IF ONLY WALLS COULD SPEAK - Blancpain

Blancpains with complications such as the
triple date moon phase and GMT.
Along the way, he gained experience in the
950 base movement, which is used in the
Blancpain Lady Bird.
Next came the perpetual calendar. As he
recounted this progression of ever more
complicated watches, I interrupted. How
did it come to pass that he had become
experienced in so many different movements
and complications in such a short
period of time, when his peers from the
Ecole Technique might still be stuck working
on their first movement, or perhaps even
just a few elements of that movement? His
answer was simple and insightful: it is all a
question of motivation. For him watchmaking
is not a job, it is a passion.
He had a very
clever method
for gaining assignments
on new things.
When he saw another
watchmaker working
on a complication on which he had yet to
gain experience, he devoted time to observing
the new techniques and asking questions.
Never once at Blancpain was he turned
down in these requests.
So step by step, he has moved up the ladder
to tourbillons. It is clear that tourbillons
please him a great deal. He appreciates the
delicacy of the tourbillon cage and the nearly
microscopic components contained within it.
He clearly is proud that he quickly mastered
the level of concentration on the details
of this delicate mechanism which is demanded
of any watchmaker who works upon it.
This then provoked another question. When
working on something this difficult, does he
ever find himself cornered and frustrated
and forced to put down the task? My
question clearly had stumbled into territory
familiar to every watchmaker who works
upon taxing complications. “Yes”, he confessed,
there are times when a technique
“makes his head feel two times its size”, but
rather than put the task aside to resume it
later (when presumably the swelling will
have subsided), he prefers to stick with the
problem until it is solved.
So where does he go from here? What is
to be the next challenge after the tourbillon?
46 | 47
Already he had set
his sights on new
ground: split-seconds
chronographs! Indeed,
working beside
him—the neighboring
bench, if you will—was a watchmaker
devoted to the Blancpain, Le Brassus
Collection, split-seconds flyback perpetual
chronograph. The observations and questions
had begun and he was certain that the
split-seconds was to be his next stop as he
climbs the ladder.
And what of life in the Vallée de Joux.
How can we put this delicately? As romantic
as the notion of the cradle of watchmaking
may seem to collectors, this remote lake valley
perched in the Jura mountains, has never
been described as offering the throbbing,
pulsating scintillating night life of London,
IMMEDIATELY HIS EYES SPARKLED AND HIS DEMEANOR BECAME ALL
BUSINESS. INDEED, THAT WAS THE FIRST TOURBILLON UPON WHICH HE HAD
WORKED AND MAKING THAT UNMISTAKABLY GAULLIC GESTURE OF THUMB
AND FOREFINGER BROUGHT TO THE LIPS, IT WAS WORKING “SWEETLY”.
Careful inspection of
a Tourbillon Grande Date
Paris or New York. So is there at least one
night spot? Indeed, there is. A discotheque.
Which he has visited but once, and then only
to humor his sister who insisted he go.
Instead he seeks out the pleasures in which
the Vallée excels, nature, sport (did you
know that Blancpain has a small ski lift but
50 yards from the Le Brassus atelier, which
on a perfect Friday afternoon, with fresh
powder snow empties the etablis) and quiet
evenings with friends over fondue. ■