Post by CHIP on Jul 17, 2007 8:24:26 GMT -6
Credit: Avalon
Well, sadly this is will be my final report from the watch tour.
However, I believe I have saved the best for last.
Personally Mr. Dufour made the biggest impact on me of any person or place that we visited. I think it’s safe to say that he is the best known independent out there, and from what I have seen sets the standard that others try to follow.
His shop is an unassuming sort of place located at Le Sentier in the Vallee-de-Joux. It was once the local school house.
It lacks any fancy signs and gives little indication of what goes on inside. This is me standing out front.
We step inside and are transported to another world. You won’t find a lot of high technology here outside of a few specific pieces of equipment. Except for a few items it looks like a scene out of another time…….the shop has the feel of the “old world.” Now that is not to say that modern technology is not used at his shop on production of his watches, because he does use technology for the purpose of accuracy, and he uses AutoCAD to do his own watch/movement designs. But there is no doubt that while he uses technology to get the level of precision he demands in his watches, he also embraces the traditional techniques that are the true art of watch making. You will see more of that later in the report.
We were greeted by Philippe who welcomed us to his shop and gave us his own personal history. Here is a black and white shot of Philippe as he details his career as a watchmaker.
He graduated as a watch maker and began his career in the 1970’s, and worked for some of the big houses both locally and in various spots around the world. But he explained that he became disillusioned with those places and how they were managed. He eventually went out on his own in the late 70’s, and began repairing old and very valuable timepieces. Along the way he began to recognize the work of masters in the pieces that he was repairing, and decided that he should make his own high complication movements. He made several examples of a Grande and Petite Sonnerie minute repeater pocket watch movements in the early to mid 80’s. The first movement took him 2000 hours to complete! These were world firsts, and the movements were sold to one of the big houses (Audemars Piguet) and sold as their own watches.
Here is an example of one of those movements….
And here is a watch that is at his shop for cleaning that was once owned by the Sultan of Brunei…..marked as an Audemars Piguet watch, but housing one of those Dufour movements…..
Philippe explained that he received some of these movements back for repairs before they had even been completely cased at the big factories. The watch makers who were assigned to do the final work on these were rather ham-fisted in their approach, and managed to damage the movements because they really didn’t understand them. He was quite dismayed by the treatment his work was being given considering the time and effort he was putting into those movements.
He decided that the only way to be truly satisfied was to make his own watches under his own name. So in the late 80’s he locked himself away and started on his first wrist watch under his own name. The first watch he released at the Basel show in 1992 immediately put him on the map, as it was a wrist version of his Grande and Petite Sonnerie minute repeater! The retail on this watch was in the area of 600,000 Swiss Francs! Six of these incredible watches (including a revised version that had even more features) were produced.
In 1996 he again made history by releasing the Duality. Only 9 examples of this watch were made, and we were fortunate that the only one to come up for open auction had just come to his shop to be checked out after being sold recently. This is the very first model produced, and is serial #00. The original retail price of this watch was 95,000 Swiss Francs, and this example sold at auction for 180,000 Swiss Francs. So when they tell you that Rolex and Patek are the only watches out there to gain in value over time, this isn’t bad for a 10 year return on investment!
The face of the duality belies its complexity. Looking at the front only the very observant will notice anything different from a standard time only watch…..the “second hand” takes 2 minutes to make one revolution of the sub-dial.
Looking at the back, you begin to understand that this is not an ordinary watch. Far from it…..
What’s that? Two escapements?
Yes, this was the first wrist watch in history to use two escapements at once to control one time display. The two escapements together, through the use of what Dufour describes as a “flat differential” similar to what is in a car, control the second hand and overall timing of the watch. The errors in each escapement cancel each other out, resulting in an accurate watch. Of course aside from that it is a thing of beauty as well, although about as “stealth” as it gets.
As we listened to Philippe speak, I took this photo.
