Philippe Dufour, nicknamed the convoluted watch master, is considered one of the best contemporary watchmakers after a distinguished career in the great Swiss watchmaking factories and the creation of his own brand in 1989.
Philippe Dufour was born in 1948 in Le Solliat in the Joux Valley, in the heart of the Swiss Jura. He chose from an early age to become a watchmaker and graduated in 1967 at the École Technique du Sentier. As soon as he graduated from school, he entered the prestigious Jaeger-Lecoultre factory to perfect his training there alongside the watchmaker Gabriel Locatelli. From 1974 he worked with Gerald Genta and the Audemars Piguet factory. This prestigious period reveals Philippe Dufour’s talent for making large complications.
Philippe Dufour launches its brand in 1989
Following the crisis of the watchmaking industry as a result of the quartz breakthrough in the 1980s, he finally launched a watchmaking restoration activity in his Brassus studio with Osvaldo Patrizzi’s old watchmaking gallery as his main client. This transitional period allows Philippe Dufour to mature his project of creation of his own brand. He founded the company in 1989 and began manufacturing his first watches under the brand «Philippe Dufour». The first model, a large ringtone with minute repetition, was launched in 1992. This watchmaking complication is one of the most difficult to achieve and will only be produced in 6 copies. In the same year he joined the Academy of Independent Watchmakers and Creators (AIWC)
In 1996, Philippe Dufour launched his second model the Duality which incorporates a double regulator. This complication already used in pocket watch did not exist in wristwatch. It allows, thanks to the differential, to divide the walking errors by 2 and to obtain a more precise watch than if it had a whirlwind. Thanks to this creation, Philippe Dufour’s fame becomes worldwide with an extraordinary fascination for his creations.
The launch in 2000 of the Simplicity model is a master coup that permanently installs the Philippe Dufour brand as a watchmaking reference of the 21st century. The master of watchmaking complication is not finished surprising us.
