MASTER MECHANICS

28 MANUFACTURING europa star
Jean-Marc Wiederrecht
In this regard, the Dual Tow, launched by
Christophe Claret in 2009 to celebrate the
20th anniversary of his company, synthesizes
and condenses, with its 568 components, the
spirit of timekeeping according to Claret.
This single pusher planetary chronograph with
chime is equipped with a tourbillon and beltdriven
hour displays—no less!—and is a veritable
wrist machine.A unique and totally original
particularity, the Dual Tow’s chronograph
functions thanks to three satellites or planets,
linked to a column wheel that drives the operations
via six levers and hammers in the shape of
‘legs’ that give the piece a gracious allure. It
embodies all that is Christophe Claret in a mix
of mechanical fascination, transparency and
depth of movement, as well as original displays.
THE MECHANICAL
POETRY OF AGENHOR
“Twenty-five people, it’s a nice number, isn’t
it?” asks Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, sitting in his
new ateliers, which resemble a very beautiful
and very large ultra-contemporary residence,
constructed in keeping with strict environmental
criteria. This means zero carbon emissions
thanks to a combination of natural cooling,
without air-conditioning, geothermal heating,
and solar panels. This energy autonomy corresponds
well to the idea of independence and
self-sufficiency that Jean-Marc Wiederrecht
has always cherished above all. His totally
independent and self-financed structure allows
him to be “solid, supple, open, flexible” and to
work closely with his team of three construc-
tors, nine bench watchmakers, five administrative
employees, and five managers of supplies
and quality. “I am good like this and I don’t
want to get any larger,” he concludes.
The security of this total independence has a
price: it involves having “a multiplication of
products and clients,” he explains. Indeed,
Agenhor disposes of a considerable list of
clients for a relatively modest enterprise.
There are a dozen or so large clients who are
“serious and committed for the long term,” of
which five or six make up 70 per cent of the
company’s turnover. Among the ones that we
can mention are Harry Winston, Van Cleef &
Arpels, Chaumet, De Witt, Peter Speake-Marin,
MB&F, and Arnold & Sons. The complete list is
much longer and includes a number of real
heavyweights in the haute horlogerie sector.
Beyond the retrograde
Independent since 1978, Jean-MarcWiederrecht
constructed his image notably beginning in 1988
when, along with Roger Dubuis (the man and
not the brand, which did not yet exist), he developed
the first module of a bi-retrograde perpetual
calendar for Harry Winston. This world’s
first was rapidly followed by a flurry of inventions
such as the Double GMT, the Tri-Retrograde, a
Time Equation, and Universal Time, which made
his reputation as the ‘King of the Retrograde’.
The mechanical talents of Jean-Marc Wiederrecht
went way beyond the retrograde with an
entirely other kind of invention in 2002, which
allowed him to ‘liberate’ his watchmaking by
facilitating the work: a patent for specially
split toothed gears realized with Mimotec. By
introducing a form of elasticity in the gearing,
avoiding all blockage or tightening of the
teeth against each other, and allowing continuous
contact of the gears between each other,
Wiederrecht opened new opportunities for the
mechanical expression of his dreams.
Mechanical poems
Since Jean-Marc Wiederrecht is a watchmakerpoet
in the best sense of the term, he wanted to
create dreams with his gears, gearing and cams.
For this reason, he particularly likes feminine
timepieces. He likes to work with them because
they“tell stories”,he says with a smile.The most
striking example of his proclivity for ladies’
watches is the work he does with Van Cleef &
Arpels. The brand turned to Agenhor to create
its small mechanical works of poetic art—the
Quantième de Saisons,the Fairy,the Midnight in
Paris, and the Pont des Amoureux. “Starting
with the drawings, the stories, and making the
dreams come true in beautiful watches” are
evidently what motivates Wiederrecht the most.
One example of a real watchmaking challenge
is exemplified by the two lovers who join each
other every hour on the bridge in the Pont des
Amoureux, but this posed a mechanical problem.
At the moment of their separation (their
‘retrogradation’), it was very difficult to exactly
synchronize their double movement that is
driven by two hands that did not turn at the
same minute. It was necessary, therefore, to
invent a small hook, new to watchmaking, to
lock the two figures together, arm in arm, until
it was time for them to leave each other exactly
at the same time.