That is the watch I came to see along with its brothers. It is the very first of the Simplicity models. This prototype model is only 34mm, and it is Philippe’s personal watch. The watch could be ordered in either the 34mm version or a 37mm version.
The Simplicity was launched in the year 2000. The idea here was to create something very simple, but very pure. I think it is safe to say that this is as good as it gets when it comes to the simple watch. Limited to a run of 200, these were sold out long ago. So far 130 have been produced, and 70 remain to be made. I believe the retail on these are 75,000 Swiss Francs, and Mr. Dufour refuses at least 2 orders for this watch per week. Each watch takes approximately one month to produce, so his shop will be turning these out for some time as with everyone there the total production is 2 watches per month.
In addition to the prototype, he had 2 others for us to look at.
I hate to say it, but I love the sheer…..Simplicity…..of the dial.
And of course the movement execution is truly second to none.
Here is the style I would like. Rose gold case……oh my god that is beautiful!
Since my photos don’t even come close to showing the beauty of this watch, I am including a link to SteveG’s site. He is a top notch photographer of watches, and his photos of the Simplicity are simply stunning.
ninanet.net/watches/others08/Mediums/mdufour.html
Now how is all this accomplished? Well, originally Mr. Dufour worked alone, but the day we were there he had 3 others working with him in the shop. One was a watch maker from Japan who was finishing up his training in order to service these watches for Asia. Apparently Asia is a big market for Dufour pieces accounting for 2/3 of his sales, so steps are being taken to make sure someone there can service them. However with a watch like the Simplicity, unless parts are needed (that can be obtained through Dufour) any good watch maker could do a basic service on the movement. The other two watch makers were helping produce the remaining Simplicity orders and if I recall one was leaving for another job soon.
Here a piece is being given a “black polish” on a tin plate.
Abrasive paste is put on the tin plate. I believe it would be diamond powder in this case. The part is then hand polished by moving it across the plate. In this case the part is the cock for the escape wheel that has Geneva stripes on it in combination with black polish around the jewel.
Here you can see the paste and the plate.
In this photo the other watch maker is polishing countersinks on the movement plates. It’s hard to see in this photo, but he is holding a “bow” that is used to provide the power for the polishing operation.
Here you can see the parts he is working on. He has just finished doing some of the polishing and is about to clean out the hole and inspect the finish.
I took a video of the operation in progress. I have edited out the sound to save you the chatter in the background.
media.putfile.com/P-Dufour-atelier
So this process, along with the tin plate polishing, is very labour intensive. In this operation the part to be polished is held in the left hand, and a shaft of ebony is attached to a pulley. One end of the shaft is inserted into a fixture that is clamped in a vice, and the other is of the same shape as the countersink being polished. The polishing end of the shaft is set with polishing compound, and the bow is used on the pulley to spin the ebony. We spoke with the watch maker who was doing this operation, and he said that he knows how the work is going by visually inspecting the polish, but can also feel the surface getting smoother as he goes. When we asked him how long it took to do one piece, his answer was not facetious, but indicative of the philosophy there….he said “As long as it takes to be perfect.”
Speaking practically, we arrived there mid-afternoon, and he was starting on his 3rd piece of the day (each piece has three countersinks to be polished).
Here is a close-up of the countersink he was working on.
So knowing that Philippe is the master of movement finishing, and I have toyed with doing some finishing myself, I asked him about producing Cotes de Genève. He asked why I wanted to learn this, and when I told him I wanted to try it myself, he remarked that he wasn’t sure if he should help out future competition or not.
Of course tongue in cheek, and as I received my lesson, Jacqui took over with the camera. Of course once he started explaining the finer details to me, others wanted to see how it was done.
This is the machine he uses…..aside from a few newer looking bits on it here and there, it looks like an old machine.
He started by taking a scrap piece of German Silver (not any silver in it but a mix of other alloys) that he makes his movement plates from, and stuck it to the machine base with double sided tape for this demonstration.
