My name is Amandine, I am 11 years old. I am keen on watchmaking and, since the age of 7, when asked what job I want to do, I answer “watchmaker-designer at Bulgari”… In the meantime, I am interviewing people in the sector.
By Amandine, the youngest Swiss Watch Passport columnist
Amandine’s portrait | Insta SWP | Insta JSH® | Insta Amandine | Facebook | Twitter | Linkedin
Who are you at the office?
I am my colleagues’ colleague. In every companies where I worked, when I was introducing the boss, I had to say that he was my boss. Since today I can’t do everything alone and our success is the success of a whole team, I asked everyone to say “we are colleagues”. So in the office, I am Thomas, the colleague of my colleagues, even if they call me “Mr. Thomas” from time to time, to tease me a little. In memory of a bar where the bartenders had called me that. It gives me a little bourgeois look, which I am not! I try to be the way I am in life, which is a reflection of my values and personality. And I have created a brand that reflects these values: sociable, open, transparent and respectful.
Since today I can’t do everything alone and our success is the success of a whole team, I asked everyone to say “we are colleagues”.
Great, this idea of “colleagues”, I will remember it later in my life. In real life, who are you?
The same as in the office. I was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It’s a city with a somewhat proletarian heritage. That is to say, it’s a town of working people, not really middle-class people. So the value of work is important there. And I have a heritage that is quite rooted in Neuchâtel, but with a mix of different cultures like you. My mother is Lebanese, my grandmother Italian and Greek. So I have a Mediterranean sound and a Swiss education. Otherwise, I am the proud father of two little girls, Cataleya and Salomé. I am a very loving father, even if I am unfortunately not very present because I work a lot.
How did you get into watchmaking?
Actually, I was born into it. Born in a watch! My father was a journalist, a newspaper owner. He owned the newspaper L’Impartial and, when I was a child, all the industry bosses came to eat at home. The Hayeks, the Blums… These are names that won’t necessarily mean anything to you, but they shaped watchmaking as it is today. When they came to our house, I loved to listen to them because they talked about the real watch industry, the one of the kitchens and not the one of the buffets with the beautiful plates and the small pieces of parsley. The watchmaking of those who make the watches. So I grew up in a watch, inside a watch, hearing its ticking.
They talked about the real watch industry, the one of the kitchens and not the one of the buffets with the beautiful plates and the small pieces of parsley.
Very nice image. What do you remember about your first watch?
A Camel Trophy. I don’t know if the brand still exists. A friend told me about this watch and my parents bought it for me. It fascinated me. I spent hours looking at it. It was quartz, with a chrono I think. It was quite small and quite beautiful. But the watch that impressed me the most was a Kelek. A magnificent brand that has unfortunately disappeared today. My father gave it to me as a gift. So obviously the sentimental link that binds me to it is no longer there just to tell the time but it connects me to someone special.
This nearly answers my next question: today what is the watch that has the most sentimental value to you?
Yes and no. Because the other sentimental watch is the one that I created and that I wear today. It is 100% made in the canton of Neuchâtel. And on the sentimental side, I don’t know if you can see it here even if you have good eyes…. Wait, I’ll show it to you by zooming in three times with my cell phone: it’s the engraving that’s there on the barrel, a little sentence from my father, “To love time, the one that doesn’t count.” It’s eternity in fact. My father is no longer here today. He died a few years ago. I wanted to put one of his phrases on my watch, in his honor. This tribute makes this tourbillon ultra sentimental to me.
Do you make watches for young people?
No. However, I have a scoop. In 2024 we will, and probably with you…!
Ahhhh. Cooooool! And what would you tell a young person under 15 to get him interested in mechanical watchmaking rather than his Apple Watch?
I would tell him that there is a useful time and a time to love. The watch had one function, to tell the time. In fact, the Apple Watch fulfills this function very well. I have one and I think it’s fantastic and they are super good at functionality. Except that there is the functional time on one side and the living time, the time you like, on the other. And for me, time dressed in a beautiful mechanical movement is a time that we love, not a time that we count.
My mother used to tease my father by saying “You have your watch and I have the time.”
That’s exactly it. And if we can have the time both accurate and beautiful, then it’s even better.
I understand that, for the moment, your brand is not for young people. But what would be its assets to seduce a young adult who has saved up to buy a nice watch?
This is a very important point for me and specific to my watch. In fact, this might make you smile, but at the beginning I didn’t want to create a brand. Ba111od was a bit of a mistake because at the beginning I wanted to demonstrate a business model. I teach in universities and I wanted to show that by rethinking the way we sell watches, not the way we make them but the way we sell them, we can keep a lot of margins. And I give those margins back to the customers. As a result, and don’t think I’m arrogant, you won’t find any watches on the market that are cheaper than ours in terms of quality. Of course, this has nothing to do with the intrinsic quality of the watch, but rather with the economic model. We can offer a tourbillon like this one, which is produced 100% in the canton of Neuchâtel, for 5,400 francs. You know the price of tourbillons in general. Here, normally, we would be more like 50,000 francs, even though we have the same properties. So what I say to a young person is that we have an economic model that allows him to have a lot of Swiss made watch value but at a price he can afford. So, with us, he can afford the watch and the vacation… rather than having to choose between the two.
