Echoes of this Moment

Looking out the windows of the Biver workshops in Givrins, Switzerland, it is impossible not to notice the natural beauty all around us. Vineyards and fields, the lake in the distance, and an open sky frequently populated by light, fluffy clouds. It’s an ideal setting for making beautiful things in a careful, considered way.

This is also why we immediately connected with Swiss contemporary artist Guillaume Ehinger, whose studio is located in the nearby town of Vevey. Pierre Biver and Guillaume first met a few years ago through a family friend and the two immediately hit it off, bonding over their shared passion for art and design and their love of both the natural world and the wonder it inspires.

So when it came time to create a unique watch for the upcoming TimeForArt auction, which raises money for the Swiss Institute’s artistic endeavors, it was natural that we reconnected with Guillaume to help us create something truly special that embodied Biver’s artistic approach to watchmaking in a new way.

“It was important for Biver to collaborate with a Swiss artist – especially one from the region where my father and I have spent much of the last 25 years,” says co-founder and creative director Pierre Biver. “I appreciate Guillaume’s thoughtful approach and his emphasis on the process, not just the final result, which mirrors our approach as a watch brand. We approach the creation of each timepiece from an emotional perspective, whether it’s inspired by an abstract idea, a vision, or a memory.”

Guillaume’s artistic practice centers on abstract painting in which he represents mainly landscape scenes using color, gesture, and geometry in order to hint at something figurative, while still leaving things open to the viewer’s interpretation. He is particularly interested in the ways we experience the natural world around us and how it lingers in our memory, leaving traces of shape and color behind without always leaving crisp, clear pictures themselves. It is a more emotional way to think about memory and the passage of time, and one that clearly resonated with us at Biver.

Translating these ideas and techniques into a watch was not easy. Ultimately though, we decided to combine Guillaume’s approach and ideas with traditional crafts, meeting in the middle between his human-scale canvases and our watchmaking art.

At the center of this is the dial, which starts with an 18k white gold dial plate hand-engraved with undulating patterns reminiscent of light reflecting off the surface of a nearby lake. Many layers of colored enamel are then applied on top of that, giving the engraving a shimmering effect through the red, pink, and grey hues, which themselves recall the colors of a beautiful sunset as one might remember it years later. The surface also recalls the organic stone dials that are central to our approach at Biver, bringing the idea to life in a new way.

“I think a lot about scale in my work,” says Guillaume. “A great image can be read from far away and is pleasing to look at, but as you get closer it reveals more and shows you more detail. For me, working on a 39mm watch was like working on a canvas that needs to be seen from far away, so it appears small, but then if you can look very close, it needs to reward you with something more, which is why we decided to work with engraving and layered materials.”

The unique dial is housed in an Automatique case made from stainless steel, a first for that model (typically available in platinum and rose gold variations). This makes it significantly lighter weight than other Automatique models and the stainless steel itself shows off our high level finishing in a completely different way, especially how it responds to polishing and brushing. To emphasize this, we also inverted the finishing across the case for the first time. As with all Biver watches, the natural properties of the material are something we highlight, giving this watch even more personality.

Turning the watch over reveals another dimension to the collaboration as well. The Calibre JCB-003 is mechanically identical to those found in other Automatique models, but the 22k gold micro-rotor is specially engraved with the name of the watch – Echoes of this Moment – and Guillaume’s signature, just as you might find it on one of his paintings. It was important to us that the collaboration extend through the entire watch rather than simply altering one element.

“To me, a watch is not just an object – it is a three-dimensional representation of what is essentially four dimensions, including time. And it doesn’t just show the time, it also travels through time with you,” reflects Guillaume. “That is something truly special and truly exciting.”

The Automatique “Echoes of this Moment” is a unique piece and will be sold as part of the TimeForArt auction, taking place at Phillips in New York City on December 7th.

For more information and to register for the auction, visit TimeForArt.

Learn more about Guillaule Ehinger work.