For me personally, one of the most enjoyable facets as a watch enthusiast is finding something different, something that stands out, and most importantly something which makes you smile when you look at it. I can still remember the first time I saw the Upside Down, a watch with only a minute hand which shows the hours on the dial all upside down, with exception of the current hour which is the right way up. I love this idea and was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to speak with its creator, Ludovic Ballouard. You can check out our video here, and the full transcript translated into English is below.
Of course we extend a HUGE thank you to Ludovic Ballouard for taking the time to speak with us, and also to Lufflo for the awesome soundtrack!
In Conversation with Ludovic Ballouard
In conversation with Ludovic Ballouard
WA: Watchmaking wasn’t always in your plans and yet it seems to be a match made in heaven. To begin with, why don’t you tell us a bit about your career in watchmaking to date?
LB: I started watchmaking school at the age of 16 and I left school at 19. I come from a French region called Brittany which is by the coast. Unfortunately, it is a region where there are mainly farmers and fishermen, and so I couldn’t ply my trade in this region. I was young, and after finishing watchmaking school, I wasn’t ready to leave the seaside, so I stayed for nearly 10 years and changed my profession and became an aircraft instrument technician. Ten years later, I decided to move to Switzerland to do what I learned in school, and I arrived in December 1998. I started with Franck Muller, where I stayed for 3 years. After Franck Muller, I went to François-Paul Journe, where I spent 7 years. The last 4 years here I worked exclusively on the grande sonnerie. It was after this that I went independent.
WA: How did the idea come about to create your own independent brand? Were you inspired by anyone in particular?
LB: The last 4 years spent with François Paul Journe, I spent working exclusively on the grande sonnerie, one of the most complicated watches in the world. After this grand complication, it is difficult to find pleasure in other complications which are much more simple, and so the only solution was to create my own brand and my own complications. I had the idea for the Upside Down and the Half Time which are both unique complications, which did not exist anywhere and so I didn’t really take inspiration for these ideas as they did not exist before. That’s how it all started.
WA: What was the best piece of advice that you were given when you started out?
LB: The best advice given to me when I started was never to reveal an idea before you have protected it. Many big brands have the financial means to make beautiful watches but they don’t always have good ideas. That’s why it is very important to protect yourself.
WA: I can still remember the first time I discovered your Upside Down timepiece and the smile it instantly put on my face, how did you create this concept?
LB: The Upside Down was born in 2009, the global financial crisis had started, it was in the media around the whole world talking about the stock market with the numbers upside down if the stock market is wrong, the numbers go wrong, and I thought that if one single number was right it could be enough to keep hope and continue with life, and I thought that in a watch, we can live it for one hour at a time. For the past, we cannot go back, and for the future we do not know, and a single number was enough to live in the present.
Upside Down, picture: Ludovic Ballouard
WA: Did it end up as you had first imagined it?
LB: I wanted to share a message of optimism with the Upside Down. This message is going very well, and after 10 years it still gets through, so yes it ended up how I had imagined, how I had hoped, and it will never stop as it will continue beyond today.
WA: The aim of the Upside Down was to remind people to live in the moment, and there is a similar playful idea with your next invention, Half Time. What was the inspiration behind Half Time, and how long after the Upside Down did you have the idea?
LB: The Half Time preserves the philosophy of the Upside Down, which is to live in the present moment, without being able to read the hours in the past or the future. On the other hand, the Half Time is two halves who find each other to form one. The inspiration for this watch comes from the love story of two people who find each other to form a couple and go on to live a happy life.
Half Time, picture: Ludovic Ballouard
WA: It must have been difficult to create the Half Time at the same time as making Upside Down, how did you manage this?
LB: The first 3 years of the brand were particularly difficult because I had just delivered the first Upside Down, and I had already started work on the Half Time, when I was contacted by Harry Winston who asked me to create Opus 13. For a year I had to stop, I cancelled my prep for Baselworld in 2013. So, for a year in 2012, I couldn’t continue with the Upside Down, couldn’t finish the Half Time, and stopped everything to work on this project for Harry Winston. It is an extremely complicated watch, with more than 660 components, 242 rubies, 70 hands. Often, you see for the big brands to release new complications you have to wait until they release, they do 5 watches in 5 years with a team of 50 people with powerful computers so imagine our team of 5 people in a small workshop and basic computers, to create one of the most complicated watches in the world in one year.
WA: When you started out as an independent, did you envisage how it would go? How does your brand today compare to what you had hoped?
LB: When I started, there was a lot of interest in the Upside Down complication, I had a lot of ideas and so there was a lot of interest in my brand and my work. I had the opportunity to find lots of financial partners to make the small brand into a large one. I had to choose between staying on my own as an independent and making 12 pieces a year, or to work with a partner with the possibility of producing 100 pieces or perhaps 1000 pieces a year. Today, 10 years later, my production is 12 pieces per year and I am totally independent and so I could keep my creative freedom, my customers are happy to be wearing a rare watch that you won’t find on anybody else’s wrist at an event, or with a neighbour. It’s a great pleasure for everyone.
WA: If you could share one piece of wisdom that you’ve learned through this process to an aspiring watchmaker, what would it be?
LB: Stay independent. Keep your creative freedom. With a commercial brand, you lose your creativity and it becomes about profitability. I can only advise them to stay creative and to remain the artist they were when they started.
WA: Can we look forward to any new Ludovic Ballouard creations in future to add to Upside Down and Half Time?
LB: Yes – a third creation under my name is in progress. Of course, as I said earlier, I’ve filed the patents and the plans are nearly finished and I’m about to start production on the first prototype. I prefer to see the watch working before presenting it. I don’t want to present a watch that will never work. This is a new, innovative idea in the world that nobody has done before, and I can’t assure you today that it will work, so you will have to wait a little longer!
WA: Merci beaucoup, Ludovic!
LB: Merci!
To learn more about Ludovic Ballouard, please visit ballouard.com or you can follow Ludovic on Instagram.
Soundtrack: Lufflo – check out Lufflo on Spotify or follow Lufflo on Instagram.
Ludovic Ballouard, picture: Ludovic Ballouard
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