For example, if we want to do a test for a small complication, we just print it out in 3D, but maybe 10x bigger. We can see if it works much easier that way. So a big motivation for us is to figure out why and where these genius watchmakers struggled with ideas, and to figure out what the purpose of the complication they struggled with was. I love seeing if we can improve mechanical watchmaking through newer technology.

The story of you and business partner Serge Michel visiting Armin Strom’s workshop as children adds a really lovely layer of authenticity and passion to the brand’s story. Could you tell me what it was about Armin Strom’s watches that captured your imagination when you were younger, and what being in that workspace as a kid did for you?

Mr. Armin Strom had his workshop in the old town of Burgdorf, and my parents had an optician’s workshop just next to his space. So I’ve known Armin Strom for many, many years. On the other hand, my maternal grandparents were in the watch industry and started to produce stopwatches during World War II. After the war, they had their own little brand, but my grandfather eventually realized that there was an issue with the delivery of spare parts and focused on producing movement parts for other brands. So we had a company with around a hundred employees that produced wheels and pinions and screws, and all kinds of watchmaking components. My grandmother taught us when we were very young how to assemble and disassemble a stopwatch, and that was something I’d been around my entire life. My grandmother was extremely proud to be a watchmaker, and then having this great watchmaker – one who drives a car like a Jaguar E-Type – next to your parents’ workshop, you could understand how curious it made me as a child. How could this guy be so successful and achieve what he did? When we finally saw the watches he made, it had a big impact on us. 

I think when you’re young, seeing skeletonized watches – with their balance wheels running and the hands moving – was extremely impressive. After that, my parents never had to ask me what I would like to become, because it was clear that I would become a watchmaker. It was never a question.

There’s a real virtuosity to Armin Strom’s watches. In the music world, if people are immersed in a skill from a very young age, they tend to develop a completely different approach to how they see their craft and they see things holistically as they get older. Would you say that’s the case for you as someone that began his watchmaking journey so young? How did you end up so far outside-the-box as a watchmaker?

Yeah, I believe so. Our approach has always been to be different and we always wanted to have a clear brand identity with our own unique vision of watchmaking. It was to combine a contemporary design – not necessarily a fancy design, but a contemporary, yet classic design – with a high-end movement in regard to its engineering. All of that, but combined with very traditional hand-finishing. For us, it was obvious from the beginning that the movement always had to be visible because we are so proud of what we do with our movements. That alone makes the watches we make unique because 95% of watch brands use plain dials, or they do a little bit of skeletonization, but their brand philosophy isn’t to have the movement showcased from both sides. That design philosophy was there for us from the very beginning, and it was clear we were not trying to copy another brand, but trying to create our own identity.  

What are the challenges of making pieces that are both innovative and technically complex with a skeletonized dial, but are also aesthetically pleasing? Is there a point where a design becomes too technical and you have to draw it back? 

No, because when we start creating a new watch, the movement development and the design process are done in parallel. We always start by asking “What can we do better?” and then asking whether or not there’s an advantage in showcasing what we do mechanically. Is there an added value by making it visible from the dial side, or should we hide it on the back side of the movement, etc. We’ll then adapt the design around that movement or those movement options/innovations. Most of the watch brands today have a movement supplier and then create a case style and hands around an existing movement. With Armin Strom, we do everything ourselves from the very beginning of a watch design. It’s all myself and my design partner  – who is more like a sparring partner – but the designs depend so much on the function which we choose to present. For example, the Gravity Equal Force has a lot of the micro-rotor visible and the equal force barrel is visible. The bridges are very important and the bridge design is very important, and only serious watchmakers can design different bridges because they know how they have to be fixed, where you have to put the screw, the jewel, and everything necessary for them to work. 

The designer I work with coaches me aesthetically, so if I do a movement or a bridge or a wheel, he’ll say something like “Yeah, it looks nice, but could we maybe do it a little bit thicker? Or a little bit thinner? Or could we change this or that?” And I go back to my computer and I start to redesign the movement until we’re both pleased with it. That’s how we work.

When you say “sparring partner,” is there an element of challenge between the two of you? How contentious a process is it to get to the final vision of a watch between the two of you? 

That’s a very good question, and it’s a difficult one to answer because sometimes it happens very fast. There isn’t much of a battle typically; it’s more that we have a lot of respect for each other because I know that his skills and expertise are to make sure that the proportions are right, and he knows that from a technical perspective, he doesn’t have to try to push me in a direction where I feel uncomfortable. We’ve worked together for six years now and it’s a very respectful relationship. There isn’t a lot of conflict and we really work hand-in-hand. 

Armin Strom’s watches are very playful, but never silly. I think that’s a really hard sweet spot to hit, especially in haute horology. How do you approach finding that balance? And how do you avoid repeating yourself? Is there ever something that comes to the table that’s a little too over-the-top visually that you want to draw back?  

At the very beginning when we started to create the brand, we took a lot of inspiration from the  famous German industrial designer Dieter Rams, who defined his 10 Principles of Good Design. We picked a few of those rules and we still try to apply them to all of our watches to this day. For example, a good design has to be honest, and “honest” in this context means we don’t create parts that don’t have a technical purpose just to make a movement look better. Another rule is good design is long living, which means we always ask ourselves how a watch might look in 10 or 15 years and really consider if a collector would still appreciate the watch, or has a design gone too far with following a trend? 

Should an independent brand be able to create the trends? I would say no, because we also have to make sure that there is a certain comfort zone with our designs for our buyers, because these watches are also an investment and are priced as such. We really want to make sure that we consider all of those different angles with a design.