Collaboration Watches

One of my favourite watches that I had the pleasure to try on over the last few years was the Urwerk x DeBethune collaboration piece for OnlyWatch 2019. Both these independent brands are ones I admire greatly, and so to see them collaborate on a timepiece which fused the best of both was wonderful to see.

The satellite display for which Urwerk is best known is in my opinion one of the most innovative and dynamic ways to display the time, and De Bethune’s floating lugs concept, where the lugs are affixed to hinges at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions on the case is both great to look at and serves to create an incredibly comfortable fit against the wrist.

When I got to try this one for size at the OnlyWatch 2019 roadshow, it was one that really stuck in my mind for quite some time. Recently it got me thinking of other collaborations that we have seen in the past year or so, and I thought for this article it would be fun to check out a few of these collaboration watches in more depth.

Collaboration Watches from 2020

In the past year, there have been some really great examples of collaboration watches where different brands have come together and created something unique and special which showcases both brands wonderfully well.

Here, I am referring to collaborations where the finished piece is just as much a watch by one of the collaborators as the other, serving to create something greater than the sum of its parts; not a collaboration where a brand perhaps discreetly shares a movement with another brand, or releases a limited edition that is only available via a specific retailer or outlet.

Three of these partnerships especially stand out to me as having absolutely nailed this concept:

MB&F x H. Moser & Cie

Max Büsser, Founder and Creative Director of MB&F is no stranger to collaborations, after all the name of his brand MB&F is an acronym for Maximilian Busser and Friends! He has been involved in a fair few over the years, and when I spoke with Max last year it was evident just how passionate he is about there being a place for all different designs in the world of watchmaking.

Personally, I count both MB&F and H. Moser & Cie amongst my favourite brands, and so when they announced a series of collaboration pieces in June to celebrate their respective 15^th anniversaries, it was a relatively safe bet that I would love the result – and it turned out there were two creations born of this partnership for me to love!

For each, an incredible H. Moser & Cie dial is paired with one of two distinctive MB&F designs, with two very different movements.

The H.Moser & Cie x MB&F Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon borrows design notes from the MB&F Legacy Machine Thunderdome and Flying T pieces, with the time displayed on a small dial positioned at an incline. The main part of the dial, of course, is distinctively Moser with a boldly coloured minimalist fumé dial taking centre stage and simultaneously complimenting the overall design itself. The movement inside is calibre HMC 810, introducing a cylindrical balance spring developed by H. Moser & Cie’s sister company Precision Engineering AG.

As for the MB&F x H. Moser & Cie Legacy Machine 101, this too pairs a stunning H. Moser & Cie hallmark dial with the famous MB&F Legacy Machine design, which showcases the balance spring and escapement front and centre. In keeping with H. Moser & Cie’s minimalist dial aesthetic, both the time display at the top right and the power reserve at the bottom are indicated with small, discreet hands and no markers.

This collaboration produced 5 models of the Endeavour Cylindrical Tourbillon and 4 models of the Legacy Machine 101, each with a different colour fume dial, limited to only 15 pieces each to represent the 15^th anniversary of each brand.

My pick of the two is the Legacy Machine, and if I am ever fortunate enough to be able to afford one of these, I think I would even go so far as to describe it as a grail piece for me. I adore the design of the Legacy Machine and adding a Moser dial… to me, this is the icing on the cake. I find it difficult to imagine a more beautiful fusion from two incredible independents than what the teams have produced!

Louis Erard x Vianney Halter

For this collaboration watch we move from two independent brands in MB&F and H. Moser & Cie to a slightly different approach in a collaboration between a brand and an individual.

Louis Erard is an independent watch brand founded in 1929, which started producing watches in 1931. To celebrate their 80th anniversary in 2011, the brand introduced their Excellence collection, which is where we find the foundation for our next collaboration watch. Louis Erard’s popular regulator piece has previously been a canvas for designer for Alain Silberstein, however at the tail end of 2020 it also served as a canvas for independent watchmaker Vianney Halter.

With this collaboration watch, limited to only 178 pieces, Vianney Halter adds his unique style of design to a regulator dial – a type of dial which splits out the hours, minutes and seconds hands onto their own post. On this piece, the hours are the small hand at the top, the minutes hand is in the middle, and the seconds hand is at the bottom.

Vianney Halter describes his style as ‘future past’, taking inspiration from how watches of the past might look had they been designed today. The first thing that strikes me with this piece is the absolute symmetry of the dial; the hands are positioned in a vertical line from 12 to 6 o’clock, and a relief and depth which frames the sub-dials, with a symmetrical shape reminiscent of the number ‘8’.

The crown of the timepiece has been updated, too, to look like the studded crown used on his own Classic and Antiqua pieces.

This also marks the first time that a Louis Erard piece has included blued steel hands, in this instance, a fountain-pen style which I think perfectly evokes the sentiment of the ‘future past’ style, and really serves to tie the whole piece together.