The machine uses a cupped wheel again made out of ebony, that is once again impregnated with some abrasive powder. The wheel is tipped at slight angles in two directions. He then run the wheel across the plate and it “scratches in “ the pattern….
Here he is doing the demonstration.
Here is the finished part….
I asked if I could have this part to compare my own efforts to, and Philippe agreed to let me have it, but then said “I moved the tool too fast so the scratches should be a bit closer together!” I think he was concerned about even a small piece of scrap leaving his shop that wasn’t 100% perfect! I will certainly treasure this little piece of scrap metal, and although that may seem odd, I get the feeling this is as close to owning a Dufour watch as I will ever come.
Now I have made a number of comments in my reports about how this “traditional” method varies from the method used by most big houses on their parts. The modern method involved disks of abrasive paper on a spindle that accomplishes the same thing…..sort of. So what’s the difference?
Well, not easily seen, which is why parts made with the modern methods typically look quite good. The real difference is much more subtle and best illustrated in the feel. Philippe “happened” to have examples of parts made by other manufacturers on hand for comparison. One that stood out in particular was from a company I won’t name, but its initials include the letters J, L, and C.
It was a rotor from that particular company, and when you moved your fingers across it, you could “feel” the waves. The waves were rough, deep, and not terribly consistent. When you ran your fingers across Dufour’s work, it felt completely smooth. It certainly gave me the impression that compared to Dufour the other piece was crudely done with little “finesse.” Philippe then pulled out some publicity photos of high dollar watches from several well known companies that had the Geneva seal, and showed us that these examples had been finished the same way – it was obvious when you looked at them and could see the flaws easily once he told us what to look for. Now these weren’t images cherry picked as bad examples, but publicity photos that showed the defects. You would think that if a company was going to publish photos of their new watch or new caliber, they would at least make sure it was a very good example of that piece.
Now even houses that do some hand finishing don’t appear to be on the same level as Dufour. In this post on The PuristS SteveG addresses the issue of finish quality with photos of some very well known brands compared with Mr. Dufour’s work. No one is saying that this represents all pieces by those brands, but for comparison purposes this illustrates the essential differences in my mind. If you look at the finish on the edge of the bridges, it’s quite clear that Dufour is the best of these examples, with Lange coming in a close second. The other fall considerably short of either Dufour or Lange based on these photos. It should be noted that Mr. Dufour owns and wears a rose gold Lange Datograph! Quite a testament to Lange that the master of Swiss watch making (in many people’s view – not just mine) wears a German made watch!
www.network54.com/Forum/125316/message/1126721648/Look+very+closely...
I guess the point of doing it the old way is that you have much greater control over the process than you do with the modern methods. And if you know what to look for, it definitely shows. Let’s just say that I have avoided looking at my watches too closely since going on this trip.
He then showed us another finishing technique to create circular Cotes de Genève. Again a cupped wheel is used, but this one was a different wood.
The same type of abrasive was used, and the cupped wheel was spinning, then the part held in the fixture is also spun around its axis. The cupped wheel is moved out the width of the circle desired, and the process is repeated.
This is what the finished part looks like.
Some random shots in the shop…..
Me with my new “mentor”
Jacqui listening intently…..
As I mentioned previously, one modern technology that Philippe embraces is the computer. He uses CAD to design all of his watches, and this is a part drawing he showed us…..
Before we left Philippe explained that a new model is in the works, but he would not tell us much about it. Someone asked if anything could be ordered at this time, and the answer was a definitive "no!" He will finish off the last of the Simplicity line, and then move on to the next design. He relayed a story that a very wealthy and famous person (in the top 10 wealthiest people in the world) arrived one day at his shop unannounced. He had flown there by helicopter, and walked in the door clutching a number of pictures printed off the internet. He said he wanted X number of this watch and Y of that watch. The total would have been well over $1 million worth of watches – he was turned away with nothing.
One of our group actually had the opportunity to order a Simplicity a few years ago, but turned down his place in line. I can tell you after this visit he was kicking himself!
