them on the same level. I know it is difficult enough to do one “perfect” watch, but even more difficult to do a “serial” production on that kind of finishing level. Maybe I am too picky, but hey we are talking about the Crème de la Crème of watchmaking, aren´t we?

The same evening I heard about their Galet Micro-Rotor project and that they plan to show it in Basel 2011. What I have heard was good enough to get my attention on such a project – a simple three hand watch, with the Laurent Ferrier approach. Very promising in general, but in the beginning I thought: Why does it come with an automatic movement? Would prefer to see something simple and with a proper manual winding movement. Nonetheless, they got my attention for that project.

 

There was Basel with some prototypes and there was the “Only-One” watch for a charity auction, both very mouthwatering. When I heard about their plans to move into a new house and to hire more people, I was really keen on to the latest developments of that relatively new brand. It was time to make an appointment with them.

During SIHH 2012 I visited them and didn´t regret to get up early, even after a long night and during a busy fair. I was not surprised to meet friendly people with lots of passion for watches, because I already met a few of them a year ago. What surprised me were the new “home” and the all-over attention to the detail. Not too big, not too small … just proper. What started like an interesting project looked more like a real brand, now. New colleagues will join the team and their allover production goals for 2012 are quiet sporty, but feasible.

Before we come to some watches, let´s start with Laurent Ferrier – the man behind:

Even on the picture one can feel seriousness and passion. Sometimes there is no need to speak the same language to understand each other.

When some people are ready to retire, he founded a new brand. I was not sure if the (watch) world was waiting for a new brand, but he managed to find a niche – his niche. So far his watches have been classical, nothing more – nothing less. What makes them even more special (at least to me) is the level of finish and the attention to the detail - without being “extravagant”.

Let´s have a quick look at some impressions from the new factory:

There is nothing like CNC machines in the house, because they don´t do it in-house. Of course there is modern technology like Computers, CAD, Witschi´s and so on, but the difference for me is something else. Something special this is shown in the above pictures. Any guess what I mean?

OK, to me the anglage makes the difference and therefore you can see a little wooden stick in the last pictures. There are different methods to do a proper anglage and the most sophisticated one is by hand. Very time consuming and difficult to do! What for? It´s made like this only for minor imperfections, only for the “ultimate” aesthetical pleasure of connoisseurs and for the uniqueness. That´s all!

Only a few people (even in the world of haute-horlogerie) follow that time-consuming approach, these days. Wooden disks are the best I saw most of the time and time is what they are saving. The result looks similar, but only similar to non-connoisseurs. A friend compared the watches of Laurent Ferrier with the work of Philippe Dufour and I think this is quite a statement. He is someone who is lucky enough to own one of Philippe´s watches and much more experienced on that kind of watches than me. All I can say is: I am impressed from what I have seen, from their current production.

To me the “simple” three hands watch, with micro-rotor is more important than those with tourbillon or hidden “pictures” – even when they are also beautiful. Simple things that are close to be perfect are even more difficult to do and even rarer these days. Therefore I really appreciate them.

Enough words, let´s have a look at the Galet Micro-Rotor:

Time for some details …

The simple pin-buckle is in 18K white gold or in 5N red gold. A double-blade folding clasp is available as well.

·          Case diameter: 40 mm

·          Case thickness: 10.70 mm

·          Dial: silver-toned or slate grey with vertical satin-brushed finish

·          Hour-markers: drop-shaped in 18K white gold or 5N red gold

·          Hands: “Assegai-shaped” in 18K gold for the hours and minutes, baton-shaped for the seconds

(Just for completeness a picture from Guy, another perfectionist and well known for his gorgeous photos of watches)

Straight lines, “sexy” curves, subtle details … and everything in matching shape

·          Movement: FBN (Ferrier, Babasini and Navas) Calibre 229.01 , automatic winding with pawl-fitted micro-rotor, 80-hour power reserve

- micro-rotor winding system fixed between the main plate and the micro-rotor bridge

- silicon escapement with double direct impulse on the balance

- a silent block shock protection system for the micro-rotor

There have been several improvements on the movement, since Basel 2011.

Will not explain them in detail, because we have some PuristS which could do that job much better than me

You couldn´t see all the tiny details and the “deepness” of the movement from my “travelling” pictures and therefore I will show you some more close-ups
from their official pictures (details taken from the press-kit) …

… just for the pleasure of looking –even when they can´t beat the real thing.

A watch is much more than just the look and the movement. The fit and feel on the wrist is as important.

OK, time to show some wrist-shots …

… two more pictures from the back (because it is just too beautiful ) …

… and at another wrist (from a fellow PuristS moderator) …

… and back to mine in a different metal …

(Attention: this is not the final strap)

… and with different colors.

From the amount of pictures I have shown to you, you can probably guess how much I love the Galet Micro-Rotor. Which angle/detail is more beautiful? Just couldn´t decide which one to show to you. Everything looks beautiful and not less important (to me) feels (close to be) perfect on the wrist. Close to be, because with 1 or 2 mm less it would be even better for my wrist. With the extra money in my pocket I would place my order, immediately. To me it is one of the currently most interesting watches on the market (for what it is) and it is priced reasonable – even when it is far from being a bargain. Reasonable prices are even rarer than interesting watches … but that is another story.

For those who are still reading/looking I will show one more piece, which is special for the year of the dragon.

At the end I would like to share one more picture, which I like a lot.

Interesting watches, made by interesting personalities are hard to beat and are a great addition to the current watch industry.
Of course this does not only count for Laurent Ferrier and quite a few from the independents come to my mind.

Hope you enjoyed reading and looking.

Oliver

PS: Just for the pleasure of looking ...

 

 

This message has been edited by small-luxury-world on 2012-02-25 14:12:47 This message has been edited by small-luxury-world on 2012-02-26 08:15:00

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