In the 1980s, for about five years, I restored mainly complicated pocket watches for collectors and large auction houses. So, during this period, I learned a lot about complicated watchmaking. I realized that out of ten watches I restored, seven had their origin in the Vallée de Joux. The Vallée de Joux was a specialist in the manufacture of watch blanks, or blancs as they are called. They were then sold in Geneva, even in England or Germany. Then the suppliers finished them, signed them and sold them under their name.

All this motivated me. I said to myself that if the elders had done it, why not do it again. And with old tools dating from 1900 that I had bought in Le Brassus, a village in the Valley, I tried to understand how they worked at the time. I finally made with this tooling the first 19-line Grande Sonnerie (this is equivalent to 42.94 mm /1 line =2.2558 mm rounded to 2.26). It is a pocket caliber, and I was inspired by what was done at the time, like the Grandes Sonneries made in Le Brassus by the Reymond brothers. It is mainly in alternation with my restoration work that I made these watches. I could not say how long it took me. The idea was to market it.

But at the time, I couldn't afford to invest in a gold box, so I finally inserted the movement in a brass circle and went prospecting in Geneva, Zurich, Lucerne, in specialized stores, at collectors. Everywhere I went, people tapped me on the shoulder and told me that it was good and that I should continue, but nobody trusted me. Very often, I was advised to propose my work to a brand. So finally, I proposed this watch to Audemars-Piguet, and they showed an interest in my work: 5 watches were ordered by this brand. So, you may think that 5 watches are not much! But in terms of work, it represents a lot since it took me about 2000 hours of hard work to make one, so it was a lot of work. That's how I started making watches for others. The watches, I would deliver them completely finished. I had to find a case maker who produced beautiful pocket watch cases and an enamel dial maker.

And from then on, I had a lot of disappointments. My work had not been respected. Out of 5 watches, 2 were broken. My watches were treated like potatoes. The first watch, a Grande Sonnerie (a pocket watch), which had been exhibited in Basel, came back a few months later from an exhibition in Paris, in a plastic bag with some other watches. They clashed during the whole trip. The result? Completely scratched case, broken glasses, broken hands, broken enamel dial. I redid the job a second time and charged everything. Unfortunately, it was not the same. But what happened to the second one is even worse. This watch was at the Swiss market in Morges, and it had to go to an exhibition in Geneva. How do you transport a watch like that? You put the case in a cupboard, and you put the watch in your jacket pocket with your lighter, your phone and your keys. You go to your car and jam your jacket in the car door. The person who did this worked until he retired, and nobody ever told him anything. And I think for this watch, you can use the term "smashed". That is, it had no crystal, the hands were broken, the enamel dial was cracked, the bottom of the case was completely sunken which caused the bowl underneath to be deformed and finally shattered the crystal underneath. The movement was stained with glass bricks. I immediately signed a paper saying that I was completely discharging the watch and told them I didn't want to see them anymore. That day was the end for me. I told myself that I would never work for others again. I finished the other three pocket watches I owed them and prepared to start over.

After recovering from all these emotions, I told myself that I had to try again, but this time, to start with the idea of a bracelet watch. I looked at the market. It was in the years 1989. I saw that there was the beginning of tourbillions, chronos, and I said to myself: what if I made a chrono? But if I went that way, it would be just one more. So, I said to myself that I had to do something that had never been done before. The Grande Sonnerie Répétition Minutes had never been made into a wristwatch. And my idea was set, I had to do it. Thanks to the help of an Italian collector, a man named Fumi, who had been urging me to do something together for a few years already. So, one day, I asked him if he was ready to take the risk with me. And he said yes! So, we decided to start building the Grande Sonnerie Répétition Minutes wristwatch. I had to learn the computer, the computer-aided design system, AUTOCAD, which I learned by myself. It took me roughly two and a half years to build and produce the first watch, N°1, which I exhibited in Basel in 1992. It was a big surprise because nobody expected it. On that occasion, I received a prize awarded by the Grimoldi Jewelers of Milan for the most technical realization. After Basel, since it was the first time I exhibited, I did not sell anything. The only interest was that some watch brands asked me to do some for them. But in this field, I had already given.

Once the Basel fair was over, I found myself in big trouble. I was, as one might say, "on my knees, with my head under the water". I came into conflict with the person who had helped me, who had not understood that it takes time to get things right and that before having the Porsche and the cigar, the watch had to be made and sold. So, I had to put this first Grande Sonnerie bracelet and all that concerned it (plans, work, etc...) in a safe until we found a solution after many discussions through our lawyers. Solution that we found. I was going to be confronted to have to sell the Big Ring N°1 in order to be able to refund the person who had helped me. Great discovery for me of the commercial side of things that I absolutely did not know. I went to prospect and present the watch in the United States at first, and then to Singapore where I spent ten days negotiating and where I was taught for the rest of my life. I made monumental mistakes. In discussions, on several occasions, I made them lose face. They would ask me what the discount was on the watch, and I would get mad, slamming my hand on the table and yelling, "THERE IS NO DISCOUNT, THIS IS THE ONLY WATCH IN THE WORLD!?!". But that didn't stop them from picking me up in the evening to go for a drink because business doesn't mix with the rest. It was very difficult, but it was a great discovery for me. I sold this watch and I had three others on order behind it, as well as a pocket watch which was numbered N°1, and which is the only one now. Who knows, maybe I'll make another one? These are the beginnings of the marketing of my watches.