They're not the most obvious couple, Hervé Di Rosa and Laurent Ferrier. Di Rosa is loud, effusive, an artist who has travelled the world, setting up his studio in Vietnam, Cameroon, Bulgaria and Brazil, and who now shares his time between Lisbon, Paris and his home town of Sète in the south of France (he still has the accent). Laurent Ferrier is almost fifteen years his senior, a softly spoken man of few words, known as much for his discretion as his affability.
They met through a shared connection. Olivier Servanin is the son of François Servanin, co-founder of the Laurent Ferrier brand (the two go back 40 years), and a collector of Di Rosa's work. He came up with the idea of introducing his favourite artist to the Manufacture his father co-owns.
This June 19, artist and watchmaker were at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The city's modern art museum is hosting an exhibition of Di Rosa's colourful and energetic work. How could the artist's exuberant, cartoonish style fit with the subdued personality of a Laurent Ferrier watch? The answer is a Galet Micro-Rotor whose dial depicts "the Master of Time who reproduces himself throughout eternity." The design is taken from a wood carving in the artist's collection, in turn inspired by his Diromythology concept. Laurent Ferrier has stripped Di Rosa's world of its colour and flamboyance to keep only the warp and weft, in this instance a 12-armed character known as Ah! Ah! Ah!
The task of hand-engraving the dial was entrusted to Jeanne Valentine Ulrich at Les Cadraniers de Genève. She recreated Ah! Ah! Ah! on a gold base, which is then affixed to the dial. Framing this artistic dial is the Galet case in the master watchmaker's preferred 40mm size. The tried-and-tested micro-rotor movement is equipped with a natural escapement in which the escape wheel, rather than the lever, transmits impulses to the balance for improved energy efficiency and an enhanced 72-hour power reserve.
Their collaboration was never a foregone conclusion; so much separates Ferrier's quiet sagacity from Di Rosa's over-the-top eccentricity. Di Rosa wears one of the five pieces in this limited edition, which leaves just four for the public: confirmation that this Galet Micro-Rotor is destined for a very small audience indeed.
The opening of the Centre Pompidou exhibition is the kind of event Di Rosa says he "can't stand" (despite clearly relishing the moment). Well versed in current issues such as copyright and artificial intelligence, he complies with certain expectations the art world has of a successful artist (he was elected to France's Académie des Beaux-Arts in 2022) but relinquishes none of his expressive freedom. He values his independence. Works with family members. Goes along with the obligatory art-world meet and greets but is never happier than in the solitude of his studio. All things considered, Hervé Di Rosa and Laurent Ferrier are not that different.
