I came across Simon Lefrançois' watch design while browsing Instagram (which strongly suggests that the algorithms searching for posts for fans of independent watchmaking are correct. In the flood of hundreds of new watches, brands and designs every year - I was struck by the design approach, which was 100% eye-catching, plus a beautiful logo - I immediately knew that this was "something" and I wanted to learn more, not only about the watch, but also about the creator who puts his name on it and, as it turned out, also makes it entirely by hand, and he gained his watchmaking experience in the most prestigious companies in the world.

Hi Simon, tell us a few words about yourself and your watchmaking journey.

My name is Simon Lefrançois, I am 43 years old. I became interested in watchmaking when I was 16 years old. I then discovered the world of micromechanics, meeting a fascinating watchmaker in a small village in Lot (one of the departments/counties/in France). This meeting made me decide, as a young man, to go to watchmaking school in Bordeaux. I admit that I was very fascinated by it and after passing the CAP I decided to continue following the path of watchmaking. At the age of 19, I landed in Sainte Croix, in the famous Vianney Halter company. It was a very rich experience for me and I discovered a watchmaking industry that I had never known before. After this episode, life took me to Geneva. At school where I studied, there was not much talk about Switzerland, let alone its wealth, knowledge and unique creators. There I learned about more industrial watchmaking, visiting many famous factories. I specialized in vintage watches, starting in a dedicated department at Vacheron Constantin. Once I had some experience, I worked on restoring and maintaining watches with complications. Then I gained experience in companies in Bienne, La Chaux de Fonds and Geneva (Omega, Greubel Forsey, Patek Philippe - author's note).

Tell us about your watch design. In my opinion, it is very interesting and unique, so I am curious how you arrived at the final look, and whether you have designed watches before?

At some point I felt that I would like to try something new, independent, and from Switzerland I moved to the west of France to open a small watchmaker's workshop. This stage made me learn the advantages and disadvantages of working on my own, especially in a country where watchmaking does not have the same prestige as in Switzerland.

My first independent project was a pocket watch. It was a natural choice given my experience with vintage watches. The work on it was very personal, I worked only on handwritten designs, but as I mentioned, it was my personal project, so I did not publish it anywhere.

Then I focused on creating an independent path from my passion that would allow me to make a living from it, and the opening stage was the preparation of a specialized workshop, which I set up together with my father, and which was to be used to create my first wristwatch design (which is the topic of this interview).

Our work in the workshop began with acquiring and renovating watchmaking machines, giving us full production autonomy. It was very interesting for me to bypass the technical limitations of our workshop in order to achieve results that I could normally only achieve by outsourcing the work - as a result of this determination, dials and hands were made after many attempts. The constant effects of my ideas vs. technical possibilities finally resulted in a design that spoke to me and was at the same time original - so the limitations in a sense created this originality. I made several prototypes to find the final proportions that satisfied me. 

I understand that the watch (apart from the mechanism) is completely handmade. Which part or stage was the most difficult

By far the most difficult element to make is the watch face. It is made of one thick piece of the so-called German silver (alloy also called "new silver") and properly heated to remove any imperfections. Then it was milled to create a three-dimensional impression by differences in the height of the ring and the rest of the dial. All holes and sockets for index markers (in the form of mini rivets) and the milled circle connecting the indexes are precisely made on hand-operated machines. The only element of the shield that is required is the engraving of a logo. I fill the ring and logo with varnish, the excess of which is manually removed, and then, after protection, I sandblast the shield elements... and then the shield goes back to the lathe to finish the edges. The upper (protruding) part of the dial is then satin-finished or glass-blasted (depending on the customer's choice) and only then can I start working on... the remaining parts of the dial, i.e. making the rivets and larger blue indices (their color is achieved by thermal dyeing). After putting everything together, the dial is protected with a special colorless varnish and it is a very delicate process, as a small mistake can result in all the work being wasted. In turn, the envelope and its details require very complicated machine setup and high precision. I went into quite a detailed description to make you realize how time-consuming and complicated these elements are. There are over fifty of them and it takes a month to make and fit everything for one watch.

When I was working on the above prototype and machines in the workshop, I was still repairing and restoring vintage watches, so it took some time before the project saw the light of day - it is also important that I have a five-year-old son, which requires a lot of time and sacrifices. During this time, I looked at the watch market a bit from the side, discovered the potential of Instagram and decided to devote myself 100 percent to my project, abandoning all orders and I am very happy with the decision I made.

Do you have brands or watchmakers that inspire you in terms of dial and case design? We have classics such as Breguet, but also modern watchmaking with heritage roots, e.g. Simon Brette, Cyril Brivet, Sylvain Pinaud. What are your plans for the future, e.g. do you plan to introduce your own mechanism or complications?

I don't have specific watch or watchmaking inspirations - there are many great watchmakers, it all depends on what you expect. The diversity of brands and watches is currently very large. What really interests me are the people behind watchmaking machines, their operation, designs, etc.

Being outside Switzerland I am more isolated from the possibility of working on my own mechanism, but I met many wonderful people who helped me on my way - Luc Monnet, Cyril Brivet and Pascal Coyon.

As for future plans, I am currently focusing on promoting my small series of watches, where in the future I would like to expand it with other ideas focusing on dials, but... my next project (which is just a sketch on paper for now) excites me very much, because the mechanism will be the heart of the whole and I would like to join forces with other creators on it.

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Simon Lefrançois, a watch made entirely by hand (dial, case, hands) in an atelier in Brittany.

• Case: stainless steel 38 mm, thickness 7.4 mm
• Glass: sapphire with anti-reflection
• Mechanism: ETA2892
• Strap: calf leather, classic buckle clasp 
• The watch is made to order in a series of 20 pieces, two types of hands and dial available.
• Box: oak wood, with watch-like details (characteristic screws), locally handcrafted, as is the leather travel case that is included.
• Price: 3,600 Euro + VAT