When it comes down to it, one of the main appeals of mechanical wristwatches is the way they make us feel. Aesthetics that are pleasing to the eye, mechanisms that are intellectually exciting, and dare I say even something spiritual or emotional in the way that they take the intangible concept of time and render it in a tactile object. There’s a romance in creating a connection between yourself and the natural flow of the world. And I would argue that that connection is at its strongest with a bespoke watch that you have created yourself – perhaps with a little help from a brand such as Sartory Billard.
Sartory Billard first emerged onto the watchmaking scene in 2015 when Armand Billard sold his design agency and stepped into the world of horology with no prior experience. Quite the impressive leap of faith. He brought with him the belief that with the right support, anyone can have that one idea that puts them in the designer’s seat. Naturally, that meant helping clients create bespoke watches.
SB04
After the initial experiments of the SB01, SB02 and SB03 models, Sartory Billard really hit its stride in 2020 with the launch of the SB04. Not only was the launch of the SB04 well timed for the watch industry boom of 2020-2022 (especially in terms of independents), but it offered customers something truly invaluable: a blank canvas. With a traditional round design and time only complications, the margin for self-expression and creativity is truly massive.
It’s all well and good saying that a watch allows for creativity but what does that actually mean in practice? Well, let’s take a look at the design process. First, a customer submits an initial request via the portal on the website, where they specify the model they’d like to produce, such as the SB04, At which point, you’ll have a consultation about the design you’d like to make.
SB04 with meteorite dial
Elements that can be customised include the dial material, the dial colour, the numbers and index design, the hand finishing, the case finishing and the strap. But we’re not talking about customisation limited to a red dial vs a blue dial. The possibilities are near limitless. Looking through the portfolio of existing SB04 watches there are meteorite dials, engravings of cities, miniature portraits, natural gemstone, handmade guilloché, aventurine glass, circular graining and sunray brushing. And that’s in combination with Arabic numerals, Eastern Arabic numerals, Chinese numerals, dive watch style indexes, bar indexes, and designs with no indexes at all.
SB05
Plus, that’s before you even consider that there are multiple models you can choose to base the watch on. There’s the SB04 as already mentioned with its time only display. Then there’s the GPHG nominated SB05 with small seconds, the SB06 flying tourbillon. The SB07 integrated bracelet and the SB08 jumping hours and minutes with tourbillon. And even within those there are choices such as case size, material and display options such as the SB06 being 12-hour or 24-hour.
SB06
On a technical level, the watches impress too. After going through all the effort of creating a custom dial and case, it would be a major disservice to skimp on the movement. The time-only editions house movements from La Joux-Perret, one of the most reputable third- party suppliers in the world, while the more complex ones feature movements created specifically for Sartory Billard by industry leading watchmakers.
Armand Billard
In terms of pricing, it’s not a one price fits all situation due to the huge variety of custom elements. As a rule, they ask for a deposit once the design of the watch is agreed upon and then final payment is to be made prior to shipment. For example, the SB04 has a deposit of €2,500 and an average budget of €3,600. That then increases to €8,000 deposit for the SB05 with an average budget of €9,250 and all the way up to around €96,000 for the SB06-24. On top of that, as Armand personally works on every single watch and is just one human, there is an extremely limited production quota per year. But that’s the price for a watch you will have a connection to for the rest of your life.
More details at Sartory Billard.
