Sophisticated Planks (planches sophistiqués): The Grandmaster of Über-Complication

Monday, July 15, 2013

The Grandmaster of Über-Complication - Christophe Claret

Christophe Claret is one the most creative and innovative mind in the Swiss luxury and collectible watch industry. Most of the sort after watches by collectors have extremely complicated movements, and at Claret, the simplest watch he makes is the tourbillion.

Not many people know the man - Christophe Claret, the grand master of complicated horological nirvanas, and the few that know him or of him, will tell you that his timepieces are unsurpassed in intricacy of complication, and the demandingly cerebral attention to the minutest of details represented in them.

The truth is Mr. Claret is a perfectionist, abundantly endowed with horological intellects and can-do-attitude, which served him in conceiving and producing timepieces that many would have considered impossible.

Mr. Claret grew up in Lyon, France, and even as a child, he enjoyed disassembling and reassembling watch movements. At 16, he entered the watchmaking school in Geneva, and following graduation, he restored antique timepieces. His career was launched at the 1987 Basel Fair, when the owner of a major Swiss watch company asked Claret to develop an exclusive minute repeater movement. On the strength of that commission, Claret founded a company with two other talented watchmakers. In 1992, he bought his partners out and became the sole shareholder. The company name was changed to Christophe Claret S.A.

Since it's founding, Claret’s company has created more than 64 different movements, including more than 50 world firsts.

Watchmakers looking for complex and extremely complicated movements have always reached out to Christophe Claret. Here are some examples:

Harry Winston Collection