The trip of a lifetime
Hello friends,
I trust you’ve all kept well and are keeping your stride in lockstep as we navigate seemingly unprecedented times.
Early last week, I returned from a trip to Europe after not having visited for 3 years. The trip was a combination of business and pleasure. The first week was purely business and meant to visit the manufacturers I work with to bring Havid Nagan to life. To put it briefly, I was blown away by the craftsmanship, the artistry, and skill of the individuals that help assemble and produce my watches. It’s one thing to know the quality of your watches from a technical standpoint but it is a completely other thing to see what gives them their quality. The human touch, the passion of individuals who have committed their lives to such a practice. It was deeply and movingly inspiring.
More so, after more than 3 years of communication digitally and my finally meeting them in person, the experience was rather emotional. I will briefly outline why that is the case below.
Our first day was in La Chaux-de-Fonds, at none other than Schwarz-Etienne’s manufacture. It’s notable to state this was my first time in Switzerland, first time seeing the endless rolling hills of perfectly mowed greenery. First time breathing air that is so perfectly crisp. I was accompanied by my father during the business leg of my trip as he was interested in learning more about - one, what his son is doing exactly building a watch company and, two, to learn about the practice I am so passionate about.
I’d like to preempt my experience by noting, it is really rare to find good people to work with. It is even rarer to realize the people you work with welcome you into their arms like you are their family. This is what I dealt when I spent my day at Schwarz-Etienne.
We were welcomed by the most gracious Chantal Graff, who had been my initial contact when I had reached out to SE for collaboration in early-2019. Immediately, her bubbly personality and immediate candor made us feel at home. Then, in came Mauro Egermeni, the benevolent leader at SE, and Luc Bourgeois, the brilliant technical mind at SE. We spent about an hour discussing details for production of the HN00 and what will eventually be revealed to be the next Havid Nagan model, HN01, or as I have dubbed it, ‘Lucine’. We were then invited to lunch by Mauro at a local establishment called du Mailard. We were treated like family by the owner of the restaurant and felt like we were dining at our own home.
After lunch, we went back to SE for the walk-through of the manufacture. My context within this industry is rooted in my time at FP Journe, thee independent of our time. Exclusivity, small production capacity, and a family-like approach to company culture is what I was taught so I was weary of what my experience outside of that context. I am ecstatic to say the dynamic at SE is not much different. While walking through, I was introduced to essentially the entire team - watchmakers, technical development, logistical planning, designers. Now, these are different departments within SE but they are all very much connected. The watchmaking team is not a large outfit; rather, it is 4 watchmakers (one of them being a 23-year old new graduate!). The regulation and quality checking of hairspring curves and balance rotations? One lady.
It’s important to also note that SE has spent a substantial amount of capital, both financial and time, developing many different, extremely high-quality in-house calibers. Manual wound, automatic with micro-rotor, tourbillon, and more. What’s more is they manufacture their own hairsprings and balance wheels in-house, both components that are found in the ASE200 caliber powering the HN00!
The icing on the proverbial cake that day was Mauro, after having worked a full day and walking us through the manufacture, told us he’d be taking us to Auberge de La Ferme Droz-dit-Busset, a historical and protected restaurant operating since 1950. The reason I bring up this dinner is not to gloat about the absolutely incredible food we were lucky to consume, but the emotional moment myself, my father, and Mauro experienced together. Without going into details, it felt like we are all family. Like seeing and embracing a loved one after years apart. In this moment, I knew, to my core, I had made the right decision in working with Mauro and the SE team.
In my next post, I will discuss the details of my walkthrough with the manufacture that produces Havid Nagan’s dials, Cadranor SA.
Talk soon,
Aren J BAZERKANIAN