During numerousmeetings organized at the Ferney-Voltaire castle or elsewhere, somewatch lovers, collectors and journalists have been able to discovermore than a watch, a concept.
At a time wheneverybody reformats their lines by producing very moderate 40mm, withopaline dials for the Chinese market, the Manufacture Royale standsout with codes belonging to a superlative independent watchmaking,worthy of euphoric years we thought were gone by.
A puzzlingproduct when one hasn’t held it in one’s own hands, with itsbaroque, radical or even Steampunk aesthetics, the Opera arrives in acontext of economic trouble and crisis of meaning. Unfortunately, ithas been judged by skimpy standards.
Charly Grosbety,a sculptor, jeweler, biker, is in the manner of some Loiseau,Wiederetch or some Prescher, one of the behind the scene enchanterswho have been bewitching watchlovers for decades.
A character outof the norms, who takes after Captain Haddock rather than afterProfessor Calculus, a mountain man who had stopped working for thewatch industry, before Arnaud Faivre went and got him for a finaljob. In fact, it is a masterstroke whose ramifications remain to becounted.
If CharlyGrosbety is the artist, Arnaud Faivre is the designer for ManufactureRoyale. Seldom known from the public, he is the CEO of «TecEbauches», a young company, a watchmaking Startup minus IT plus CNC.
In a few shortyears, «Tec Ebauches» imposed itself as one of the chief providersof ébauches in French-speaking Switzerland, in terms of quality aswell as quantity.
These «know how»and «knowhow to finish» exist at all levels in the ManufactureRoyale project. The hand finishing from «Tec Ebauches», usuallydevolved to the most prestigious names in the Helvetic watchmaking,brings an incredible boost in quality to the products of ManufactureRoyale.
If the concept isoffbeat regarding the style of its creators, it is also out of placethanks to a surprising and refreshing storytelling.
Instead ofraising an obscure manufactory from the Jura, wrecked decades agoduring the quartz storm, Arnaud Faivre chose to draw his inspirationfrom Voltaire’s journey.
The leadingphilosopher of the «Enlightenment», spearhead of the Europeanintellectual modernism, Voltaire the liberal, the libertarian and thelibertine. The spirit who originated the modern vision of freedom ofexpression, essential for the democratic debate and progress in alldomains.
Because Voltairewas not only a courtier and a philosopher, but also a businessman,whose enormous income enabled him to address the problems stemmingfrom the acidity of his writings.
A this period,watchmaking was already a profitable trade… After havingsuccessively fallen out of favor from several kings, pursued by packsof courtiers, intellectually conflicted with Rousseau(after ourpost-modern standards, Rousseau would be from the left wing, whereasVoltaire would be from the right), the writer finds refuge in Genevain 1755.
Approaching hissixties, Voltaire is regarded as dead (60 years old, a venerable ageby the standards of this period); He’s nonetheless animated by asecond wind, and settles near the border of the independent city ofGeneva, in the French no man’s land of Gex country, at Ferney,which will eventually become Ferney-Voltaire.
After drying outmarshlands, killing mosquitoes, multiplying the population by afactor 20, creating a mini-courtship and consecrating his abode asone of the most upper-crust places in Europe, Voltaire createsflourishing industries, silk stockings and watchmaking, under thename of «Manufacture Royale».
I went toVallorbe, headquarters of the Manufacture Royale, to discover the«Androgyne», the watch that succeeds the «Opera».
NB: the picturedwatch is a prototype, the final version will feature slightly shorterlugs, a more finely worked rehaut, and will be finalized: no microspecks of dust anymore, metal of the case in a different color, etc.
If the Opera wasan excessive and conceptual watch , the « Androgyne » is atimepiece of reason.
The Operaambitioned to be the loudest «wristwatch minute repeater» in theworld.
To achieve thisresult, heavy modifications have been made on a caliber from «LaFabrique du Temps».
Moreparticularly, an unfurling sound box has been added to increase thevolume.
Obviously, arelatively bulky caliber associated with an unfurling box produced aniconoclast 50mm watch.
The «Androgyne »keeps the design of the Opera in a more standard dimension (43mm) andsmoothed aesthetics.
The classicTourbillon set at 21600v/h is still on board, but out with the minuterepetition and the playful unfolding case, replaced by a case with analmost classic architecture.
The «Androgyne», with its more reasonable design, is intended for female and malecustomers indifferently, which Voltaire, great seducer, wouldn’thave disavowed!
Especially whenone knows that he personally produced several women watches… Thus,with this piece we stay with the codes of MR from the Voltarianperiod.
To compare, theOpera at my wrist:
More reasonable,but not too much, we are far from a watch intended for emergingmarkets.
Although it ismore sober than that of the Opera, the design of the «Androgyne »is far from stale, the «Baroquo-Steampunk» look is still presentand the dial loses in complexity what it gains in fluidity andvolumes.
Several designtips were made to lighten the dial, giving it its own dynamism,especially with near-symmetric Tourbillon and barrel frameworkbridges (60 hours of power reserve), as well as with layered bridges.
Strong contrastsbetween material and finishings (enhanced by the central sanding)further reinforce the sharp aesthetic choices.
The bridges aswell as the hands (like those of the Opera) are chiseled in abroadsword shape.
It is of coursereminiscent of a sword and shield, a wink from the Manufacture Royaleto its nobility of the sword.
Nobility of thesword whose mythological pinnacle are the Arthurian legends…
There is still atremendous amount to say about this piece, its design, itscomplications, its storytelling and most of all, about its price!
It will beavailable starting at 39.000 CHF excl.tax in the stainless steelversion and 69.000 CHF excl.tax in the gold version.
To be comparedwith the entry level of the Helvetic tourbillons: the MasterTourbillon Jeager leCoultre and the Zenith El Primero Tourbillon areavailable for about 40.000 CHF excl.tax in stainless steel versions,and yet are far more classic pieces …
In terms ofexecution and look, the «Androgyne » is a product comparable to a«Corum Tbridge Tourbillon » , priced at 55k (in titanium), analready competitive price for such an odd product.
A reallyfair-play tag , a discovery price.
ManufactureRoyale reasserts its will to durably establish itself on thewatchmaking market.
MR benefits notonly from a structure and an a range of know-hows almost unequaled,even by large manufacturers, but also benefits from a strong andoriginal concept, with many ongoing projects.
MR is able tocarry concepts like the « Androgyne », a watch that confirms thesoundness of the project.
