How many luxury watch brands are still managed by their original creators? Very few. Notable exceptions are Michel Parmigiani at Parmigiani Fleurier and Max Büsser at MB&F. Roger Dubuis has passed away, Robert Greubel is stepping back, and Richard Mille has retired. But retirement is the last thing on Laurent Ferrier’s mind. Starting your own brand at an age when most people are thinking of gardening and golf speaks volumes about his unique entrepreneurial spirit, or possibly a thirst for new challenges.
In fact, it’s probably a bit of both. Laurent Ferrier is a relentless perfectionist. He is driven not by his past successes, but what he can still achieve, in watchmaking and elsewhere. Even with his global reputation for producing high-quality timepieces, he has always been a car enthusiast – like many watchmakers. But he has taken a different approach. While many brands are happy to plaster their logos on racing suits, Laurent Ferrier prefers to get behind the wheel and wear the suits himself. It was at the legendary Le Mans circuit that he made a pact with his lifelong friend François Servanin that he would one day launch his own watch brand. The promise was made in 1979 and fulfilled exactly 30 years later, in 2009.
In the intervening years, Laurent Ferrier’s journey has been something of a motor racing circuit, with many twists and turns. He competed in the iconic Le Mans 24 Hours race seven times, but he also comes from three generations of watchmakers. His destiny seemed predetermined to follow their path. So it came as no surprise when he graduated from the Geneva School of Watchmaking at the age of 22. He then joined Patek Philippe in the casing department. But Laurent Ferrier had dreams of something bigger, louder and faster. In 1968, the year he turned 22, he entered the automotive parts business, with the underlying ambition of one day getting behind the wheel of a racing car himself.
This exciting adventure lasted six years, until he received an offer he couldn’t refuse. When Patek Philippe set up a technical department, 28-year-old Laurent Ferrier returned to his watchmaking roots, and swapped the steering wheel for the loupe and tweezers. The roar of 6-cylinder engines was replaced by the hushed precision of the watchmaker’s bench. Laurent Ferrier navigated this dramatic shift with remarkable ease. His talent was quickly recognised and he was promoted to head up the creative department on Geneva’s iconic Rue du Rhône, where he would remain for 37 years.
At 60, he left the company. Just three years later, he launched the brand that bears his name. His son, formerly an engineer at Roger Dubuis, joined him in his venture and helped create their first in-house tourbillon – an achievement that was universally applauded, and recognised with a prize at the GPHG the following year, in 2010. The rest, as they say, is history. As the most active retiree in haute horlogerie says, “My greatest achievement is the one we’ll be launching in two years.” A conviction he has been repeating for the past decade.
