In horology, the role of the designer has started to become more significant in recent years as horology collectively reaches out to connect with an all-new generation of watch buyers
The role of the designer in human culture has been enormous, because it is this individual who shapes the objects that populate our world. Similarly, in horology, the role of the designer has started to become more significant in recent years as horology collectively reaches out to connect with an all-new generation of watch buyers. There have been several key designers in watch making, particularly from the 1970s onwards, when watches started to evolve from a uni-directional product, where manufactures simply made what they felt like, to a bi-directional product, where they started to look at the needs and desires of the market to create their timepieces. HD3 is an ultra-high-end, super creative watch design collective set up by legendary watch designer Jorg Hysek, along with two new young designers named Valérie Ursenbacher and Fabrice Gonet. Through HD3, the designer's role has truly evolved to that of the primary life giver of highly innovative timepieces. In just a few years, HD3 has succinctly deconstructed and reinterpreted matchmaking to create products that are on the cutting edge of contemporary consumer culture. Here is the story of HD3's artistic ascendance told in their own words.
The designer as horological visionary: the philosophy of HD3
JORG HYSEK: You'll be surprised that our over-riding ambition in creating HD3 was to be happy. To be happy and have no pressure, and really explore the creativity related to watch design. After so many years in the watch industry, you realize that the majority of companies are run by their financial people. They always want you to do more volume, more sales and, ultimately, you have a creative process that is dictated purely by financial results. The challenge of HD3 was for a group of friends who've known each other for 17 years to work with full creativity and full liberty from this kind of pressure. We are sure that we will have success one day, but it will be a success based on the strength of our products and not the power of marketing.
VALERIE URSENBACHER: We have been successful, but we don't want to be a big company. We want to remain a small company. I've already experienced life in a big company. I want to work with collaborators and friends; with people whose visions for beauty I respect.
JORG HYSEK: The role of the designer and artist has become more important in the watch industry. This is true for any industry that has evolved – from automobiles to interior design and even household implements. There has to be a viable connection between the culture of the world and the technical aspects of the object. The designer is the bridge because he understands the prevailing aesthetics. The strongest change in the watch industry has been the evolution of production in the last ten years. Now, the industry gives the designer the opportunity to express himself; not just to make drawings in one dimension. Ten years ago, when we designed a watch, we make the drawing only from the perspective of the top dial side of the watch. Now, we work with very aspect of the watch. What you have in your mind now, you can have precisely the same product on your wrist. I suppose HD3 was created to help designers actualize the product they had in their minds, so there would be no creative compromise.
This evolution has occurred largely as a result of the evolution of the role of the watch. In the past, the watch was a precision tool, and so was designed – both in terms of movement and overall aesthetics – by a watchmaker as a functional object. Today, the watch is no longer primarily a precision tool, because there are many other types of device for this. The watch has become more of a decoration, a means of self-expression or an art form, and this transformation has given rise to a new wave of watchmakers who are crating something artistically distinct from the past.
FABRICE GONET: When I was 17 years old, I went to Jorg with my sketches and I showed him my drawings. Jorg looked at them and said: “Okay, I'll give you a test for three months to see if you can work for me” . The test has lasted 15 years, because that's how long I've been working with him. I think the unique aspect about Jorg is that he encourages us to be artists. He doesn't push me to design watches, he pushes me to paint and draw. When I first got started, I was initially interested in jewellery. It's interesting, but human culture has always striven to adorn itself. Anthropologically, jewellery has had huge importance in terms of class distinctions, self-expression and even religious connotations. Today, jewellery serves the same purpose: it tells the world who we are and also gives us internal pleasure. This is, for me, the secret behind the allure of the watch. So, when I started to design watches, I set out to achieve these same purposes. As such, my watches had to be different from anything that existed. Because I'm different from the rest of the human population.
VALERIE URSENBACHER: It was quite similar for me also. I started in the school for fine arts in Switzerland. When I graduated at 19 years of age, I sent my application and sketches to different companies. I also ended up with this same three-month test at Jorg's design studio. And later, I was designing watches. Although, at the time 15 years ago, I should state that we didn't really design watches. Our scope was really limited. For example, we would be contracted by a company to make an entire year's worth of watch dials. Only dials, dials and more dials.
