Interview with Mathias Buttet, R&D Director
of Hublot + actual Antikythera Mechanism Watch.
M.
Buttet came to Asia for a few days recently and kindly stop by
Tokyo. I missed him in June when he came to Tokyo last time so I
had been very excited to meet him.
Before I started asking
questions, Nakai-san of Hublot Japan told me that he liked Japan very
much. Naturally, I asked him how many times he has been to
Japan, and the answer was "this is my second time". Oh, so he
liked Japan by just coming here once. He told me that he liked
the foods and people here so much. There are Japanese
restaurants in Europe which he liked very much, but, according to him,
now he has realized that they were all not the REAL Japanese and he
wanted to take a chef or two with him
when he came here last time.
KIH ("PPro"):
First of all, although many readers already know, how did you get to
where you are today? A brief history of yours with your own
words?
M.
Buttet ("MB"): I entered and was educated at a Swiss devout Christian
school with dormitory where we all lived. When I was six (6), I
joined a fencing team which had won the competition (in junior
category) many times. I was so into it and was determined to
become a professional fencing player when I was a kid. I
practiced long hours everyday skipping the classes. I won nine
championships during the time I was in the team. BUT, I got a
baby when I was fourteen (14), yes, I got my own child when I was 14
years old. And I had to leave the school and the fencing team,
as I had to raise the kid. I chose to go to a watchmaking
school, in which I picked the "designer course". I studied
watchmaking design in daytime and worked chores at school at night time
to make a living. It took me eight years to graduate because,
after all, I finished not only designer course, but all courses - enough
to become a "concepteur". But, I was not really interested in
becoming a watchmaker to begin with. I like hand-crafting
since I was little and while Switzerland has many watchmaking schools, I
was more interested in "prosthesis" making. I was still
interested in prosthesis after graduating the watchmaking school, but I
failed the tests which were very difficult and gave up. I was
then decided to word for Nouvelle Lemania, because I had a family to
feed.
1. Nouvelle Lemania
(1987-1994)
Lemania was/is the very famous for its chronograph
movements, but Breguet and Daniel Roth asked Nouvelle Lemania to make
their respectively first tourbillon wrist watch and it was my first job
(in 1987). I was 23 years old then. I left Nouvelle
Lemania in 1994. During my tenor at Nouvelle Lemania, I was
involved in the development of various chronographs and minute
repeaters.
2. Vacheron Constantin
(1994-1999)
Involved in the development of tourbillon and
minute repeater models. I was the Director of R&D at
VC.
3. Franck Muller (2000-2004)
I was the
Director of R&D. Until I joined, Franck Muller was the
brand which outsourced all the complications.
4. BNB
Concept (2004-2009)
There were only four guys in my garage,
and in four years, it grew to have 180 employees and have all the
equipment and personnel to make everything in-house. BNB
Concept had contracts with 25 brands where BNB was the consultant to the
brands with respect to what type of model to make (concepteur) based on
the discussion with them, but not only that, BNB implemented and
executed the idea it came up with - i.e. designed, developed and
manufactured the models on behalf of the brands (on average 25 pieces
per model - the capacity of BNB was at its peak 1000 pieces per year in
2008 by 100 highly-trained watchmakers). The only parts BNB
couldn't make was the simple shape cases. As a result of this
whole process which those brands trusted BNB with the new concept and
new models as well as actual designing and manufacturing, BNB acquired
lots of patents - and that is why Hublot acquired BNB personnel and
equipment.
5. Hublot (2010 -
)
Hublot had been the biggest customer for BNB, about 20% in
terms of revenue, and when BNB had to stop its operation, Mr. Biver
asked me to bring my staff (30 in total) and equipment. Since
before BNB's bankrupt, BNB had been developing for Hublot several models
including but not limited to, various tourbillon models, 10-day
chronographs, minute repeaters, etc. This Hublot's minute
repeater sounds 2.5 db louder than the minute repeaters by Patek,
Breguet, VC (all which he developed at BNB). And this is the
pocket watch I made... I call this Bullet, with the tip of the
second hand being the skull with two ruby eyes - for the
rappers. But these days this sells well in China.