That was the end of our afternoon with Mr. Dufour, but certainly not the last time we saw him on our trip. When we went to Romain Gauthier’s studio, Philippe was there. He was also present at the Independent’s dinner I reported on. At that dinner he autographed books that were collections of photos of himself and Daniel Roth taken by Japanese photographer Kazuyuki Takahashi.
I stepped up and purchased one of the books, and here is Philippe signing mine.
My favourite picture in this book is a candid shot of Philippe on his hands a knees searching for a lost part on the floor of his atelier. Unfortunately I can't show it due to copyright issues. I don’t feel so bad when I know a master like Dufour has go on a search like that every once in a while. ;D
Others lined up and had their books signed as well. One of the true characters we had on our trip was a young man named Brian. He was quite an energetic and funny guy. To ensure that our names were spelled correctly, we were asked to write them down on a piece of paper that Mr. Dufour would copy from. Here Brian is about to hand him the paper……
Brian decided it would be funny to write “Mother F$cker” on the page instead of his name. Philippe’s reaction was priceless as captured in this photo…..
It was a very funny moment and all there had a great laugh. You can see here that Dufour writes in Brian's book that "I like humor too!"
I only include these photos and that story because I think it’s important to note that when we spent time with Philippe, it was not always serious watch talk, but also just enjoying each other's company and life in general. When dealing with independents like Dufour, the mood was very light and casual. They were all certainly very serious about their craft, but were able to balance that with enjoying life to the fullest. The only major manufacturer that felt this way was Vacheron, and to a certain extent Blancpain. The others seemed quite serious – almost too serious in some cases.
As our very excellent guide at Vacheron said:
“When people tour watch factories they are always very serious. We try not to be too serious here.”
I think that is a good guide for me in the world of watches in general. I see so many debates on other forums about this or that brand being “the best” but in reality they are all “just watches” – even the truly magnificent creations by Philippe Dufour.
I sincerely hope you have all enjoyed these reports. It has been a lot of work to put them together but it also has been an opportunity for me to relive some great moments from a trip that I shall never forget.
Thanks, Al
Well, sadly this is will be my final report from the watch tour.
However, I believe I have saved the best for last.
Personally Mr. Dufour made the biggest impact on me of any person or place that we visited. I think it’s safe to say that he is the best known independent out there, and from what I have seen sets the standard that others try to follow.His shop is an unassuming sort of place located at Le Sentier in the Vallee-de-Joux. It was once the local school house.
It lacks any fancy signs and gives little indication of what goes on inside. This is me standing out front.
We step inside and are transported to another world. You won’t find a lot of high technology here outside of a few specific pieces of equipment. Except for a few items it looks like a scene out of another time…….the shop has the feel of the “old world.” Now that is not to say that modern technology is not used at his shop on production of his watches, because he does use technology for the purpose of accuracy, and he uses AutoCAD to do his own watch/movement designs. But there is no doubt that while he uses technology to get the level of precision he demands in his watches, he also embraces the traditional techniques that are the true art of watch making. You will see more of that later in the report.
We were greeted by Philippe who welcomed us to his shop and gave us his own personal history. Here is a black and white shot of Philippe as he details his career as a watchmaker.
He graduated as a watch maker and began his career in the 1970’s, and worked for some of the big houses both locally and in various spots around the world. But he explained that he became disillusioned with those places and how they were managed. He eventually went out on his own in the late 70’s, and began repairing old and very valuable timepieces. Along the way he began to recognize the work of masters in the pieces that he was repairing, and decided that he should make his own high complication movements. He made several examples of a Grande and Petite Sonnerie minute repeater pocket watch movements in the early to mid 80’s. The first movement took him 2000 hours to complete! These were world firsts, and the movements were sold to one of the big houses (Audemars Piguet) and sold as their own watches.
Here is an example of one of those movements….
And here is a watch that is at his shop for cleaning that was once owned by the Sultan of Brunei…..marked as an Audemars Piguet watch, but housing one of those Dufour movements…..
