Up close and personal with 12 of the world’s greatest watchmakers, and the man who sat down with them all…

Recently, I had the pleasure of reviewing a copy of Michael Clerizo’s Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, published by Thames & Hudson (ISBN 0500514852 / 978-0500514856, available for purchase on Amazon.com, or you can meet Michael and get a signed copy this week at Baselworld 2010 – Messeplatz, in front of Hall 1.0, the Watchprint bookstand).  I think it is worth saying up front that I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in fine watches – it was a truly enjoyable and entertaining book.  After reading the book, I contacted Clerizo and conducted a follow-up interview to glean some further insights about the “why” and “how” of the book, and I think you will find these insights to be equally worthwhile (the interview follows my book review, below).

Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking, by Michael Clerizo

Michael Clerizo is a London-based American journalist who contributes to the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal (most recently in the “WSJ” Weekend Magazine), the Robb Report, and specialist watch magazines.  Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking is filled a series of “stand alone” stories about watchmakers and many  pictures of their unique watches.  Specifically, via a series of interviews with each of the featured individuals, Clerizo takes the reader behind-the-scenes and into the fascinating lives of 11 different watchmakers who represent the finest that the modern day watch industry has to offer.

I enjoyed manner in which Clerizo brings out to the reader the individuality of each of the 11 famous watchmakers.  The spectrum of personalities – also fully reflected in the watches they create – is quite evident as one advances through the book.   From the staid and practical (George Daniels, Roger Smith, Philippe Dufour, Marco Lang), to the jovial, whimsical, and seemingly carefree (Franck Muller, Vincent Calabrese, Alain Silberstien) to the unconventional even eclectic (Svend Andersen, Vianney Halter, Antoine Preziuso, Aniceto Jiminez Pita), the diversity of talent and vision could not have been better put on display by Clerizo.  Perhaps the only commonality amongst all these men is their ablity to create specactular timepieces!

Several other master watchmakers are also profiled, though to a lesser extent, in the latter pages of the book.  Even so, there were a few additional names that I think could have been included in the book – Christophe Claret, Maximilian Büsser (MB&F), Jean-François Ruchonnet (Cabestan) are those that come to mind.

The book itself is substantial – 12 x 12 inches – with a beautiful cover featuring a picture of a watch movement made by George Daniels.  It makes for a great “coffee table” book, sure to evoke a curious question or start a friendly conversation from even the most shy person or non-watch enthusiast who might be in your company.  Most pages of the book are non-glossy white and a bronze-ish color, except at the end of each story there are several glossy pages of beautiful photos of the watches as made by each watchmaker.  I think Clerizo would have been better off using glossy paper throughout the book, as the bronze/white text was sometimes difficult to read.

All in all, Masters of Contemporary Watchmaking is a well written and worthy read for any watch owner, collector or enthusiast.

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Interview with Michael Clerizo, author of Masters on Contemporary Watchmaking

Tell my audience a bit more about your background and how this book came to be. What compelled you to write this book? Any particular inspiration?

I am an American writer living in London.  My background is what might be described as varied; I’ve had lots of jobs and started lots of projects aimed at making money.  At the end of the year 2000 I was working for a small, London based branding agency. One day the owner of the agency came to me and said; ‘I am just so happy. I’ve found a new definition for a brand. A brand is a code by which we live our life.’ When I heard those words I knew I had to get out of there.  ‘A code by which we live our life!’ The guy had lost it. You live your life by a religious code, a moral code, a philosophical code, even a zip code; I don’t care but a brand? I knew I was in trouble if I stayed.

Luckily, Mother Nature intervened and a few weeks later some strange and potent virus put me in the hospital. I was there for twelve days in total isolation. One morning I woke up to find myself covered by ice cubes. During the night, I developed a fever that went so high I lost consciousness. The doctors decided that the deep freeze was my only hope.  I knew things were serious because of the nurses from the Philippines, good Catholic girls that they are, they always made the sign of the cross before entering my room.  It took six months for me to recover. I named my condition Russian Novel Syndrome after the many characters in Russian novels that develop fevers requiring lengthy periods of recuperation. Lying around not doing much I started to read everything I could get my hands on. Newspapers, magazines, books on obscure Bolivian artists, anything. I decided I could do better than many of the writers I was reading. I have been writing ever since. I never went back to the branding agency.

About seven years ago, an editor asked me if I wanted to write an article about watches. At the time I knew nothing about watches but ignorance never stops freelancers so of course I said yes. When I began researching I was struck by the beauty of many watches made by famous companies like Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. It was through that beauty that the subject first got it hooks into me. Eventually I learned that a few watchmakers still worked on their own making watches mostly by hand and in very low volume, sometimes only one or two a year. I have always been fascinated by great craftsmanship and skill so I found these watchmakers and their work mesmerizing. Most of these watchmakers are unknown outside of a tiny circle of collectors and aficionados so I made it my mission to bring them to the attention of a wider audience. That is how the book came about. I hope it doesn’t sound too pompous.

