The Watchmaking World’s Most Dynamic Duo: Michel Navas and Enrico Barbasini
Were it not for a coincidence, Enrico Barbasini would probably be making it big as a musician, like his father, and not in the limelight as one of the most talented watchmakers of our time. Fortunately, a chance encounter gifted us Enrico Barbasini when his father (he was opera singer) met a young man with an angelic voice during a tour in Zurich in the 1970s. Although he was a trained watchmaker, he managed to weather his way through the quartz crisis through singing. It was this that ultimately led to Barbasini also becoming a watchmaker and later getting a job with Gérald Genta, where he also met his companion Michel Navas, an equally talented watchmaker with whom Barbasini now runs La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, where the pair create exceptional timepieces. But what motivated the two master watchmakers, with their passion for grand complications, to work for a luxury maison like Louis Vuitton, which for most of its existence had nothing to do with mechanical watches?
A penchant for the complicated
Unlike Enrico Barbasini, Michel Navas was practically born into watchmaking. As his father was a watchmaker, he came into contact with mechanical watches at an early age. His brother also works as a watchmaker today. After studying at the Horology School in Besançon, Navas gained experience at Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Frank Muller and Gérald Genta in the 1990s, where he eventually met Enrico. The two watchmakers developed a particular passion for highly complex mechanisms. At AP and Patek, Barbasini and Navas worked on the watch manufactures’ high complications. Even then, it was clear that there was a very special chemistry between the two personalities, which made them an inseparable duo and led to the founding of a joint company in 2004. Together with fellow watchmaker Mathias Buttet, who had previously worked as technical director at Franck Muller, Navas and Barbasini founded BNB Concept, which was made up of the first letters of their surnames. There they produced high complication movements for watch brands. Even Rexhep Rexhepi (Akrivia) worked as a watchmaker at BNB Concept for around two years.
However, due to differences of opinion, Navas and Barbasini left BNB Concept in 2007 and founded La Fabrique du Temps – but this time without a third party. Mathias Buttet continued to run BNB Concept until 2010, when the company ran into financial difficulties and was acquired by Hublot, along with its last remaining founder on board, Mathias Buttet, who is now R&D Director at Hublot.
Laurent Ferrier Caliber LF 619.01 – developed in cooperation with Navas and Barbasini
La Fabrique du Temps established itself as a prestigious watchmaking workshop, focusing on tourbillons and repeater watches for various watch brands – for up to 13 brands at its peak. They developed the legendary LF 619.01 tourbillon movement for their friend and independent watchmaker Laurent Ferrier, with whom they had previously worked together at Patek Philippe. In 2008, his son Christian Ferrier even joined La Fabrique du Temps as a watchmaker.
Louis Vuitton comes knocking
Then, something wholly unexpected happened. Hamdi Chatti, then-Vice President of Louis Vuitton Jewellery & Watches, approached Navas and Barbasini to see if they could envisage selling La Fabrique du Temps to the LVMH Group under their leadership. Chatti had previously worked at Piaget, Harry Winston and Montblanc, and had the necessary experience and interest in the watch segment.
Louis Vuitton started out in the mechanical watch business as an establishment in 2002, sourcing movements from ETA, Dubois-Dépraz, La Joux-Perret and Zenith. LV ran a watchmaking workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds to assemble the watches, but the luxury maison had bigger plans and wanted to play in the haute horlogerie league in the long term. Of course, this was only possible with the necessary expertise, which the company recognised in the two master watchmakers and their workshop La Fabrique du Temps. Navas and Barbasini agreed, leading to LVMH acquiring their workshop in 2011. As Michel Navas says today, “Louis Vuitton was known at the time for its suitcases, fashion and leather accessories, but not for high watchmaking. It was a completely new field for them, and that appealed to us because we could fully realise our vision and creativity. When you work for a brand that has a long tradition, you are limited in a way because you have to respect their values. It was a challenge, but also a great opportunity for us.
What’s more, Navas and Barbasini were still looking for a suitable housing for their unusual Spin Time mechanism. The idea for the Spin Time, in which small rotating cubes display the time, came to Navas in 2009 when he was travelling at the airport and saw the departure board on which a rotating mechanism displayed the list of cities and departure times. Louis Vuitton’s unmistakable Tambour case was the perfect fit, as its drum-shaped form provided sufficient space for the voluminous mechanism.
A new manufacture building
In March 2012, LVMH acquired the two dial manufacturers ArteCad and Léman Cadran in order to further expand its own watchmaking expertise. In October 2014, Louis Vuitton then inaugurated a 4,000 square metre watch factory in Meyrin, a suburb of Geneva. The original site in La-Chaux-de-Fonds was closed or integrated into it. One of Navas and Barbasini’s conditions for taking over their La Fabrique du Temps was that the new factory building had to be located in the canton of Geneva, as they wanted to have their years of expertise in watchmaking graced with the Geneva seal, which, even today, only a handful of watchmakers possess due to its strict criteria.
In 2016, just five years after the takeover of LVMH, Navas and Barbasini presented the Voyager Flying Tourbillon, the first Louis Vuitton watch to be certified with the Geneva Seal. Their wealth of ideas seems to be inexhaustible, and the two watchmakers have certainly found their playground in Louis Vuitton. Their creations are certainly playful, from the Spin Time to the automatons such as the Tambour Opera, the Tambour Carpe Diem, or the Tambour Fiery Heart, whose dials delight those who see it with a wealth of animations at the touch of a button. The Tambour Spin Time and the automatons are among the greatest inventions that Navas and Barbasini created for Louis Vuitton at La Fabrique du Temps.
