A Deeper Look at the Watchmaking World Of Sylvain Pinaud
Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen a number of independent watchmakers and brands start small and grow big. MB&F, Urwerk, F.P. Journe, De Bethune, all have become synonymous with success in independent watchmaking, only to name a few. Now there’s a new generation of watchmakers on the scene, infusing their own refreshing aesthetics and personalities into the landscape of indies. One of these more recent entrants is Sylvain Pinaud.
Based in Sainte Croix, about an hour outside of Vallée de Joux in French-speaking Switzerland, Sylvain’s workshop consists of himself and two other watchmakers. A small team, they work together to design, prototype, test, manufacture, and assemble the watchmaker’s latest creation, the Origine. We caught up with Sylvain to discuss that timepiece, his inspiration, and overall approach to watchmaking.
Origine – officially on the radar
While Origine is not Sylvain’s first timepiece (The Chronograph was), it is the timepiece that has gathered the most attention from collectors and enthusiasts. The watch that put Sylvain on the map of modern indies, the Origine is distinguished by its neoclassical simplicity. Winner of the 2023 GPHG Award for “Horological Revelation” – best timepiece from a young brand – the Origine is a major success for the watchmaker’s first serially crafted timepiece.
Time-only, the term gives little justice to the Origine considering how elevated this timepiece is due to the abundance of technical work done to create an in-house gear-train and Swiss-lever escapement. This is all done to meet the requirements of Sylvain’s dial design for the timepiece – there was nothing out-of-the-box that would fit.. The Origine tows a fascinating line as well, one we see with many of the other modern greats amongst indies. It feels both heavily inspired by the history of watchmaking while coming together as a thoroughly modern timepiece. It’s not something you would find in the history books, but it does feel like a clear continuation of one of the tradition’s core themes: technical sophistication without sacrificing aesthetics.
As Sylvain mentioned, “the primary intention is to create a delicate harmony. The graphic composition of the entire piece is highlighted by the unique asymmetric layout of the dial. That shares the spotlight with the regulator elegantly placed at the front.” There is something poetic in placing the beating heart of the timepiece front and center. Put in exceptional company with the likes of Greubel Forsey’s time-only work with the Signature One or MB&F’s Legacy Machine 1, Sylvain’s creation is a clear statement of what matters most in mechanical watchmaking. Beyond all the designing, crafting, and finishing, the regulator and escapement has to hum to bring the whole contraption to life. Otherwise, it’s not a mechanical watch.
Flipping the timepiece over, the Origine’s movement is top quality. The finishing is what you would expect for the ~US$75,000 price point with frosting, anglage, cerclage, mirror polishing, snailing, and polished sinks. In effect, it’s an encyclopedia of movement finishing techniques that comes together in an aesthetically cohesive manner. With many of the components made in-house, as mentioned previously the full gear train and escapement, what is outsourced comes from the industry’s best: Kari Voutilainen’s Comblémine for both case and dial.
The man behind the watch
Every watch says a lot about its creator. You can often see who a watchmaker admires in their work. You can see in the evolution of sketches and prototypes how style begins to develop. You can see what is important to them by what they make most easily accessible to the eye. With Sylvain, it’s clear that he admires the greats in watchmaking history. He said that his “grail of grails” watch would be anything created by A.L. Breguet – a true purist in heart. He bears none of the stuffiness or formality that often comes with a purist watchmaker though, at least the stereotype that often comes to mind. He’s very relaxed, joyous, and fun to chat with. As with all independents, it’s often that you want to buy a watch from someone you’d enjoy a meal and drink with and that is Sylvain.
Son of a watchmaker, Sylvain worked for nearly 20 years in restoration and prototyping prior to launching The Chronograph in 2019. His sense of humor comes out when discussing the realities of working with mechanical watches through the design and development phase. Certainly from his exposure to the endless potential issues that exist in restoration and prototyping, he made us laugh when he discussed testing the in-house gear train and escapement. “Every component can become a problem.” It’s a very matter-of-fact statement, followed by laughter, but it’s true. Mechanical watches are a bit of a miracle – hundreds of components working together to keep time, accurately, while being resilient enough to take a beating from everyday wear. It’s a nontrivial challenge to bring a timepiece to life from initial sketch to final creation, as we discussed in our other article. But crossing the chasm once helps a second, third, and fourth time.
As Sylvain mentioned, the journey with the Origine has prepared him for the road ahead – delivering more Origine timepieces and creating the next one. There’s a mixture of joyous and nervous laughter when discussing the relief of finalizing a project coupled to the reality that this means beginning the entire process over again. So is independent watchmaking, and those who succeed are the ones who love the challenge of a fresh start with every new creation.