So, with us, he can afford the watch and the vacation… rather than having to choose between the two.
Great argument, watch and vacation I like (laughs). There is a lot of talk today about sustainability. What does it mean to you?
For me, what it means in concrete terms in the industry is a bit of hypocrisy. Hardly anyone has been interested in it for decades and now it’s become very fashionable to talk about it when the watch itself is already something very sustainable. It is perhaps one of the most durable objects in the world because a beautiful watch, if you take care of it, can last 100 years. Nothing lasts 100 years! Moreover, your mechanical watch does not need energy because you are the one who will activate it. For me, durability is already included in the product.
What I don’t want to do is what we call “Greenwashing.” That is, doing a lot of blah blah blah to give themselves a good conscience. Brands will make luxury watches, very expensive, and they’ll put them in a cardboard package to say they’re doing “sustainable”… While the people who will buy them are going to take big cars or a jet… That’s not very sustainable. So personally, I find that sustainability is often a hypocrisy. On the other hand, we try to work in short circuits to pollute less and we try to make only mechanical watches, without batteries.
When it comes to social networks, are you more into Tiktok, Instagram or LinkedIn?
Totally LinkedIn! It’s actually a bit special but LinkedIn is the network where I launched my brand. A lot of brands go to investors, I had no money. A lot of brands also go on Kickstarter… I started on LinkedIn by making a few posts where I said “I’m going to try an experiment, who wants to follow me?” So my brand was born on LinkedIn and I think it’s actually the only Swiss watch brand to have started like that. It’s a network that I use a lot, where I have a great community that supports me. And most of the things we do are through LinkedIn. For example, in December 2022, we needed cash flow money for the company, to fund all the development. I did one post on LinkedIn and I almost raised a million. That’s a lot of money. I just wrote and asked who wanted to lend me money and I got a million. People sent me money to my bank account without even making me sign a contract. After that I’m also interested in Instagram. I watch a lot of Tiktok and the algorithm understood that I was interested in certain news. I studied international economics and international relations at university and I find a lot of information on Tiktok that is sometimes a little bit dissident, that you don’t usually find on the traditional media. So I consume a lot of news there…
You are the first CEO who tells me that he looks at Tiktok and gets information there. I usually see some CEOs on Tiktok but they don’t see themselves on it. It’s very interesting.
It’s trendy and very creative. I don’t necessarily think it’s the best network for brands because it’s a place for spontaneous expression. For example, when I see ads that start to appear on Tiktok, I don’t look at them. For me, they don’t belong there. Like, for example, I don’t like it when people send me messages on WhatsApp to solicit me. For me WhatsApp is private. So I don’t promote my brand on Tiktok at all because I think it would be wrong. I keep it as a place for spontaneous expression with all the creativity that goes with it. Anyway, you can’t say you like it or you don’t like it. It’s there. You young people are on Tiktok, so if you want to understand the next generation, you have to be there.
What advice would you give me about living my passion for watchmaking and working in this field?
When you do things out of passion, you can only be right. What I could advise you, maybe, is to avoid being instrumentalized. Because what you do is brilliant, we feel your passion and it must remain original and true. Obviously, with the visibility you’re going to have, a lot of people are going to want to instrumentalize you. And that would be a shame. You must not let yourself be distracted from who you really are. At 12 years old you already have a lot of confidence, but you still have to grow up, you have a lot to learn. Then you have to choose your path. Either enter a big house, be trained, formatted. That’s where you’ll learn a lot of things… Or you can follow a less traditional path and join a small structure, a startup like mine or others. You will probably be closer to the field and to people who will let you express all your creativity.
It’s a bit early to make this choice and to commit yourself, but I can see that you have a lot of creativity and spontaneity and I think it would be a shame to lock it into a too rigid box.
Would you have a message to pass on, something to add or announce?
We’ll be announcing new things almost every month… However, I don’t have any particular message to pass on, except for the same one since the beginning: a big thank you to all my community who supported me and who continue to do so. There is something wrong in the watchmaking industry where brands tend to congratulate themselves and thank their customers and distributors, often forgetting the final client, at the end of the table, who is not known and often forgotten, even if he is the one who makes all the brands live. I don’t forget them and I thank all this community that supports me, that allows me to live my dream and to make beautiful watches that make my customers dream.
Thank you very much. Would you like to take a selfie for my album?
Yes with pleasure! But with which phone?
