Independents

Visiting Vianney

 

Another highlight of our recent trip to Switzerland was a great visit with Vianney Halter.  After saying hello, we began our tour on the ground floor, which is filled with wonderful things:

Vianney peers out from what I presume was a display stand for his watches at watch shows:

Plans and blueprints for different pieces cover the windows and walls

A scale model of the calendar module for the Trio.  These sorts of models are rare these days as CAD has taken over, but there's a certain charm to seeing things being worked out the traditional way

A model truck -- all of the mechanical elements (including the transmission) appear to be working models:

A testbed for a one-minute remontoir movement.  Will we see something based on this experimenation in a future piece from Vianney?

Upstairs into the production area!  Here we see how small metal parts are heat treated after machining, with a small amount of powdered coal being placed in the retort and then heated with a torch.  Note the rustic working conditions -- a few refractory bricks on a tabletop and a hand-held torch -- typical of Vianney's facility

A living relic -- Vianney's homemade CNC set-up.  The controller is built from an old relay-based control desk, with a new monitor screwed onto the top:

The machine itself is an old milling unit rigged up by Vianney to accept the instructions from the controller.  He continues to make running improvements to this machine, even now

Once parts are made, hand work is the order of the day.  Dials are hand-engraved, then filled with pigment to create the final numbers

On the many benches, it seems that containers of parts are everywhere:

Marchante EOT hands for the Janvier -- each is slighly different, as are the individually hand-made moon hands

The world's supply of Antiqua rivets!  Now all I need is the watch...

We were treated to a trip up to Vianney's (unheated but marvelous) attic, where he comes for inspiration:

Not just clocktower movements, but electrical devices, flow meters, and lots of other doodads:

Tower clock pendulums, hung from the roof:

A piece of (less than happy?) history:

Back downstairs, and time to break out the hardware.  An Antiqua movement -- the first time I had seen the under-case parts that make all the dials of the Captain Nemo watch operate

The Goldpfeil brought along by one of the members of our group, receiving a new strap from Vianney.  At lunch we asked Vianney about the clasp (subject of a loooong thread a bit ago on this forum) and he said that it was made to remind the wearer of the flip-open back of an old camera (the shape of the watch case itself).  Love the hand-peening of this case:

For comparison, the Trio.  Vianney told us at lunch that he wanted this watch to remind people of a gold ingot -- and it does!  He purposely kept away from curving forms to create a "truly rectangular" watch.

A YG Anitqua -- brand new and ready to go.  Sorry about the chromatic aberrations in this photo -- in person this piece is unbelievably beautiful.  Almost hard to believe that such perfect pieces can emerge from the chaotic surroundings in which they are born!

As shown in another post today, the front and back of Janvier Classic Number 1:

Vianney, many thanks for the wonderful time and your generous spirit!

Best,

Gary G