Exceptional watchmaking: Haldimann Horology in Switzerland
Most of us know that Switzerland is home to fine watchmaking. But few know the truly fine watchmakers. I think that most people believe famous names like Rolex and Patek Philippe stand for the finest watchmaking, however, there are small watchmakers who make less than a 100 watches, or not even more than a dozen.
Haldimann makes an estimated two dozen timepieces annually. There is a worldwide solid fanbase of his timepieces, some being highly complicated tourbillons and minute repeaters while others are very simple two or three handers. Until recently he used only precious metals for his watchcases, but this year at Baselworld, he presented his first steel watch, the H11 with two or three hands to indicate either hours and minutes only or to add a seconds indication as well.
The casesize for his H11 is either 39mm or 42mm. Everything including the case, the crown, the dial, the hands, the movement is inhouse designed and developped and built, Haldimann makes everything by hand excluding the jewels and the spiral. Why? He says he wants to be as independent as possibile. I guess that is why watchmakers like him are called "Independents" as well...
The above video shows the stunning rosegold blue dial H11 in a 39mm case. The sound in the background comes - well you can guess - from a Haldimann wallclock. To my ears, the sound is like an old piano. That brings me back to Beat Haldimann and his "career" as a watchmaker.
His father and grandfather were not watchmakers, however, his family history goes back to 1642 when the Haldimanns are first documented as watchmakers.
The movements of Haldimann are very characteristic, they possess a central balance which I have not seen elsewhere yet.
I equally enjoy visiting small independent watchmakers or famous watchmanufactures. In both cases, there is a lot to learn.
Pis eople often ask why should they buy a watch from an independent watchmaker which oftentimes turns out to be quite on the high end of pricing. To me, I can see one major reason. When you buy a watch from one of the small independent watchmakers, you know that they put all their love and passion into making most of their watch by hand, it usually takes them months to make one watch. You can easily meet with them, and meeting these guys means usually you meet highly spirited people. When you get a watch from one of these people you get something that is as close to bespoke as you can get.
Which watch does it for you? Only you can decide.