The timeless art of hand-crafted watches

Though linguists may beg to differ, anyone who appreciates exquisite accessories knows Cartier is French for fine jewelry. The illustrious maison is perhaps less well-known, however, for its highly complex and stylized watches, a fact the company is working to change, first with an international traveling exhibition called Cartier Time Art that will start in Zürich in August and will display for the first time a unique collection of historic Cartier timepieces, demonstrating the rich history of the brand, as well as cutting-edge technology that Cartier designers say will change the way we think about our watches. On a rare visit to the Cartier watch factory in the heart of Swiss "pays horloger," The Prague Post got a firsthand look at what goes into the making of a fine watch.

It all starts 1,000 meters high in the Jura Mountains just a few kilometers from the French border in La Chaux-de-Fonds, where some of the most famous Swiss watchmakers are located, among them Rolex, Girard-Perregaux and, of course, Cartier. The watchmaking tradition and passion for intricate timepieces in the town and surrounding canton of Neuchatel is evident from the elegant watches draped on the wrists of all the locals, many of whom are employed in the watch industry.

"It's a bit of a professional deformity," said Michel Barbier, a former Cartier watchmaker who worked for the company for 30 years, explaining that whenever he meets new people, his eyes automatically drift toward their wrists.

Barbier explains that creating unique movements, the mechanisms behind the mechanical part of the watch, is the most time-consuming and intellectually demanding part of designing a new watch.

"The process of developing new movements takes quite a long time - anywhere from three to five years," he said.

Though typically less accurate than electronic watches because of their sensitivity to gravity, temperature and magnetism, mechanical watches can run  on movement mechanisms already implemented in other watches, but in the age of quartz and mobile phones, consumers of fine watches are always looking for more than just the time of day. They're interested in original designs that represent a confluence of science and art.

Carole Forestier-Kasapi is the mind behind the movements at Cartier, and her "professional deformity" is a diligent adherence to schedules. She constantly checks her flying tourbillonlwatch during our tour to make sure we don't fall behind, and jokingly refers to herself as "la gardienne du temps."

It's no surprise, as timekeeping is in her blood. Kasapi comes from a family of watch restorers in Paris, but came to La Chaux-de-Fond to study movement design at the local École Technique as a teenager and hasn't looked back since.

"I was born in a watchmaking family, but this is my choice," she said. "It's my passion."

After 12 years with Cartier, her position is no small accomplishment, since she's one of just a handful of women working as head movement designers in the Swiss watch industry.

"It's my baby," she says of her favorite flying tourbillion, but admits she would most like to design complex movements for women's watches, which is more difficult since the more feminine watches are typically smaller and more delicate.

In the meantime, she's been working on a groundbreaking new system for movement design, which takes advantages of a combination of materials never used together before that she says will "solve all the problems" of classical mechanical watches.

The ID One, though still just a concept design, makes use of ADLC coating and carbon crystal to make the watch less susceptible to the environment and hence it will require much less maintenance and adjustment compared with traditional mechanical watches.

Kasapi says she gets inspiration for her movement designs at all times of the day and night and carries a notebook with her that contains rough sketches of what will eventually become part of the company's exclusive collection. She shared a sketch of a limited edition Santos 100 Squelette that she designed and that debuted in 2009.

"Squelette watches are beautiful, but they are difficult to read," she said, taking a good-natured jab at the artistic side of her work, and explaining that, in the end, fewer numerals were used on the watch face to simplify the design.

After she has worked and reworked the movement for up to five years, she has a moment of truth when, surrounded by her team, she sets the watch for the first time to see if it will work.

"It's always a difficult adventure," Barbier said.

On the factory floor, the meticulous work of fitting all the tiny pieces together then begins, and despite Cartier's large production demands, a large amount of the work is still done by hand and, in many cases, Barbier says, it's simply the only way it can be done.

Emily Thompson can be reached at
ethompson@praguepost.com