Can make it
succor ball shaped, all diamond covered, demon shaped second hand - by
custom orders.
PPro: Thank you for
introducing yourself in such details. Okay, then, I know that
you are the Director of R&D, but what is your exact role or what
is expected of you by the management?
MB: No, I am not told by
Mr. Biver to do any specific thing. He told me that he would
trust me anything I do. I directly talk with Mr. Biver all the
time and he sometimes asks me what I am going to offer next year and
that is it. That is why this job is interesting. I
don't have to think about how to sell, or what to sell because Hublot
has the marketing genius - Mr. Biver, and I can focus only on developing
what I want to develop. I never show Mr. Biver the progress
or interim report. I just show him the end result, saying "I
will offer this model next year". Of course, sometimes he does
not agree, but it is NOT because he doesn't like it, but because he
wants to wait for the right timing in the market for the
model. You may wonder whether Mr. Biver pushes me.
He rarely asks me what I am
doing. I don't want to tell anybody anything about what I am doing because I do
not want to show them anything until I am 100% sure that it can be
produced and can be put on the display box in the stores. The
marketing genius will start selling it once I show him something )
Seriously, I learn
something everyday from Mr. Biver. I failed BNB and that means
I didn't have "it", so I am now studying under Mr. Biver what it takes
to succeed.
I make watches and watches are for people
to know the time. But these days, I stopped wearing a
watch. I no longer want to be chased by the time. I
have become more philosophical - at the end of the day, I ask myself
what I did accomplish today, or how I used the time today. I
think I must control the time, not the other way around. I
think this is the result of the hardship I have gone through in my life,
particularly after I made Antikythera.
I am just a
mere Samurai, and The Shogun is Mr. Biver. He brought me in
when I was freezing outside. As long as I am needed I will
work here.
PPro: Are
you also responsible for the "Fusion" of the case
material?
MB:
Yes, my team is responsible for the new material, including the Magic
Gold. It can be applied to other areas and inquiries are
coming in from Auto industry, etc. I think the new material
development should be paid more attention. "Using some alloy
or material for the watch case for the first time" is not interesting at
all. So what? Watch industry must invest more in
developing new material, otherwise it will keep on using the same
material for the watch for another 100 years.
PPro:
Lastly, this is what I always ask. What is your own principle,
as a watchmaker - what you would never do or what you would absolutely
do?
MB: My
strong belief is that I must be always "a kid", because kids ask
questions all the time and it is very important to ask myself or others
why you do this or that. What I will never do is to betray
friends - if I don't betray friends, I can sleep well. And
what I always try to do is to listen with open mind. It is
also important not to think of only myself but also try to understand
what others think or feel.
PPro: Thank you very
much for your time. Please enjoy the rest of your stay and
foods here.
MB: Thank you. By the way, I am very much
impressed by the Japanese people's "team work" when the country faces
the difficulties. The disaster of 3.11 in 2011, I was
astonished by the speed of recovery and people who help and take care of
each other. And economically Japan may not be doing great,
but people are so calm and working together to make it better.
If these things happen in the western world, it couldn't have been
this quick or cooperative atmosphere. I am really applauding
and respect such attitude of Japanese people.
==============================================================
Antikythera
Mechanism Watch - one of four produced in my hand.
Two will go to museum and Antikythera institution.
One will go to Hublot Museum (to be build). And the last one
will go for the charity auction soon.
If you haven't, please
read this article too -> hublot.watchprosite.com
The "U-shape"
design enables the watch not to play around the
wrist, even though the watch is not exactly
light.
The crown is placed on the vertical
position so that it wouldn't hurt your hand when you bend your
wrist. Top crown is for winding, and the
bottom crown is for adjusting time and
such. Both are
screw-in type.
Bonus amateur videos....
for tourbillon second hand move and the back side dial.
===============================================================
Special
thanks to:
Mr. Mathias Buttet, Director, R&D, Hublot
SA
Ms. Kitty Kano, technical interpreter
Ms. Mako
Nakai, PR, Hublot Japan
Thank
you!
Best,
Ken
This message has been edited by KIH on 2012-11-06 19:13:51