Master Mind
It’s been said that his workshop houses components for some of the greatest names in watchmaking.
This watchmaker relies on past prescriptions to produce highly coveted pieces for luxury watch brands.
“HALF OF MY watchmaking is traditional, with a little bit of a development,” says Eric Coudray, chuckling at his headquarters at TEC Ebauches, in Vallorbe, Switzerland, as he describes his watchmaking style. It’s a comical understatement: Coudray’s techniques may be closer to those of the 19th century, but his mechanisms are such wildly imaginative modern masterpieces they’ve solidified him as one of the most important watchmakers of his generation. And you’ve likely never heard of him. That’s because Coudray works behind the scenes for some of the world’s most exclusive brands.
Like many of today’s top watchmakers, Coudray began his career learning to restore antique watches at a school at the International Museum of Watchmaking in La Chaux-de-Fonds. But it was at Jaeger-LeCoultre, where he spent nearly two decades, that one of his greatest achievements was born.
When Jaeger-LeCoultre released the Master Gyrotourbillon 1 in 2004, it marked the world’s second spherical dual-axis tourbillon. The movement rotated the cage of the tourbillon for greater accuracy. The spherical outer cage rotated once per minute while the inner cage, mounted perpendicularly, rotated every 24 seconds. Previously, tourbillons operated on a single axis because they were designed to regulate accuracy in pocket watches, which rest vertically inside the pocket.
Though Coudray debuted this mechanism 15 years after he joined Jaeger-LeCoultre, the idea took form when he was in watchmaking school, inspired by a pendulum clock created by watchmaking genius Anthony Randall. “It’s not exactly the same, but it’s a similar idea with the same philosophy,” says Coudray. “I thought it would be great to transpose this to a wristwatch, but I thought it would be too big. But (Jaeger-LeCoultre) told me they would create a box around it and that’s how it happened.” The final movement came to fruition nearly 20 years after Coudray first dreamed of the idea.
Coudray has now improved upon his creation with two new versions: a vertically oriented Spherion tripleaxis tourbillon for MB&F and a pair of ball-shaped movements, operating simultaneously, for Purnell.
Each has vastly increased speeds over the original Gyrotourbillon. But Coudray insists his watchmaking is about more than just flexing technical ingenuity. “Most of the things I create are more than just watches,” Coudray says. “It’s not just for the performance and all of that. It’s an exercise in style.”