March 12, 2010
The dream
As so often in life, the desire to leave a legacy is a great motivation to achieve the unthinkable. And often during the late night and weekend sessions in the ateliers, discussion would focus on what leaving a legacy in the watch industry would mean these days. Was not almost everything already invented and designed? Yes and no was the conclusion. Great inventions had been made, but arguably their functionality was not always as good and consumer friendly as the original intend. For instance, despite the Tourbillon movement was invented to increase accuracy, yet most of these beautiful pieces of mechanical engineering and design, will actually not deliver on its original intend. The principle and functionality of a Perpetual Calendar is already designed, but if for whatever reason you need to adjust the calendar, it will easily cost you a lot of time and frustration to adjust, if at all you will be able to do so without causing damage to the complication. The fact that everything is designed yet does not only hold true for technology, but also goes for branding. When was the last time you’ve seen a brand that is proud to live in the here and now, and not fall into the temptation of abusing heritage as a seal of craftsmanship? And herein lies the nugget of the shared dream - creating a new high-end watch brand, designed for the generation that lives now— using a hybrid between the best of modern technology and traditional craftsmanship. As the nouvelle cuisine was trying to set a new standard and fresh impulse in cooking trends, so should this brand try to give a fresh impulse to Haute Horlogerie: let’s call it the ‘Nouvelle Horlogerie’.
Location & founding
As the intent of the new brand was not to copy the category conventions of the past decades, there were no limitations in the initial search. It needed to be a place that could provide enough inspiration for the people working for the brand, while also carry sufficient aspiration for those that the brand was designing for: Monaco and its surroundings. This place is not only one of the more appealing places on earth at the moment, but it has a long standing heritage of attracting some of the biggest innovators in several fields of expertise: painters like Picasso, Chagall, Matisse (or more recently like the Dutch sculptor Verkade); architects like Le Corbusier; poets and writers like Chekhov and Cocteau; and philosophers like Nietzsche. And importantly, these people did not only reside in this area, but delivered some of their best work while in the region. Of course, the breathtaking scenery of the Mediterranean against the startling rock formation of the Alps, and the warm blanket of the climate makes the combination picture perfect! After the location was determined, over a year went by to incorporate the company in Monaco and find the appropriate location for the Ateliers in the Princedom. It is important to be a genuine Monegasque company that is woven in to the local fabric of life. And all of this culminates in the brand proudly stating its origin on the final time pieces: Made in Monaco!
 Peter
March 8, 2010
AGAINST THE TIDE?
This outlines the story of the 3 musketeers who launched a new and exclusive alternative luxury watch brand at the peak of a global economic crisis. Call them passionate, crazy, brilliant or stupid. At least they are attempting to realize their dream and add a new chapter in the rich history of global watchmaking.
Introduction
Ateliers deMonaco is a new independent luxury watch manufacturer inspired by, designed for and made in Monaco. The brand targets a new generation with Nouvelle Horlogerie by creating iconic timepieces that are derived from their passion to challenge existing conventions to leave a legacy: “We have always dreamt about making a mechanical watch movement that is the most precise in the world and will keep generations of scientists busy trying to figure out how we did it !” All watches and their movements are completely in-house designed and manufactured, an unique capability that only few independent watch manufacturers still have to-date. The collection and innovations can be characterized as the ultimate collision between modern technology and classical craftsmanship, leaving a hybrid time piece that utilizes the best of both. To guarantee every watch gets its own unique character, every individual watch is hand-finished, -polished, -brushed and -engraved, which for some can take over 100 hours each. Each watch will be individually numbered and is only made available in very limited editions. And as a true Monegasque proposition, every watch that leaves our ateliers will have the iconic shield of Monaco hand-engraved in the heart of the movement.
The founders
Be it luck, faith or just mere coincidence, the three founders met through their mutual passion for Haute Horlogerie. Although their Dutch no-nonsense roots allowed them to connect well from the start, they cannot be more diverse in anything else.
Pim Koeslag (1981), the Benjamin of the three, attended watch-making school in Amsterdam after which he did several internships at some of the most renowned watch brands in the world. When offered employment at most of them, he decided to work for a small and lesser known watch company in Geneva that allowed him more freedom to experiment and develop new technologies: Frédérique Constant. With an age of only 28 springs young, there is a lot more we can expect from Pim! Pim is married and has two sons in the age between 0 and 3 years old.