I wanted to write about watchmakers the way people write about architects, film directors and composers. I was lucky enough to find a publisher, Thames & Hudson, willing to take a chance.  Two books influenced me. The first is Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut. In this Truffaut asks Hitchcock question after question about his life and his work. I was fascinated by Hitchcock’s explanations about the storylines plot twists in his films and the camera angles and lighting levels he used. I remember thinking that Hitchcock’s comments were much more interesting and enlightening that anything critics had written about his work. The other book is Lennon Remembers by Jann Wenner. In 1970 Wenner did several long interviews with John Lennon in Rolling Stone and then he published them as a book. At one point Wenner reels off the titles of Beatles’ songs and Lennon explains the origin and sometimes the meanings of the lyrics.

I wanted to do that with watchmakers, to learn about their inspirations and their methods, the why and the how of their watchmaking. I am not saying that watchmakers are as important to our society as film directors and songwriters – although there was a time when they were. I am saying that great watchmakers are artists and deserve our respect.

How did you decide who would be featured in the book?

The first three chapters Daniels – Andersen – Calabrese are devoted to the founding fathers of the independent watchmakers movement. Daniels responded to the quartz assault on mechanical watches. Today he is an inspiration to every independent watchmaker and many who work of big brands. Andersen and Calabrese also responded to the quartz assault when they started their own workshops. But, when they founded the Académie Horlogère Des Créateurs Indépendants they went beyond that. The Academy was a reaction to a trend in the early 80s, the concentration of financial power and marketing muscle in a few big brands and their financial backers. Once a watchmaker joined the Academy he could show his work at the Basel fair and other shows. The Academy created a path to the market place for many watchmakers. This continued when the Academy launched its website.

There is another way to look at the work of early independent watchmakers. The quartz watch and the concentration of financial and marketing muscle were early examples of globalization. The independent watchmakers movement is the response of a creative minority to the homogenizing effects of globalization.

The next three chapters are about Swiss rebels, Philippe Dufour, Antoine Preziuso and Franck Muller. These men became independent because they viewed Swiss watchmaking as being too industrial and ignoring the craft traditions of the past, ignoring the contribution of the individual watchmaker and lacking in creativity. So, they went out on their own.

For the next three chapters I wanted to get outside of Switzerland. The first place I went to was Barcelona not a traditional center of watchmaking but the home of Aniceto Jimenez Pita a great Spanish watchmaker. There are many amazing things about Pita but perhaps the most amazing is that working alone at the back of his shop he has managed to develop an extraordinary diver’s watch. Also, in many of his designs you see the culture of the Mediterranean of the Latin world. That is very unusual in watchmaking.

Then came Alain Silberstein whose workshop is in Besançon historically the center of much of French watchmaking. But, Silberstein is not a watchmaker by trade he is an architect. His way of thinking about the craft and about watches is very different from anyone else in the book. I really wanted to get that perspective into the book.

Marco Lang, the German watchmaker in Dresden, is unique because for much of his life he confronted the possibility that he would not be able to become a watchmaker. The authorities in communist East Germany frowned on mechanical watchmaking. For Lang, the attraction of watchmaking was so strong that he never gave up hope. Now he is creating magnificent watches. I think his story is fascinating.

The penultimate chapter in the book is about Vainney Halter. To call Halter eccentric is putting it mildly. He is an extraordinary character. Many of the influences on his work are from outside watchmaking and that was something I wanted to explore.

Roger Smith is the subject of the final chapter. There were many reasons for including him. His work is technically superb and he loves to talk about the technique and I wanted technical explanations in the book. Also, I wanted to show that the English tradition of making watches in a small workshop with only a few people was still alive.

Did you face any noteworthy challenges in getting in touch with any of the watchmakers you interviewed? Did you already have relationships and if not how did you go about getting in touch with them?

I had met, spoken to on the phone or communicated via email with most of the watchmakers in the book before I started working on it. For those I had had no contact with, for example Aniceto J Pita, I phoned and explained what I was doing and asked for an interview. Considering that the interviews lasted eight hours, sometimes stretching over two days, everyone was very understanding. But, they knew what they were getting into because I sent each watchmaker a list of questions at least ten days before the interview.

There are many several sources of information about watches and watchmakers available today – what do you think we will find in/learn from your book that will not be learned/found anywhere else?

In the book’s introduction I say that the central topic is people, not watches. You can learn a lot about watches from many different sources but I think my book provides more information about the people behind some of the best watches ever made. And, it’s not just biographical information. I tried to get at what made watchmakers do things in certain ways. There may be other places where Silberstein talks about how a painting by Edward Hopper influenced his work, or places where Daniels talks about how he wanted to surpass Breguet, where Preziuso talks about how a fairground ride gave him the idea for a watch but I think that kind of information is rare. Also, it’s all together in one place. Another thing is the photographs. The book has 672 images, 493 in color. In every chapter, when the photographs were selected to provide a retrospective of a watchmaker’s work. In some cases there are images of the first watch a watchmaker ever made. No one has done anything like that before for so many watchmakers.

What’s next for Michael Clerizo?

Right now, I’m focusing on my work for the Wall Street Journal Magazine. Sometime after the Basel fair I’ll talk to my publishers about another book project. I’m seriously thinking about trying my hand at fiction.

Thank You, Michael, and best of luck.

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