Discussing the factors that have helped many brilliant watchmakers of our time to set up their own microbrands.
It's extremely rare in watchmaking that you'll find an individual who's both a talented watchmaker and a talented negotiator. There have of course been some notable exceptions, perhaps the most striking example would be the watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet, whose watchmaking company remained very successful in France under Louis XVI, after the French Revolution, and during the Bourbon Restoration.
A good watchmaker is known to take a creative approach to the profession, often at odds with the commercial side of the business where the watchmaker is employed, which can lead to disagreements or conflict. So it's no wonder watchmakers strive to become self-sufficient and independent.
This has actually been the status quo since the very birth of watchmaking as a profession around the 15th-16th centuries, right up to the early 19th century, i.e. up to the point when watch companies started to develop rapidly, specializing in the mass production of serial products: both complete watches and the parts and components needed to manufacture them.
In the 20th century, the watch industry endured a series of crises caused by both external factors — wars and economic crises — as well as internal problems such as unsteady changes in technology and overproduction. Nevertheless, the foundation of the industry that was laid in the 19th century remained solid and unshakable — the mass production of watches with a high level of specialization or division of labor, beginning with pocket pocket watches and followed by wristwatches.
Yet another crisis that struck in the 1970s which became commonly known as the “quartz crisis” or "quartz revolution" had a devastating effect on the traditional specialism of mechanical watches, yet it soon became clear in the early 1980s that far from every consumer felt optimistic about the newfangled quartz and digital watches.
Electronic technology failed to win over watchmaking aficionados who appreciated watches for their precise mechanics, their complexity, for how they're finished by hand, and who saw watches as works of art. Many of them weren't even satisfied with mass-produced mechanical watches, never mind electronic watches, devoid of any personal touch and manufactured with minimal human input, or (eventually) without any whatsoever.
In the early 1980s, many of the watch companies that had survived the "quartz crisis" experienced a steady increase in demand for traditional mechanical watches, followed by increased demand for complicated mechanics. At the same time, there were radical changes in the kinds of requests collectors were making in the 1970s, who began to view wristwatches as worthy collector's items.
Before then, only pocket watches and clocks had been considered suitable collector's items. Both of these processes led to a greater understanding of the value of the work done by hand that goes into making good mechanical watches, where watchmaking superheroes were expected to show what they're capable of.
In the early 1980s, many of the watch companies that had survived the "quartz crisis" experienced a steady increase in demand for traditional mechanical watches
The first two watchmakers who understood that this was their chance to do something interesting were both based in Switzerland, but surprisingly neither of them were of Swiss origin: Svend Andersen from Denmark and Vincent Calabrese from Italy. Svend Andersen was known in watchmaking circles for his mastery of calendar wristwatches, while Vincent Calabrese was known as the inventor of Golden Bridge watches with baguette-shaped movements with linear gear trains, which he developed for the Swiss manufacturer Corum.
Both watchmakers worked independently, completing orders placed by watch factories as well as orders from private clients, and both of them came to the realization that it would be easier to overcome the challenges of running an independent microscopic business as part of an association.
Like a trade union of sorts, which could take on the task of solving a number of problems that independent watchmaker are burdened with, such as organizing marketing events, communicating with clients from all over the world, communicating with the press or the authorities, and ultimately it would be a way to exchange experience...
Guilds of course came to mind, which had united masters in the olden days. Svend Andersen had already experimented with setting up an association of cabinotiers based in Geneva in the 1970s called Cabinotiers de Genève. However, this idea didn't work out because the association was too narrow.
It included representatives of various professions in Geneva, who were able to join forces and work together to complete orders from demanding clients. Vincent Calabrese suggested a different set up — an international association that would welcome watchmakers regardless of their nationality, where the only criteria for admission would be demonstrating a high level of quality in one's work, in an independently made watch or module for a complication.
In the 1970s Svend Andersen had already experimented with setting up an association of watchmakers called Cabinotiers de Genève
Nationality was of course a sore point – Calabrese's career in Switzerland hadn't been smooth sailing, not least because of his Italian ancestry and the public opinion that prevailed at the time, which was that a good watchmaker is a Swiss watchmaker. Calabrese's idea of forming an international watchmaking community proved to be very productive, as subsequent events have shown.
In 1984, Andersen and Calabrese sent out a request to editors of specialized publications to publish their "Appeal to all artists and craftsmen working in watchmaking", inviting watchmakers all over the world to participate in trade shows for independent watchmakers. Some of these publications responded to their request, and the initial responses were received from watchmakers from European countries.
The first trade show was held in the summer of 1985 at the Watch Museum of Le Locle in Switzerland, one of the Swiss watch industry's traditional hubs, and the association was named Académie des Créateurs Indépendants de l'Horlogère. The founding fathers of the new association were joined by watchmakers Giovanni Pozzi, Charles Hirschy, Kurt Schaffo, and Josef Snétivy, who were accompanied at the event by the company La Montre Extra Plate from the Vallée de Joux specializing in ultra-thin watches.
The exhibition was a success, and it proved that not are only watchmakers are interested in these events, but that there's also an interest among the public. The association of watchmakers, already renamed Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI), made its most serious achievement in 1987, at what was still a very early stage in its history. It was the year the AHCI arranged its own stand at the number-one event in the international watch industry — at the exhibition in Basel (back then it was called the BASEL 87 European Watch, Clock and Jewellery Fair, which later became Baselworld as it remained known until relatively recently).
The AHCI was already represented by 12 watchmakers with six different nationalities in Basel, and its first five members were accompanied by Bernhard Lederer, Gerhard Weigmann and Klaus Erbrich from Germany, George Daniels from Great Britain, Peter Wibmer from Austria, Christophe Claret and Michel Laugerotte from France, as well as Franck Muller and Dominique Renaud from Switzerland.
This exhibition and those that followed in Basel clearly showed how strong the independent watchmakers' movement is and the strength of the AHCI representing them. Considering the microscopic size of their businesses in comparison to the industry giants, they were a very productive newsmakers. Not only did they arouse genuine interest among visitors to the exhibition and people from many different countries around the world who subscribed to publications about the AHCI — they also attracted professional interest.
For example, Patek Philippe sponsored the AHCI to participate in the 1989 exhibition in Basel. The AHCI participated in the Basel exhibition every year since then up until 2019, which has always aroused a high level of interest among visitors to the exhibition. No matter where the AHCI stand was located, there would always be crowds of watchmaking enthusiasts gathered around it. After all, it was the place where you could talk to legendary watchmakers in person!
The AHCI participated in the Basel exhibition every year since then up until 2019
In the late 1990s, the rise of the internet even made it possible for novices to promote themselves as watchmakers and network with the global watchmaking community at almost no cost. This breakthrough in communication seemed to spell the end of the AHCI, and it looked like its role in facilitating communication would easily be replaced by the internet, and by even more effective social networks in the future.
Yet this never happened. Even in the early years, the AHCI managed to quickly build an important reputation for itself as a custodian of watchmaking's proudest traditions. AHCI membership is viewed as a mark of quality, ingenuity and creativity, proven by close to two dozen prizes that have been awarded to its members at the industry's most prestigious competition, the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG).