WHL
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Unedited Travel Notes from a Trip to Geneva from 2005 (Busser and Dufour)
On my most recent trip to Geneva for SIHH 2015 I brought along a travel journal and reread bits from my first trip to Geneva in 2005, where the focus was to visit Vacheron Constantin on its 250th anniversary, but which also included visits with Max Busser (unplanned) and Philippe Dufour (by appointment, with Alex Ghotbi’s assistance) before the VC parts of trip occurred. I hope you enjoy this look back.
I intended to arrive in Geneva early enough on Sunday, Oct 16 so that I could attend an Antiquorum auction, one lot of which I would have liked to have bid on. Murphy’s Law worked its magic via its impish agent Northwest Airlines and I arrive around 5 PM:
Finally in Geneva!
My bag was still in Amsterdam!
I dealt with the baggage claim people and arranged for the garment bag to be brought to the hotel. I called Felipe soon after I got to my room. We agreed to meet in the lobby. When I got there, instead of the 2 of us it turned into a dinner for 8: me, felipe, IanS, ThomasM, Suitbert, Gary, MaxH, and (Paul) Boutros. We had a fantastic Italian meal, and someone passed around his Breguet Tradition, the first one I have seen live as it had only recently been announced.
We returned to the hotel @ 9, when TM had a meeting with Max Busser, formerly of JLC and Harry Winston, who now has formed MB&F (Max Busser and Friends), where the watches will be inspired by him, but made by independent makers. He will acknowledge all who help him - not a common practice - in fact a discouraged practice, but an honest one.
It was an unexpected treat to go out @ 9:30 and have coffee and dessert with Max and all those who were at dinner save for Ian and MaxH.
Max is very proud of the work he has done as well as what he currently is doing. He said his favorite watch is the next one he designs (most businessmen would say it is the next one he sells). He is very passionate and charming and I wish him well.
Monday, Oct 17, 2005
The 7:30 wake up felt early!
I showered and dressed and went down for a simple breakfast.
I left for the airport, taking the train, ad little before 9, to set up the rental car for the trip up to Le Sentier to meet with Philippe Dufour.
I had plenty of time to wait for Mats’s (doc) flight to arrive from Copenhagen and wrote in this journal and read a magazine to pass the time. Mats’s flight was a little late, but it was no matter since Felipe and Paul were late showing up as well. We greeting each other with a hug and then called Felipe to find out where he was, which was waiting for a taxi to get to the airport. Mats and I had an espresso and cappuccino respectively and traded travel horror stories.
We then talked about watches for a bit and then Felipe and Paul showed up.
We headed out, driving up the highway on the north side of Lake Geneva, turning off at Gland and heading up the mountain. We drove into the clouds and eventually out of them, the drive un-noteworthy until the skies turned blue and we saw incredible foliage. We stopped at a scenic vista that looked down the mountain, over the cloud shrouded Lake Geneva, and back to the majestic Alps in the distance.
We continued winding our way up the mountain and then down into the Vallee de Joux, the heart of find Swiss watchmaking , passing the expansive buildings that house AP and JLC (Philippe Dufour had worked for both of them)
Le Solliat, the exact village where PD has his atelier is so small that we blew right past it, getting to the next village before looking at the map and realizing we went too far. We turned around and went back to Le Solliat and parked at the former schoolhouse that houses the workshop. I knocked on his door.
Nothing.
Mats, deadpan, “That was anticlimactic.”
It was lunchtime and so we waited and within 15 minutes one of PD’s assistants arrived, opened the workshop, and let us in. PD arrived 5 minutes later, pin in hand, and we presented gifts to him - he really like receiving the bottle of California Cabernet.
PD is immensely charming and extraordinarily passionate - very proud of the traditions of Swiss watchmaking and in his efforts to sustain them: modern machines are useful and have their place, but the value lies in the manual labor that goes into finishing those parts to that they are both beautiful and functional.
We watch two of his 3 assistants work on beveling unfinished parts, and heard the constant scraping sounds as they filed away on almost impossible small parts.
PD feat that the knowledge to do this work is dying with the older generation of watchmakers.
If the Swiss do not add value to the movement blanks, then watch out for the Chinese, he warns. They are getting better and better at creating movements for watches.
We inspect a number of his watches - about 14 are just about ready to be sent out to customers who have waited for a couple of years to delivery.
We left for Geneva after a 2 hour visit, stopping for croque-madame sandwiches on the way at a pub type restaurant…….