The reason I particularly like this collaboration is that is serves to create something which is authentically Vianney Halter, and yet at CHF 3,500 was accessible to collectors for whom a Vianney Halter timepiece would otherwise be beyond reach. I was hoping to pick one of these up for myself, however it rather unsurprisingly had sold out in a matter of hours, with myself and I imagine many others moving way too slowly off the mark… lesson learned!

Schwarz Etienne x Kari Voutilainen

The final collaboration watch I wanted to highlight in this article is the Roma Synergy from Schwarz Etienne and Kari Voutilainen – interestingly, another collaboration between an independent brand and an individual.

Schwarz Etienne was founded in 1902, and today stands out as one of very few manufacturers who possess the capability of making their own hairsprings. Finnish watchmaker Kari Voutilainen is best known for the incredible decorative finishes applied to his timepieces, made from his atelier in Switzerland.

I was fortunate to be able to ask Schwarz Etienne CEO Mauro Egermini about this collaboration and how it came about:

“Friendship, mutual respect and willingness to share and experience a passionate adventure. 

“I met Kari 3 or 4 years ago for the first time during a watches exhibition somewhere in Europe. Immediately we felt very comfortable with each other. This was the birth of a new friendship. One year later, we were again exhibiting in the same salon, but this time in London and I invited Kari for a multi-brand dinner between friends. We were at the same table sharing food and wine and having very nice discussions. Towards the end of the evening, I came to the idea of asking Kari: ‘I would love to have your expertise on our watches, and will you be open to a collaboration together?’ I can assure you that there was no premeditation. A few seconds afterwards, just the time to empty our glasses of wine, the answer was ‘yes, with a great pleasure and I look forward to leaving this experience with you’.

“Sometimes things are very simple when two people are on the same wavelength and especially without a business ulterior motive.”

The result of the collaboration is two individual references, each of which is limited to only 50 pieces. The case and movement are the same base upon which Schwarz Etienne’s Roma collection is based, a dress watch aesthetic with a 39mm case, driven by calibre ASE 200.00 – complete with micro-rotor and offering an impressive 86 hours’ power reserve.

With this collaboration, much like the Louis Erard x Vianney Halter collaboration, the contribution of the independent watchmaker is the watch finishing, however this time both the dial and movement have been given the Voutilainen treatment, finished by hand by the artisans of Les Ateliers Kari Voutilainen.

On the dial, there is a truly wonderful showcase of different guilloché motifs. The designs are more intricate and compact towards the centre of the dial, and they slowly expand into a larger wave motif around the edges. Each pattern on each dial is engine-turned, by hand, to create the final stunning effect.

Turning the watch over, the finishing applied to the movement looks no less stunning. Thanks to the micro-rotor, the movement was already a sight to behold as the entire movement could be viewed without obstruction. With such a canvas, the result was always going to be spectacular, with a plethora of watch finishing techniques on show including snailing, perlage, polishing, and again a variety of guilloché motifs.

I feel like this is probably one of those watches that you could look at time and time again, and you would always find a new detail that you had not noticed before. There is so much attention to detail with these designs, and yet it has been executed by Les Ateliers Kari Voutilainen in such a way as to not overpower or look too cluttered.

Whilst it is true that this collaboration presents an opportunity to own a watch adorned with the Kari Voutilainen name without paying the Kari Voutilainen price, unlike the Louis Erard x Vianney Halter collaboration watch this one still comes with a significant price tag of CHF 29,500. It does, however, constitute a rather special watch for collectors, and this was something that Mauro highlighted to me:

“On the scene the watch speaks by itself, the refinement of the decoration, the choice of the colours and finally the global equilibrium of this very classical Manufacture product. And behind the scenes, the mix of two DNAs coming from Independent Manufacture brands, the craftsmanship and know-how added by both Kari Voutilainen and Schwarz Etienne.”

Personally, I think these are absolutely fantastic watches, and the finishing applied is nothing short of spectacular. For this collaboration, the Schwarz Etienne Roma to most certainly been elevated to another level.

In summary

For me, these collaboration watches proved to be real highlights from the last year, creating new watches that, without the power of collaboration, would otherwise like never have been seen.

Watches like these, fusing the hallmarks of two different brands together, I believe have a real place in the watch industry, and I am particularly excited by the idea perpetuated through the Louis Erard x Vianney Halter collaboration, whereby the collaboration presents an opportunity for watch collectors to acquire a timepiece by a watchmaker or brand whom they might not otherwise have been able to own.

Hopefully, we will continue to see these kinds of collaborations over the years with many more special designs and collaborations to come – something echoed by Mauro when I asked if he would like to do more of these collaborations in the future:

“Of course. According to me, this makes you think out of the box, allow you to explore new creation territories and above all, points out the real benefits of the term synergy… 1+1=3!”

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You might also be interested in:

• In Conversation with Max Büsser
• In Conversation with Vianney Halter
• OnlyWatch 2019
• Watch Stationery and Gift Ideas
• Watch Books, Watch Boxes and more at the Watch Affinity Shop on Amazon (commissions earned)

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