MASTER MECHANICS

32 MANUFACTURING europa star
Laurent Besse and Manuel Spöde
THE GRAND LEGO OF
LES ARTISANS HORLOGERS
When we enter the ancient 17th century mill
where LesArtisans Horlogers is located, the first
thing we see are three identical wall clocks that
show the same time with a small discrepancy.
Below are not written Paris, New York and
Hong Kong, but rather Neuchâtel, La Chaux-de-
Fonds, and Le Locle. This rather humoristic display
is a reminder of the company’s roots in
Jurassian timekeeping and perhaps also a way
to turn their noses up at globalization.
Laurent Besse, Co-founder and associate of
Manuel Spöde, welcomes us. Together Besse
and Spöde created Les Artisans Horlogers
seven years ago, in 2004. Manuel Spöde is
both experienced in business—having worked
in management and in sales—and in watchmaking
with a diploma from WOSTEP. He has
worked in watch restoration, the creation and
development of products, industrialization,
restructuring of watch companies and commercial
services. His diverse background seems
to correspond perfectly with that of Laurent
Besse, a graduate of the watchmaking school
in Besançon, with experience at Nouvelle
Lémania and Frédéric Piguet. Besse also
worked with Eric Klein, head of the multibrand
research and development department
at Richemont.While there, he met a good part
of the new generation of CEOs in watchmaking
such as Antonio Calce (Corum), Hamdi
Chatti (Louis Vuitton), and Michel Nieto (formerly
at Baume & Mercier). He contributed to
the development of products for Cartier and
Piaget, but the ambiance of a large group with
its decision-making constraints and slowness
did not enchant him. He then moved to the
Conseil Ray office, and developed movements
for Zenith, notably, that he joined some time
later when Thierry Nataf arrived on the scene.
But he didn’t stay there very long. He again
runs into Manuel Spöde, whom he had met
some years earlier. Together, they restructured
STT that would become Dimier when it was
sold to Pascal Raffy from Bovet. At the same
time, they founded Les Artisans Horlogers.
The logic of (luxury) Lego
When they created Les Artisans Horlogers
(LAH), their concept was fully developed and
their approach was clearly defined. They
would take six full years to realize their programme
and make their production totally
reliable. Laurent Besse compares their idea to
the Lego principle: have a repertory of compatible
pieces that, starting with the same
essential components, would let you create
“everything you want”, or nearly. With these
small Lego blocks can be created a chateau, a
speedboat or a pirate ship.With the LAH components
can be built a tourbillon, a regulator,
or an MB&F machine. The central element of
the LAH Lego is a basic calibre that was
totally developed by them, a calibre that is
“well built and simple so that it can be customized
without too much effort,” as explains
Besse in a few words. “We therefore see many
elements from one calibre to another,” he
adds, “but this way of proceeding lets us avoid
having to always reinvent the wheel and
allows us to offer a complete range of products,
totally operational, that can also accept
existing additional modules. For example, I
think of the chronograph modules of Dubois-
Dépraz. Moreover, these calibres are not templates
and have strictly nothing to do with