Philippe explained that he received some of these movements back for repairs before they had even been completely cased at the big factories. The watch makers who were assigned to do the final work on these were rather ham-fisted in their approach, and managed to damage the movements because they really didn’t understand them. He was quite dismayed by the treatment his work was being given considering the time and effort he was putting into those movements.
He decided that the only way to be truly satisfied was to make his own watches under his own name. So in the late 80’s he locked himself away and started on his first wrist watch under his own name. The first watch he released at the Basel show in 1992 immediately put him on the map, as it was a wrist version of his Grande and Petite Sonnerie minute repeater! The retail on this watch was in the area of 600,000 Swiss Francs! Six of these incredible watches (including a revised version that had even more features) were produced.
In 1996 he again made history by releasing the Duality. Only 9 examples of this watch were made, and we were fortunate that the only one to come up for open auction had just come to his shop to be checked out after being sold recently. This is the very first model produced, and is serial #00. The original retail price of this watch was 95,000 Swiss Francs, and this example sold at auction for 180,000 Swiss Francs. So when they tell you that Rolex and Patek are the only watches out there to gain in value over time, this isn’t bad for a 10 year return on investment!
The face of the duality belies its complexity. Looking at the front only the very observant will notice anything different from a standard time only watch…..the “second hand” takes 2 minutes to make one revolution of the sub-dial.
Looking at the back, you begin to understand that this is not an ordinary watch. Far from it…..
What’s that? Two escapements?
Yes, this was the first wrist watch in history to use two escapements at once to control one time display. The two escapements together, through the use of what Dufour describes as a “flat differential” similar to what is in a car, control the second hand and overall timing of the watch. The errors in each escapement cancel each other out, resulting in an accurate watch. Of course aside from that it is a thing of beauty as well, although about as “stealth” as it gets.As we listened to Philippe speak, I took this photo.
That is the watch I came to see along with its brothers. It is the very first of the Simplicity models. This prototype model is only 34mm, and it is Philippe’s personal watch. The watch could be ordered in either the 34mm version or a 37mm version.
The Simplicity was launched in the year 2000. The idea here was to create something very simple, but very pure. I think it is safe to say that this is as good as it gets when it comes to the simple watch. Limited to a run of 200, these were sold out long ago. So far 130 have been produced, and 70 remain to be made. I believe the retail on these are 75,000 Swiss Francs, and Mr. Dufour refuses at least 2 orders for this watch per week. Each watch takes approximately one month to produce, so his shop will be turning these out for some time as with everyone there the total production is 2 watches per month.
In addition to the prototype, he had 2 others for us to look at.
I hate to say it, but I love the sheer…..Simplicity…..of the dial.
And of course the movement execution is truly second to none.
Here is the style I would like. Rose gold case……oh my god that is beautiful!
Since my photos don’t even come close to showing the beauty of this watch, I am including a link to SteveG’s site. He is a top notch photographer of watches, and his photos of the Simplicity are simply stunning.
ninanet.net/watches/others08/Mediums/mdufour.html
Now how is all this accomplished? Well, originally Mr. Dufour worked alone, but the day we were there he had 3 others working with him in the shop. One was a watch maker from Japan who was finishing up his training in order to service these watches for Asia. Apparently Asia is a big market for Dufour pieces accounting for 2/3 of his sales, so steps are being taken to make sure someone there can service them. However with a watch like the Simplicity, unless parts are needed (that can be obtained through Dufour) any good watch maker could do a basic service on the movement. The other two watch makers were helping produce the remaining Simplicity orders and if I recall one was leaving for another job soon.
Here a piece is being given a “black polish” on a tin plate.
Abrasive paste is put on the tin plate. I believe it would be diamond powder in this case. The part is then hand polished by moving it across the plate. In this case the part is the cock for the escape wheel that has Geneva stripes on it in combination with black polish around the jewel.
Here you can see the paste and the plate.
