Independent Watchmakers: SJX Impressions

SJX offers insightful impressions of three prominent independent watchmakers: Maximilian Büsser (MB&F), Peter Speake-Marin, and Guillaume Tetu (Hautlence). This article delves into the unique connection between the watchmaker's personality and their creations, challenging readers to consider what truly defines 'independent watchmaking.' SJX's reflections, stemming from Malaysia's 'A Journey Through Time' fair, provide a valuable perspective on the human element in haute horology.

It has often been debated, on this forum and elsewhere, what exactly independent watchmaking means. I still don’t know what it means. But I do know that understanding a timepiece from an independent watchmaker – whatever that term signifies – requires understanding the person behind it. There is always a person behind it; the product is wrapped in the personality of the maker.

In mid December 2009, I spent a week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at A Journey Through Time. It’s a watch fair held annually – this year’s is the third edition – that aims to be a consumer version of Baselworld. Admittedly that is a very ambitious goal and it will take time for the event to match its inspiration. The fair is organised by Malaysian infrastructure and construction company YTL Corp and held in the luxury goods mall it owns, Starhill Gallery.

Starhill Gallery is an unusual retail space, it’s a mall dedicated to luxury products with a focus on watches. It is probably the only such mall in the world; it has two floors almost entirely dedicated to watch retailers. And the stores are stocked with rarely seen watches that were conveniently and readily available for purchase. Amongst the watches I spotted on display were a TAG Heuer V4, MCT Sequential One and the Ulysse-Nardin Moonstruck, along with assorted complications from the brands that have boutiques there, including Richard Mille, Hublot and Chopard. The downside of the mall for the retailers inside is the painfully low foot traffic, but that makes walking around the mall a peaceful and serene experience.

But the most valuable experience I had over that week was the interaction I had with various independent watchmakers, Maximilian Busser and Peter Speake-Marin, both of their eponymously named brands, and Guillaume Tetu, co-founder of Hautlence. Though I’ve met them before on several occasions, I rarely had the chance to talk to them at length over the course of the week. It was a privilege.

The man behind the machines is always properly dressed and improperly shaven – it is obvious Max is the man behind the Horological Machines. But at the same time Max knows horology and genuinely loves what he’s doing, so his watches do not feel like empty designs. He is still engaged and focused on his brand; you sometimes get the feeling from other independent watchmakers that they had made enough money.

Yet Max isn’t a watchmaker, so his watches and brand have a different feel from those created by watchmakers like Vianney Halter or Felix Baumgartner. I have yet to figure it out exactly, but the difference is there, as it is for Richard Mille.

On the other hand, I never really understood Peter’s watches. They always seemed a little too chunky and plain, despite their high quality, especially of the various exotic dials. But now I know they are an unpretentious but high quality product from an equally unpretentious and high quality gentleman.

Peter hails from a lower-middle class English background; I asked him why he doesn’t make fancier, stylish complications and he said such watches are just not him. He speaks softly in measured tones but with obvious pride in his work, and often mentions his wife and children. The business is populated by many larger than life types because the watch industry sits uncomfortably at the crossroads of art, heritage and money; Peter is the complete antithesis of such captains of industry.

And finally I managed to see Hautlence up close. I’d met Guillaume and seen his watches before, but only briefly and they left little impression on me. After playing around with the various models, which are actually variations on a theme, I do like the timepieces, in particular the sound and feel of the near simultaneous jump of the minute hand and hour disc. I always liked jump hour or retrograde watches that make a song and dance out of the switching of the hands or discs, Hautlence does this well.

Interestingly, neither Guillaume nor any of his co-founders are watchmakers, though most of them came from TAG Heuer. As a result, Hautlence was conceived first as a new way of displaying the time, rather than as a complication, with the rest of the watch being designed around the original idea. And also because Guillaume was a designer at TAG Heuer (one of his designs is the Monaco 69), his made sure his watches sit well on the wrist, and they do.

Hautlence watches are not stiff, traditional horology and neither do they pretend to be. And likewise Guillaume is the easygoing sort with a ready laugh.

Perhaps the greatest difference between buying a watch from a brand and an independent is the personality behind it. This singular human element behind a mechanical product is the most compelling of all. I feel fortunate to know these gentlemen.

- SJX