JORG HYSEK: How do you determine if someone is a good designer ? You can see it almost immediately from their sketches. You can gauge their personality from their sketches. Their sketches are like their signature. For example, you have designers who arrive to give a presentation, but all they come with is a computer and it is very difficult to tell their ability. They might have a wonderful book of designs, but you don't know if they really drew these things of how much they relied on the computer. You don't know their real personality. If someone can really communicate their personality through their sketches, then you have someone that can render a creation line one of Valérie's or Fabrice's watches.
The birth of HD3 : high definition trilogies at the vanguard of tradition
FABRICE GONET: When Jorg approached us with the possibility of designing watches in this open environment where we could create what we wanted, and where we would be credited for our work, it was very exciting. It was thrilling, because we were also putting ourselves out there. Risking our reputations with what we created. It pressured us to be even more innovative.
JORG HYSEK: The reason we make primarily more complicated watches was because we wanted the watches to be rare and beautiful. It also had something to do with my past experience. It was a clear decision for me that I couldn't stay in my own brand anymore. After this “bad history”, it was very important to me that we do something that as really pleasurable. We agreed that we would each make our own designs. But to go from the design stage o the production stage is a challenging process. There are financial risks and many more. So, what we did was we created a book with all of our designs in it. The, we showed this book to one of our clients in Russia. We showed the book to him just to get some feedback. And suddenly, this became the craziest day of our lives. After a quick look through the book, the client gave us a huge order for watches. This was the beginning of HD3. Up until that time, we only had a book of designs and an idea. Suddenly, the idea become a reality.
After this, we showed the book to a few other key clients. In Geneva, we were showing our designs in a small room near the Geneva airport. It's funny because some days we would just be sitting there for hours before anyone would show up. The idea was to present the first prototypes of the Capture watch as well as the Raptor. But the Raptor ended up becoming very complicated to create because of its hinged case. So, we just has Valérie's Capture in two showcases, and in the third show case was just the back for the Raptor.
Capture: HD3'3 first overture into horological art.
Capture perfectly reflects the softer creative feminine spirit and inquisitiveness of its creator, Valérie Ursenbacher. Time's absolute nature is ephemeral; it can no more be bottled or collected that emotion. Indeed, for us – as Proust so distinctly demonstrated – time tends to live primarily in our memories of the past. The Capture tourbillon designed by Valérie Ursenbacher is a ticking expression of time's nature. The Capture is defined by its highly stylized bezel, which bends inwards at four points to give the impression that the case f the watch has been captured by these four anamorphic claws. The fluid organic lines of these claws are contrasted by the heavily industrialized screws used to retain the bezel. As with all HD3 watches, while time-telling is certainly functional, it is also to some extend peripheral. The dial is transformed into a multi-part sculpture that features hand guilloche in the center, tinted sapphire and negative space in which the tourbillon revolves. The dials is unified vertically by the two jewels, one retaining the barrel and the other retaining the tourbillon, as well as the center pinion on which the watch's hand are mounted. As much as the Capture is a vividly modernist timepiece, as with all HD3 watches, it pays great respect tot the traditions of high watch making.
VALERIE URSENBACHER: The inspiration for Capture ? One day, I was looking at the beautiful machined racing wheel of a car. It was a multi-part construction that was fixed together with Allen screws, and I thought it would make a great basis for a watch design. I also liked this idea of “capturing” time and so, around the bezel, you have this anamorphic form that looks as if it is trying to grasp the watch case or “capture time”. I wanted to have a tourbillon because it immediately identified the watch as something horologically serious as well as being aesthetically different.
I think, as artists, we are all inspired bay the world around us. I love to be in boats because for me, it is very important to have this sense of meditational calm. I like to be relaxing and dreaming. I think this is kind of a contrast to what inspired Fabrice Gonet to create the Raptor.