However, as Navas himself says, the Twin Time Chronograph is probably the most complicated watch in the portfolio. It was specially developed for the America’s Cup and is equipped with a unique chronograph mechanism that measures two different times (of two competing regatta boats) and displays the difference between these two measured times. The Tambour Street Dive and Tambour Carpe Diem have won prizes at the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). As if that wasn’t enough to keep the two watchmakers busy, Navas and Barbasini have also been responsible for the movements of the new Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth watches since last year – LVMH recently acquired the licence for the two brands. Even Dior, which belongs to the parent company LVMH, has its tourbillon movements manufactured at La Fabrique du Temps.
Complex movements meets traditional craftsmanship
Even today, movements from external suppliers can still be found in Louis Vuitton watches. But the company is working steadfastly to produce an increasing amount in-house. Of the 30 or so watchmakers currently working at La Fabrique du Temps, only a handful have mastered the intricate movements bearing the Poinçon de Genève seal. In addition to watchmaking expertise, LV also relies on in-house métiers d’art. At La Fabrique du Temps, dials are not only produced, but also elaborately finished: engraving, enamelling, miniature painting and gem-setting are already fully integrated. The guilloché division is currently being further expanded, for which the manufacture is locating, purchasing, and restoring old guilloché machines in-house. Today, La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton has around 200 employees. Louis Vuitton has just unveiled the new Voyager Flying Tourbillon Poinçon de Genève Plique-à-jour, whose dial is produced using a complex enamelling process that only a handful of craftsmen still master today. Approximately 100 hours of work go into one dial.
Despite all these milestones and the attention that Navas and Barbasini receive today, the two watchmakers have always remained down to earth, very authentic, and incredibly likeable. Anyone who has had the honour of meeting them in person knows this. When asked which complication is Michel Navas’ personal favourite, he replies: “A simple three-hand watch. I love simple watches. I can develop and build all kinds of complications, but the most difficult thing about watchmaking is creating simple things.”
“Suppose my house was on fire, I had to get out as quickly as possible, and could only save one thing: it would be this watch.” Our conversation with the father and son behind the highly respected Instagram watch collector account @horology_ancienne has been going on for over an hour by the time this sentence…
At this year’s Watches & Wonders 2022, Panerai’s CEO Jean-Marc Pontroué sat down with Swisswatches to introduce us to his company’s "Submersible QuarantaQuattro" diving watch. Its name already reveals that the models come with a new case diameter of 44 mm – but Pontroué also had many other thoughts to share. In addition to three…
Piaget is one of those unusual brands that doesn’t only specialise in producing some of the highest quality watches available on the market, but also some of the finest jewellery. What’s more, the two areas of craftsmanship often unite, leading to Piaget’s reputation for producing some of the most interesting and creative luxury timepieces in…
Watch enthusiasts in search of the extraordinary have always been in good hands with Wempe. The family-owned company has a keen instinct when it comes to choosing its partner brands – always knowing how to both delight and surprise its clientele. Wempe’s newest brand marks yet another premiere for Germany. Having once been the country’s…
Swisswatches recently had the honour of meeting once again with the CEO of Breitling, Georges Kern, following the launch of the brand’s first own boutique located in Munich, Germany. Spanning over 220 square metres and two floors, the boutique in many ways embodies Breitling’s plans for the future – as Kern explains to our very…
The Louvre, Paris. Once the residence of French kings, it is now the most visited museum in the world. It is home to a collection consisting of several hundred thousand works, based on the passion for art by a few. Among them are King Francis I (1515 - 1547), a patron of Leonardo da Vinci,…
Patek Philippe is introducing four new models from the Nautilus collection at Watches & Wonders 2021. The new Nautilus 5711/1A-014, with its olive green dial, stands out in particular, and replaces the discontinued Nautilus 5711/1A with a blue dial. In addition, the manufacture is also launching a variation of this new 5711/1A-014 with a diamond-set…
Did you know that in regards to the world time-zones, the Russian capital Moscow recently has shifted one hour closer to Western Europe, being relocated to UTC+3 instead of UTC+4 as it has been for decades? And did you hear that Dubai now represents the time-zone instead of Riyadh, or Brisbane instead of Noumea? Some…
Florentine watch brand Panerai’s Submersible models first surfaced in the late 90s. For more than two decades, however, the timepiece overshadowing it was Panerai's original diving watch, the Luminor. Since 2019, the Submersible has increasingly distinguished itself as a line in its own right. Now, for the first time, the new Submersible Goldtech Orocarbo PAM01070 combines two Panerai-developed materials into one watch:…
You don't believe in the significance of zodiac signs? To be honest, neither do I. At least not most of the time. Well, maybe sometimes. When astrologers only attribute good qualities to my sign. I'm an Aries. Opinions about its characteristics are known to vary widely. Incidentally, the most common zodiac sign worldwide is Virgo. Be…
In 1975, Gianni Bulgari, the grandson of Bulgari founder Sotirio Bulgari and now 90 years old, sought to present his Geneva boutique’s top customers with an extraordinary Christmas gift. This gift – a watch – also marked the inception of a line that would come to define the brand’s aesthetic for many: Bvlgari Bvlgari. Today,…
Swisswatches attended the launch of the new TUDOR Ranger in London back in July, and it was everything you’d hope for: ambassador David Beckham enthused about the tale behind the watch, guests drank smoothies out of ice cubes, and an Oxford scientist spoke enthusiastically about the importance of the British North Greenland Expedition. Since the…
It’s been another extraordinary year for us all, and the watch world is no exception. That's why the Swisswatches team sat down once more to compile a list of our top watches from 2024. From milestone models and innovative materials to historic revivals, we present you with 24 special highlights to emerge from the ever-surprising…