Watchlords

Stepping into Vianney Halter’s workshop in Sainte-Croix is an unforgettable experience. Inside, a wonderful mix of old watchmaking machines are humming alongside aeroplane parts, monumental clocks, books, drawings, engines and raw materials. It is exactly the workshop you have dreamed about, and yet everything is a surprise.


Xavier Markl, MONOCHROME – How did a Parisian kid end up crafting triple-axis tourbillons in Sainte-Croix?

Vianney Halter – Indeed, it was unlikely. I was born in Paris in 1963. Sometimes doors open in life. As far as I remember, I have always been fascinated by everything mechanical. Once, someone asked my mother when ‘this’ all started, and she could not answer. It has always been there. And I was so serious about it that when I was about ten, I got a tower clock which put everything in motion. At school, I was a dunce; I was not interested in what I was being taught. At 14, I was living in the Paris suburbs in Mantes-la-Jolie, and I had to learn some form of manual labour. I went to watchmaking school and graduated at 17. That was really interesting to me, and I performed very well. I immediately got a job offer. For a year, I worked in Paris restoring clocks. Then I worked in a shop that dealt mostly with vintage clocks for over two years. Working on highly complex timepieces was a rewarding and educating experience. My talent for crafting complicated watches is no doubt indebted to that period.

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