Robert van Pappelendam (1969) finalized his law study at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, after which he changed course and started a marketing career at Procter & Gamble, a leading fast moving consumer goods company, lastly as a Global Brand Franchise Leader in their Haircare division. For this company, he worked in Rotterdam, Brussels, Cincinnati USA, Geneva Switzerland and Singapore. Since 2002 he has been active in the board of advisors of Frédérique Constant SA, Geneva. Robert is married and has 4 children in the ages between 3 and 9 years old.
Peter Stas (1963) studied Economy at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and after several internships, he started his professional career at Philips Electronics in the Netherlands. He moved to Asia to take a commercial leadership role for the consumer electronics division out of Hong Kong. In 1988, he was the initiator and founder of Frédérique Constant, currently one of the leading Swiss watch manufacturers in the affordable luxury segment. Peter is married and has 2 children aged between 10 and 15 years.
To be Continued…..
 Pim
March 7, 2010
Watchmaking anno 2010 – an art or a science?
Nowadays, a lot of innovation brought to the market are masterful pieces of engineering that do not always work as well. Double Tourbillon, triple axes…It sometimes feels that form has taken over from function. Although we do get excited by these master pieces of engineering, we can also still get very excited by a movement that actually works, and works very well and very precise. Function first! We got a lot of inspiration from Henry Royce that set out with a very similar vision when he created the foundation for the Rolls Royce brand as we know it today.
So when we are in technical meetings and people get overexcited by the solutions or new technical inventions, I often ask: “So what is the problem we are trying to solve with this new technology?”
Thus, when we were working on our Grand Tourbillon XP1, the issue at hand was clear. The TB is invented to deliver higher precision than a normal mechanical watch. However, the vertical positions have variations of amplitude and precision caused by the TB cage itself. But we felt there was an opportunity to minimize the force used for the escapement in the cage, and if we could eliminate oil or grease in the escapement with the use of modern materials, then this would be a plus as well.
We believe we have made a huge step forward in the precision of the TB movement. Key enablers for the step forward have been our Patented Perfect Balance Cage and the silicium escape wheel and lever with silicium oxide coating to avoid unnecessary power and efficiency loss. We can guarantee all our movements between 0-2 seconds/24hours, and we have already produced one that did much better!
Can we do better? The aim is to come as close to zero as possible, so we have a mechanical movement that is always accurate. Wouldn’t that be cool? We believe it is possible, and for sure it is a nice aim to pursue.
Personally, I believe our Ateliers deMonaco watches are pieces of art, that have embraced modern science to make them also functional as perfect as possible. Like the painter who studies his subjects for a long time before he can reach the highest level of perfection, our pieces feel they get better and more perfect with time as well. Let’s talk in 20 years to see how close to our dream we could come.
Pim
January 19, 2010
What do you get if you pack 38 independent watch manufacturers in a venue and you allow them to talk about their watches and passion for the industry all day? Yes, the Geneva Time Exhibition! In a very relaxed atmosphere, the Geneva Time Exhibition has opened its doors since last Sunday to allow independent watchmakers to showcase their fruits of passion, and Ateliers deMonaco is a proud participant too.
And from the moment the doors opened, we have had a constant stream of international visitors from press to retailers to end-consumers that share our passion, and were willing to listen and appreciate the stories behind the innovations and designs.
If you have the time and are in the neighborhood, it’s worthwhile to stop by.
During the GTE, we are giving a sneak preview of a big introduction that is planned for April, but you have to go and look for yourself, or keep a close track of our Blog and Facebook Fan page over the next weeks. More to come!
January 13, 2010
From Jan 17-22 Ateliers deMonaco will be present at the Geneva Time Exhibition 2010 (GTE). Launched for the first time in 2009, the GTE is organized for independent watchmakers to show off their new concepts, cutting-edge technology, up-to-date materials and high-precision movements. This year, 38 independent watch brands will exhibit their precious time pieces. Although watch industry professionals are the target group, passionate watch lovers are more then welcome too!
We hope to see and meet you at the GTE! If you are not able to come, look out for an impression of the fair in our blogs to come.
The Independent Watchmaker’s Fair
from January 17-22, 2010
at the International Conference Center Geneva
Opening hours:
Sun 17 Jan 2:00pm–8:30pm
Mon 18 – Thurs 21 Jan 8:30am–8:30pm
Fri 22 Jan 8:30am–5:00pm
For more information, visit www.geneva-time-exhibition.com or email betty@ateliers-demonaco.com.
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