In this photo the other watch maker is polishing countersinks on the movement plates. It’s hard to see in this photo, but he is holding a “bow” that is used to provide the power for the polishing operation.
Here you can see the parts he is working on. He has just finished doing some of the polishing and is about to clean out the hole and inspect the finish.
I took a video of the operation in progress. I have edited out the sound to save you the chatter in the background.
media.putfile.com/P-Dufour-atelier
So this process, along with the tin plate polishing, is very labour intensive. In this operation the part to be polished is held in the left hand, and a shaft of ebony is attached to a pulley. One end of the shaft is inserted into a fixture that is clamped in a vice, and the other is of the same shape as the countersink being polished. The polishing end of the shaft is set with polishing compound, and the bow is used on the pulley to spin the ebony. We spoke with the watch maker who was doing this operation, and he said that he knows how the work is going by visually inspecting the polish, but can also feel the surface getting smoother as he goes. When we asked him how long it took to do one piece, his answer was not facetious, but indicative of the philosophy there….he said “As long as it takes to be perfect.”
Speaking practically, we arrived there mid-afternoon, and he was starting on his 3rd piece of the day (each piece has three countersinks to be polished).
Here is a close-up of the countersink he was working on.
So knowing that Philippe is the master of movement finishing, and I have toyed with doing some finishing myself, I asked him about producing Cotes de Genève. He asked why I wanted to learn this, and when I told him I wanted to try it myself, he remarked that he wasn’t sure if he should help out future competition or not.
Of course tongue in cheek, and as I received my lesson, Jacqui took over with the camera. Of course once he started explaining the finer details to me, others wanted to see how it was done.
This is the machine he uses…..aside from a few newer looking bits on it here and there, it looks like an old machine.
He started by taking a scrap piece of German Silver (not any silver in it but a mix of other alloys) that he makes his movement plates from, and stuck it to the machine base with double sided tape for this demonstration.
The machine uses a cupped wheel again made out of ebony, that is once again impregnated with some abrasive powder. The wheel is tipped at slight angles in two directions. He then run the wheel across the plate and it “scratches in “ the pattern….
Here he is doing the demonstration.
Here is the finished part….
I asked if I could have this part to compare my own efforts to, and Philippe agreed to let me have it, but then said “I moved the tool too fast so the scratches should be a bit closer together!” I think he was concerned about even a small piece of scrap leaving his shop that wasn’t 100% perfect! I will certainly treasure this little piece of scrap metal, and although that may seem odd, I get the feeling this is as close to owning a Dufour watch as I will ever come.
Now I have made a number of comments in my reports about how this “traditional” method varies from the method used by most big houses on their parts. The modern method involved disks of abrasive paper on a spindle that accomplishes the same thing…..sort of. So what’s the difference?
Well, not easily seen, which is why parts made with the modern methods typically look quite good. The real difference is much more subtle and best illustrated in the feel. Philippe “happened” to have examples of parts made by other manufacturers on hand for comparison. One that stood out in particular was from a company I won’t name, but its initials include the letters J, L, and C.
It was a rotor from that particular company, and when you moved your fingers across it, you could “feel” the waves. The waves were rough, deep, and not terribly consistent. When you ran your fingers across Dufour’s work, it felt completely smooth. It certainly gave me the impression that compared to Dufour the other piece was crudely done with little “finesse.” Philippe then pulled out some publicity photos of high dollar watches from several well known companies that had the Geneva seal, and showed us that these examples had been finished the same way – it was obvious when you looked at them and could see the flaws easily once he told us what to look for. Now these weren’t images cherry picked as bad examples, but publicity photos that showed the defects. You would think that if a company was going to publish photos of their new watch or new caliber, they would at least make sure it was a very good example of that piece.