Raptor : challenging perception through cybernetic conflict
Designed by Fabrice Gonet, the Raptor has already developed a massive cult following for its audacious marriage of mechanical and electronic watchmaking. The watch combines the highest of Swiss watchmaking complications, a mechanical tourbillon, with the base pragmatism of the quartz watch. The result is a timepiece that could very well point to the future of high watchmaking – one that incorporates both artisan expressiveness of haut de gamme tradition and functionalism. The Raptor's streamlined case is hinged so that with a mere push of the button recessed at the right side, the entire top level containing the tourbillon swings upwards. The striking profile of the watch in this position is reminiscent of a bird of prey straight out of a Japanese manga. While this double case element is certainly the Raptor's talking point, it is remarkable that every aspect of the watch is beautifully rendered. Look, for instance, at the way the dial of the mechanical watch is laid out. Your eyes move from the skeleton spring barrel to the central hands and, finally, to the recessed tourbillon mounted on a slender, gracefully lean bridge.
FABRICE GONET: My inspiration is science fiction. I love films like Star Wars, for the imagery of alternate universes. I also love Japanese manga. One day, I was thinking about a watch that was really integrated, but also multi-functional and interactive. For the fist time, I saw a complete watch in my mind and this was the Raptor.
I thought this idea of a cyborg watch with a human heart and an electronic heart was a fascinating idea – something like what you saw in James Cameron's film The Terminator. I thought that, on a philosophical level, the confrontation between high watchmaking expressed by the tourbillon, and the performance or pragmatism expressed by the quartz timing device was really interesting, there was a strong dichotomy. I wanted the look of the watch to be really aggressive-looking, like something that came from a science fiction movie.
Raptor was tough to execute because no one had attempted to do something like this before. I wanted to create a hinged case that felt high-end, so the tolerances had to be perfect. The mechanism to release the case had to work perfectly. Remember: at this time, no one was doing anything related to the watch case.
The spirit of Challenge
FABRICE GONET: I think that we were really happy to find such an innovative spirit with our suppliers. In fact, theses people have all become our friends and they are generally enthusiastic to try different things. They are always excited to work with us not because they can make a lot of money, because our volumes are too small for that, but because they get excited by the challenges involved. I think they, too, can see the new creativity in the watch industry and it makes them glad.
JORG HYSEK: I f someone tells us “ I can't do it”, we will go to another place and, usually, the next person will take on the challenge to prove that it is possible. At the same time, we have many years of experience in the watch industry and we love to be creative, but not by making things that are impossible to execute. A good designer must push the boundaries, but not so much that he insists on the impossible. Rather, he should use his knowledge to make creative things that are possible – not necessarily easy, but possible to realize.
VALERIE URSENBAHCER: I think that this also distinguishes us as well. Because HD3 is a company that, when a prototype is created, delivers on the watch. Some companies create concept watches to draw attention to themselves, but never with the real intention to put these watches into production. We don't work this way.
JORG HYSEK: You can see in our watches that there is respect for horology. The watches are all legible, even if they change or deconstruct the way you read time. They may initially be challenging, but once you understand them, they are very easy to integrate into your life; and I think that is another critical role of a good designer – to know that he is creating something for a human being to live with.
Idalgo: applying unique design to both movement and case
Inspired by the dashboard instruments of a race car – the speedometer and the tachometer – the Idalgo uses two side-by-side dials. On the left is the minutes scale running from 12 0'clock to six o'clock, read using a massive retrograde hand. Mounted on the same axis is the continuous seconds indicator that is read off the inner scale engraved within the dial. A jumping hour at three o'clock completes the reading of time. On the dial on the right side, is a centrally mounted second time zone hand, and a date aperture at nine o'clock. What's interesting about this timepiece is that it features two automatic rotors mounted on the same axis as the second time zone hand. This use of rotors on the dial side of the watch began in 2005 with one of Jorg Hysek's tourbillon minute repeaters that featured a dial-side sapphire rotor. And while the Idalgo looks like it is driven by two separate movements, it is actually powered by one integrated movement – an act of extremely impressive movement design.
