PHILIPPE DUFOUR
In the 13th Century, the world’s greatest Samurai sword maker Masamune created hand beaten swords out of 4 million layers of folded steel that are today considered irreplaceable Japanese national treasures. Masamune swords expressed his high technical expertise, creativity and his determination to create a tangible human expression of perfection. In 21st Century Switzerland, Masamune finds his modern day equivalent in watchmaker Philippe Dufour. Dufour is a genius, the grandfather of contemporary independent watchmaking and the enduring champion of handmade virtues. But the best way to understand Philippe Dufour is through his watches. Because like Masamune’s swords Dufour’s Grande Sonnerie, Duality and Simplicity watches are human expressions of perfection.
By now Dufour’s life has become something of the high mythology of haute horologerie… His early professional life was filled study and yearning. Working for Jaeger LeCoultre in locations as diverse as Frankfurt and the US Virgin Islands, Dufour restored clocks and watches focusing in particular on repeater and striking clocks masterpieces. The experience was instrumental in shaping his understanding of the material dynamics of sonnerie and repeater watches. In 1982 Dufour embarked on the Herculean task of building the world’s first pocket watch with a grand and petite sonnerie and minute repeater functions. A series of 5 of Dufour grand and petite sonnerie watches were commissioned by a famous Valle de Joux manufacture. But Dufour soon butted heads with his powerful bosses. He recalls the lack of respect for his watches, shown by employees of this big company, he wearily shakes his head like an irascible bear. “You know two of these watches were broken. A man came to pick up one of these watches from me and he put it in his pocket between his keys and his cell phone and almost slammed it in the door of his sports car. Another watch was sent to an exhibition in a plastic bag with 4 or 5 other watches. During travel the watch slammed against the others, the crystal was cracked, the case was scratched and the dial was completely destroyed.” Saddened at the disrespect paid to his watches, Dufour vowed never to work for another big company. “I prefer to put on the orange suit and sweep the streets for my living,” he says.
But Dufour was not one to sit around in frustrated impotence. Indeed, incredible things were at work in Dufour’s atelier. The watchmaker had plunged into the creation of the world’s first wristwatch with grande and petite sonnerie and minute repeater function. While working on the grand sonnerie pocket watches, Dufour had labored, “the old way, without a blue print.” But before he began the ultra complex process of miniaturizing the pocket watch movement into wristwatch size, Dufour realized that he had to chart out the process so he could easily repeat it. Dufour turned to the computer, teaching himself the highly technical Auto CAD program to help realize three dimensional images of all the parts he needed to make.
Dufour launched his incredible achievement at the 1992 Basel Watch Far. He tells us, “I had just finished the watch and I didn’t have time to make any press kits. I had a friend who is a shoemaker and he gave me a piece of leather that I used to line a tray for my single watch.” On the first day of the show people from the watch trade flitted around the booth. Word quickly spread of Dufour’s incredible achievement. But the end of the Basel Fair Dufour left dejected with no orders for his watch despite its ground breaking achievement and sublime execution. Through out the fair he was constantly urged to sell out to the brands, but the prospect was heart breaking to him.
A few days after the Basel Watch Fair, Dufour received an unexpected call from Singapore. He explains, ‘Someone I met at the fair was urging me to come to Singapore to present the watch. As soon as I put down the phone I ask my wife “Where is Singapore?” Then we got out the map and looked it up. At first Asian business etiquette baffled Dufour, “The deal was that I would come down to meet some collectors, if I sold my watches I would pay for my own trip, if no one was interested the Singaporean party would cover my expenses. We agreed based on a hand shake.” Dufour recalls with a laugh, “This was totally bizarre for me. I come from Switzerland where everything has to be with a contract. But something inside me told me to go.”
Dufour tells us that he was awed at the level of enthusiasm and horological knowledge he found in Singapore. In the 10 days Dufour visited Singapore he sold the grande and petite sonnerie wrist watch, a grande and petite sonnerie pocket watch and received orders for 3 new watches. In recent years he has found commercial success with a watch called the Simplicity. As the name implies the almost austere three hand watch is the antithesis to what Dufour refers to as the current generation of “complication cocktails.” With the Simplicity Dufour creates simple manual wound watches where the creation of almost every component is taken to the summit of perfection. Not surprisingly this watch has been particularly successful in Japan cementing Dufour reputation as a perfectionist equal in skill to the 13th Century sword smith Masamune.
But if you are the true Grand Master of high watch finish, if for you the only type of watchmaking that truly resonates in your sole is the type that embodies the artisan craftsmanship of the old ways informed by a relentless pursuit toward perfection the question is, “Is there any commercial watch brand on the market that in any way touches your heart or captures your imagination?” Interestingly for Dufour, a fierce champion of independent watchmaking there is one brand that fulfills all these things for him and upon whose future he also hangs the mantel of responsibility for the future of high watchmaking. That brand is Lange & Sohne.
Considering Dufour’s unabashed loyalty to the Valle De Joux, Switzerland’s watchmaking hot bed, it is not without some controversy that Dufour proudly announced to the world that in his perception the world’s most refined, horologically legitimate and technically innovative watch brand was not found in Switzerland but in the German town of Glashutte. We caught up with the great man, to understand why he is in many ways A. Lange & Sohne’s most forthright champion. The following is an interview with the great master horologist about one of his favorite subject matters, A. Lange & Sohne. While it is brief it is also quite ground breaking as it represents the first time, this icon of independent watchmaking has ever publicly endorsed a major commercial brand. So while his words might be brief the fact that they are unabashedly full of praise for the German manufacture is in deed revolutionary. We thank Mr. Dufour and our good friend Mark Schmidt for making this interview happen.
