For Jean-Marie Schaller, owner and creative director of independent Swiss watchmaker Louis Moinet, the past two decades have been a continual parade of haute horlogerie, originating from the independent watchmaking company that he revived. As the story goes, on a flight from Paris and Tokyo and upon the advice of his friend and watchmaker Daniel Roth, Schaller – a life-long lover of timepieces – was convinced of Louis Moinet being the perfect brand to advance his ambitions in the realm of watchmaking.
“While it’s true that I restarted the second chapter of Louis Moinet in the year 2000, a lot of its heritage and history had already been forgotten,” Schaller muses. “Slowly, slowly, we made some marvellous discoveries, such as his renowned client base who represented some of history’s most celebrated personages, his work with Abraham-Louis Bregue, and his many innovations.
“Our discovery and purchase of Louis Moinet’s historical pieces including the Compteur de Tierces (thirds timer) on 14 May 2012 also allowed us to rewrite timekeeping history,” Schaller continues. “We uncovered that Louis Moinet had, in fact, developed the first chronograph in 1815, which was recognised by the Guinness World Records for not just being the first chronograph, but also the first high-frequency timepiece (vibrating at 216,000Hz per hour).” What is perhaps even more staggering is the situation that necessitated the calculation of sixtieths of a second – Moinet’s own desire to time the passage of stars, planets and planetary moons through the crosshairs of his telescope.
For Schaller, the irrefutable genius of Moinet the watchmaker showed that he was a century ahead of the pack. “To hold his invention piece in your hand is of great value to the industry, he says. “If you try to seek the invention piece of the minute repeater or perpetual calendar – there is none.” It is in this light that Schaller now bravely wears the mantle to write Chapter Two of the Louis Moinet story. “Louis Moinet was a visionary, and today we have to bring something very bold and very contemporary for the next generation.”
Thus, from the days of Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander I of Russia, King George IV and Ernest Augustus I, and the King of Hanover, all of whom were some of Moinet’s most important clients, the story now moves into the 21st century as Schaller looks to produce timepieces that embody the same spirit of merging art and technology.
From utilising exotic materials such as Martian meteorite, fossilised palm wood or dinosaur bone, to incorporating an inverted double tourbillon in the Sideralis Evo, the notion of unique and different in a Louis Moinet timepiece is clearly pronounced. In its ’22 edition of the Memoris Spirit chronograph, ergonomics meets design, as more than 300 components dance an intricate symphony within a 40mm case. In the Super Moon, actual lunar meteorite is sculpted into an objet d’art, suspended at 3 o’clock within an anodised aluminium capsule.
In its Tempograph Spirit, the balletic dance of a large retrograde hand – aided by a dedicated counter running at 20-second sequences – lends an exquisite sensation of time’s passing. “The fact that the 20 seconds are displayed on a sector, and not a circle, highlights the importance of each passing second and awakens the senses,” Schaller says.
He also points out that because Louis Moinet is not “a commercially driven company”, it allows him the freedom to work on wonderful new ideas. “Our relationship with our people and clients goes beyond trade – they are our good friends and we very often have dinners together,” he states. Through this, the overarching goal is in pushing boundaries. “I am not a routine man – I don’t want to exploit the market, because the core of our existence is really the product and the people around it.”
This leads to one of Louis Moinet’s most recent Time To Race chronographs, a unique iteration in which each piece in the 297-strong collection is, in essence, a limited edition – because only one iteration in a strap colour, and also number (from 01 to 99,) is made available.
Schaller remembers that this collection was birthed from contemplative moments on a particular Sunday. “I think it was the caffeine – me locking myself in my little home office after the family breakfast and having perhaps a third cup of coffee,” he remembers. “I was admiring the cars from the ‘50s in a book, and I thought about the Italy, England and France, and how they started motor racing, which also translated to the purity of the Rosso Corsa, Racing Green and Bleu de France straps on this collection.” On these pieces, the numbers on the dial are made of neoralithe – a translucent resin fired like enamel, resulting in a high polish for pure blacks on pure white, because “this number is the hero of the watch”.
When reflecting on more two decades of Chapter Two of Louis Moinet, Schaller says that it was and remains essential that he does not depart from the truth. “And what is this truth? I have followed my instinct ever since – and I continue to note in my readings of Louis Moinet’s correspondences of how he expressed himself in his relationship with the world,” Schaller says. “The choice for me today is to express the same value but in a modern way – nobody needs a mechanical watch but we want to keep this artistry that is within us. This Swiss watchmaking industry, which some people view as a cottage industry, is still alive and doing well in Switzerland. This tells you about what is in our blood – the creativity that comes from within us is genuine.”