Now even houses that do some hand finishing don’t appear to be on the same level as Dufour. In this post on The PuristS SteveG addresses the issue of finish quality with photos of some very well known brands compared with Mr. Dufour’s work. No one is saying that this represents all pieces by those brands, but for comparison purposes this illustrates the essential differences in my mind. If you look at the finish on the edge of the bridges, it’s quite clear that Dufour is the best of these examples, with Lange coming in a close second. The other fall considerably short of either Dufour or Lange based on these photos. It should be noted that Mr. Dufour owns and wears a rose gold Lange Datograph! Quite a testament to Lange that the master of Swiss watch making (in many people’s view – not just mine) wears a German made watch!
www.network54.com/Forum/125316/message/1126721648/Look+very+closely...
I guess the point of doing it the old way is that you have much greater control over the process than you do with the modern methods. And if you know what to look for, it definitely shows. Let’s just say that I have avoided looking at my watches too closely since going on this trip.
He then showed us another finishing technique to create circular Cotes de Genève. Again a cupped wheel is used, but this one was a different wood.
The same type of abrasive was used, and the cupped wheel was spinning, then the part held in the fixture is also spun around its axis. The cupped wheel is moved out the width of the circle desired, and the process is repeated.
This is what the finished part looks like.
Some random shots in the shop…..
Me with my new “mentor”
Jacqui listening intently…..
As I mentioned previously, one modern technology that Philippe embraces is the computer. He uses CAD to design all of his watches, and this is a part drawing he showed us…..
Before we left Philippe explained that a new model is in the works, but he would not tell us much about it. Someone asked if anything could be ordered at this time, and the answer was a definitive "no!" He will finish off the last of the Simplicity line, and then move on to the next design. He relayed a story that a very wealthy and famous person (in the top 10 wealthiest people in the world) arrived one day at his shop unannounced. He had flown there by helicopter, and walked in the door clutching a number of pictures printed off the internet. He said he wanted X number of this watch and Y of that watch. The total would have been well over $1 million worth of watches – he was turned away with nothing.
One of our group actually had the opportunity to order a Simplicity a few years ago, but turned down his place in line. I can tell you after this visit he was kicking himself!
That was the end of our afternoon with Mr. Dufour, but certainly not the last time we saw him on our trip. When we went to Romain Gauthier’s studio, Philippe was there. He was also present at the Independent’s dinner I reported on. At that dinner he autographed books that were collections of photos of himself and Daniel Roth taken by Japanese photographer Kazuyuki Takahashi.
I stepped up and purchased one of the books, and here is Philippe signing mine.
My favourite picture in this book is a candid shot of Philippe on his hands a knees searching for a lost part on the floor of his atelier. Unfortunately I can't show it due to copyright issues. I don’t feel so bad when I know a master like Dufour has go on a search like that every once in a while. ;D
Others lined up and had their books signed as well. One of the true characters we had on our trip was a young man named Brian. He was quite an energetic and funny guy. To ensure that our names were spelled correctly, we were asked to write them down on a piece of paper that Mr. Dufour would copy from. Here Brian is about to hand him the paper……
Brian decided it would be funny to write “Mother F$cker” on the page instead of his name. Philippe’s reaction was priceless as captured in this photo…..
It was a very funny moment and all there had a great laugh. You can see here that Dufour writes in Brian's book that "I like humor too!"
I only include these photos and that story because I think it’s important to note that when we spent time with Philippe, it was not always serious watch talk, but also just enjoying each other's company and life in general. When dealing with independents like Dufour, the mood was very light and casual. They were all certainly very serious about their craft, but were able to balance that with enjoying life to the fullest. The only major manufacturer that felt this way was Vacheron, and to a certain extent Blancpain. The others seemed quite serious – almost too serious in some cases.
As our very excellent guide at Vacheron said:
“When people tour watch factories they are always very serious. We try not to be too serious here.”
I think that is a good guide for me in the world of watches in general. I see so many debates on other forums about this or that brand being “the best” but in reality they are all “just watches” – even the truly magnificent creations by Philippe Dufour.
I sincerely hope you have all enjoyed these reports. It has been a lot of work to put them together but it also has been an opportunity for me to relive some great moments from a trip that I shall never forget.
Thanks, Al