JORG HYSEK: The intention with Idalgo was to do something different from the tourbillons that had been created by Valérie and Fabrice. When we started HD3, it was our intention to do different watches. Not just related to cases, but also to movements. The value of HD3 is design. We are very open about expressing that, while we are experienced in the watch industry, we are not watchmakers. But as designers, we feel that we bring something important to watchmaking: a unique perception. For people who buy a HD3 watch, I think that it is an acknowledgement that design has a real value. In the past, people sometimes used the words “design watch” as a dismissive comment. But when you look at any object and you make that pure emotional decision to like or dislike it, you are reacting to its design. Design is the most important part of a watch's emotional value, ant it is ultimately this emotional value that is of primary importance in modern horology.
It is logical for us to apply our vision of design to the movement, which is alive, kinetic and a huge component of what makes a watch. With our first two watches, we applied design to them using existing movements. With our third watch Idalgo, we wanted to apply design to the movement of the watch. Idalgo was our fist step in integrating a HD3-designer movement with an HD3-designed case. This was followed by the XT2, which was even wilder, with an even more creative deconstruction of the movement. Next year, we will see the Vulcania, which takes the re-interpretation of the watch movement to an even higher level. Movements are the language of watchmaking: we had to reinterpret this language in our own way to fully realize the vision of truly unique timepieces that are united through movement and case: truly integrated modern design timepieces. We say that we are at the “vanguard of tradition”, meaning we are not disconnected from it, but are continuing its story, using our unique vision.
Vulcania: exploiting dimensions of space and time
The groundbreaking micro-mechanical marvel known as Vulcania is a watch created by Fabrice Gonet, inspired by the future-past visions of Jules Verne, and which takes its name from the mysterious island of Vulcania. The Vulcania is replete with nautical references. The central technical innovation of the Vulcania has to do with the bi-axis tourbillon – with cages that rotate on two separate axes so as to optimize the tourbillon performance for wristwatch application. This entire micro-marvel can be viewed from both the front and back of the watch, and has been designed such that the negative space around the tourbillon is optimized. The watch also uses two novel indications for hour and minutes. Hour is shown on a wheel that displays the correct hour indicator through a lateral porthole found at nine o'clock. Minutes are read off a disc placed at 12 o'clock. The disc is inspired by a ship's Chadburn telegraph. The 80-hour power reserve indicator is shown at the top left and is inspired by a marine tool known a s a sextant. There is also a porthole at three o'clock, through which the winding mechanism can be seen. Vulcania has been created exclusively for Westime.
FABRICE GONET: Vulcania is really about exploiting the concept of dimensions. The fist time BNB showed me the concept, it was for a round watch with the cages of the dual axis tourbillon more in the center of the watch, and just the hour and minute indicators beside the tourbillon. I asked BNB if it was possible to construct something more imaginative for the minute and hour indicators. That was how I came up with the idea of placing the hour on a wheel and the minute on a disc. I wanted it to be a time machine – something that looks like it's used for time travel.
JORG HYSEK: I have to say that John Simonian gave us incredible support for this project. Because it was so incredibly ambitious, it took a substantial investment. With John, we decided to create this watch exclusively for Westime. It is the furthest extreme of what we've tried to do in terms of applying our concepts to movement and case design. We thought that we would like to make a really groundbreaking concept watch each year, and Vulcania is the fist of these projects. We were really fortunate that John Simonian understood the ambitions behind this project, because it was an incredibly daring one. He is also a friend and we love working with him. One of the best thing about creating HD3 is to have the absolute freedom to work with only who you want to work with, and we are proud to have John as one of our great friends.
Three Minds : the evolving role of the designer in watchmaking
For 2007, for the first time, all three founding members of HD3's talented collective worked together on a single timepiece, aptly named Three Minds. The result is one of the most appealing and original watches of the year. We should also pause to mention that one of the strengths of HD3 is that even as they push watchmaking into ever wilder artistic directions, they never forget that, at its core, a watch should be legible. Three Minds is a tribute to the marriage between functionalism and expressionism, offering up one of the most legible dials in recent memory. Time is told off a series of overlapping rotating discs. In each instance, a clearly defined red arrow (inscribed with the word “hours”, “minutes” or “seconds”) tells you where to read hours, minutes and seconds. Further, all numerals are printed in luminous paint, meaning that not only can the watch be read in the dark, but the collective glow of the indices is likely to draw stares anywhere the watch is worn. The overlapping of the discs combined with the skeleton treatment to the bridges retaining the discs add a vivid sense of dimension and architectural grandeur to the timepiece, while the hard, sharp, square lines of the case provide a winning contrast to the three organic circles that define the dial.
JORG HYSEK: The concept of complications has evolved. There are traditional watch complication and we, of course, respect them. But you can see these in any shop. There are those traditional watch brands that make tourbillons or minute repeaters, and these are wonderful. But there is also this idea of a complication that expresses time in a different way, in an emotional or unexpected way as you see with idalgo or Vulcania, which I think is very important as well. It is hard to explain this to someone who only values a watch based solely on its technical value. But then again, I think that collectors in general are evolving. I think of them as people who used to collect figurative art, but whose tastes are turning towards modern art. Patek of Vacheron is great classic art. We like to think of HD3 as the art of today.
FABRICE GONET: Collectively, we feel that we are part of this new creative movement. We feel it every time we talk to someone and see them respond so well to our ideas.
VALERIE URSENBACHER: We've worked together for a very long time. We've learned to work in a very organic way. We wanted to celebrate this by creating a watch that results from the minds of three designers, hence the name Three Minds. It is always a pleasure for us to work together and it is never a competition
JORG HYSEK: We progressed individually once the basic brief had been agreed upon. Fabrice did his sketches. Valérie did hers and I did mine. Then, we looked at them and we started to fit parts together to come up with a fourth and totally different timepiece. It was really a marked contrast to the normal design process of the past. When I first started, I worked at Seiko and there you have 50 watch designers all working in their small space, all creating on small component for a watch, but never having a total understanding of what they were working on. Here, we could be totally transparent and it shows you how far the design process in watchmaking has come. We have a brand where the designer provides leadership, and where we can work together like a collective.
No, we won't increase the number of designers, because the more people you add, the more politics and competition you add. We are happy with the way things are and don't feel the need to expand. We are all really joined together by the enthusiasm to create ever more artistic expressions of time.
We will display the watches we've designed along with the paintings we've created. Because we wanted to underscore that, for us, a watch is not solely a pragmatic object, but a piece of art. Through the painting, the collector can also get a deeper glimpse into our individual artistic visions. It was the first time Fabrice painted something. It was a really interesting process for him because he had to find his style in painting. But it is important because when you paint, you feel completely free and you think of nothing, but creating.
We are going to exhibit the watches and painting together in 2008 – probably right before the watch fairs in Geneva. With each limited edition watch we produce, you will be given a lithograph of the painting of the designer who created your timepiece. Only the people who've bought the watch will be able to buy the original paintings, which we will auction off on our website.
FABRICE GONET: The job of the designer is to contribute something meaningful related to continuing the story of whatever industry he is working in. You have to influence what is going to happen tomorrow. For us, the watch industry is one of the most exciting to be working in precisely because it is undergoing such a transformation. It is reaching all-new audiences.
JORG HYSEK: The watch is no longer a uni-directional product, but as with all important luxury items, it must also have the pulse of the modern world. It's funny, but seeing how the watch has evolved and how successful it has become as a result of this interface, has exceeded all my expectation. I also guessed wrongly about where things were headed. Ten years ago, I was sure that there would be a greater interface between mechanical watchmaking and electronic watchmaking. But now, there's been a huge evolution of the mobile phone, which has become an electronic toy with camera and MP3 functions, and much more. So, this has become the main technical toy. Conversely, the mechanical watch has remained distinct. But I think that in the next evolution, we will see watches becoming like F-1 cars, meaning that the electronic brain will give information to the mechanical part of the watch.
VALERIE URSENBACHER: The main difference today is that luxury is now defined by individuality. In the past, it was defined by copying or following other. This rise of individuality has allowed us to succeed. Because today, as long as you create something without compromising, you have a chance of being accepted. This is the vision of Westime and this is our vision.
THE RISE OF HD3, BROUGHT TO YOU BY WESTIME – OCTOBER 2007
