Re: Good afternoon, Mr. Halter. Let me open by saying it’s

1) Mr. Halter, I’ll dive in by asking about your current perspective on your past, present and future. What, in your opinion, has been the highest point, for you as a
Master-Watchmaker, and what has been the lowest point thus far?

In my carrer of independant watchmaker, the lowest point for me was discovering the tremendous amount of work and amount of time that are necessary to reach the level of excellence that I decided to be my target. This has been sometimes very discouraging.

The highest point has been (and still is) all what I have had the opportunity to discover outside the horology through the horology when searching to reach this level of execellence. The best picture of this I can give can be found in listening (5 to 10 times) the Requiem of Gabriel Faure. If excellence exists, a part of it is certainly embedded within this musical opus.


2) Mr. Halter, what has been your greatest challenge to date, within the realm of your current catalog of time-pieces, to take from the birth of an idea, to testing,
to production and then to market?

One can say that, in a large manufacture, the minimum reasonable time beetween an idea (a concept) and the presentation of an industrialized watch (ready to be produced) is 18 months ; But this can increase up to 4-5 years if the watch is complicated. Moreover, this is valid provided you have the necessary ressources in terms of talents as well as in terms of money.

It is true to say that we, as a small and independant manufacture, have limited ressources (specially money) and this makes our developpment times to increase : As an example, the development time for the Goldpfeil was 2 years, but the first Trio was presented in 2001 and we are only now (end of 2005 !) about to unveil the watch as it is to be delivered to customers.

Due to that the Goldpfeil watch certainly was one of our greatest challenges that we successfully took up.



3) Mr. Halter, could you please describe your ideology as it applies to your amazing creations and your vision?

Pls refer to my response to Alex about Watmaker Art and Watchmaking industry


4) Mr. Halter, what are your views in the ethics debate regarding (restoration vs. conservation) and collectors who continually out-bid museums for important historical horological time-pieces? What, if any, is the collectors responsibility
To balance public (museums, preserving, conserving, educational, etc…) & private needs (collectors vault or private display)?

As a watchmaker coming from the restoration, I used to follow a simple guideline : repairing element is ethic, replacing is not.

As an example, when a balance wheel axis pin was damaged , I used to repair the axis pin and not to replace the whole balance wheel.

Not applying this principle led to unethical behaviour and that is how one can make 5 « authentic » antique timepieces from one timepiece requiring restoration

That is probably one of the reasons that has led me to manufacture authentic new timepieces and to launch my own brand rather than carry on restoring questoniable antique timepieces.


5) Mr. Halter there has been talk of an in-house movement, possibly coming from your atelier? Can you tell us, is there is such a surprise instore?

The real question is : what is an in-house movement ? It is generally accepted as an appropriate definition that a factory is a « Manufacture » when it produces the « mouvement en blanc » that is to say « rough caliber » which includes :

- the main baseplate
- the bridges
- the spring barrel

This also includes the design of the movement architecture, but excludes the finishing.

According to this, The Manufacture Janvier really is a manufacture : as an example the movement of the Goldpfeil Jumping Hour and Moonphase was completly designed and mainly produced within the Manufacture :

It is true to say that the balance springwheel, the escape wheel and the anchor are identical to those used inside the Peseux 7001, while some other elements such as wheels or screws are produced outside the Manufacture by the best swiss suppliers in compliance with technical specifications that we issue.
We have the know-how, the tools and the ressources to realize these elements by oursleves, but for optimization related reasons these are subcontracted.

In that respect, the VH 300 and the VH 100 which fit the Antiqua and the Classic are the less « in-house » of our movements, but the trend is to integrate more and more of their manufacturing internally.

It shall be kept in mind that, whatever the origin of the various elements of a watch are, they are one after the other checked, adjusted, hand-finished at the Manufacture Janvier prior to being assembled.

To use your words, it is finally no very surprising that the incoming VH 200 of our new Trio is to be an « in-house » movement.



6) Mr. Halter whom are the current members of your elite team of fabricators?

There are about 15 young ladies and gentlemen at the Manufacture Janvier. Most of them are less than 30. They are enthusiastic, hardworkers and also addicted to excellence.

The working condition at the Manufacture are quite special. There are no strict working hours, each employee has got a key of the factory and it is not surprising to come at night or during the week end and to meet someone working. Everyone is responsible of the quality of the job he hands over in front of his colleagues, of his boss (that is to say : me) and of himself. A part of each of themselves is included in any watch that leaves the Manufacture.



7) What can the anxious collectors, connoisseurs of the world of fine time-pieces expect from you and your team in the next 5 years?

For the incoming year, pls refer to my response to Steve H: For the following years, be patient. I do not know myself today which of our projects in progress will be driven to completion and unveil.

Wait and see !



8) Mr. Halter, there are some skeptics, of which I am not one, that believe you are at an impasse with production problems and other issues…
for instance: prolonging the release of the Harry Winston/Vianney Halter collaboration the Opus 3. How would you respond to such a statement?

About Opus 3, pls refer to my previous post. About production matters, it is true to say that increasing or even maintaining our production meanwhile maintaining (or better) improving quality is not an easy job.

The most difficult is to appoint high level watchmakers because there are only a few on the work market. We are presently busy recruiting at least 2 watchmakers and we cannot find them. This explain our delivery times and also the duration of our development process for new watches.

But we are working hard to improve !



9) Mr. Halter, at your stage of horological fame what are some of the more ridiculous rumors you have heard regarding yourself and your work?

If I has listened to the rumors for the last 20 years, the Manufacture Janvier and the Montres Vianney Halter would not exist.



10) Mr. Halter, the case work on the Classic, Antiqua, Contemporaine, Vianney Halter Goldpfeil, and soon to come Trio (with new complication) are arguably the best finished cases in the world of horology. Would you share with the PuristS forum your favorite case to fabricate? Why it is your favorite case? And the sequence of events that take place in order to create this rare treasure from initial idea, planning, production techniques chronology, to the final assembled horological triumph.

I do not want to buster opened door but I would say that my favourite case is the last one : that is to say the Trio.

The work for this is totally different from the previous ones : the table is brushed while the side are mirror polished with diamond cut angle. The final result is so amazing that I wonder why I have waited so long before launching this watch in production.

Nevertheless, I must frankly recognize that the relationship between a watchmaker and his watch cases is like a love affair : sometimes it's up , sometimes it is down. As an example, I am strugling with a serie of Classic watch cases that are specially difficult to finish : I do not know why perfectly polishing them is that time so difficult with unbelievable micro rays that appear while I polish. It is the metal structure, is it the polishing past, the temperature, the position of the planets, or simply myself who is much more demanding than usually ? I do not know and I am about to give up.

The only thing I am sure of is that I want these watch cases to be excellent prior to leaving the manufacture and tonight I hate Classic watch cases.



11) Mr. Halter what advise would you offer to the new prospects being considered for membership into the Ahci?

I would advise to candidate applying membership into the AHCI to prepare their candidature having in mind what they can bring to the AHCI.

In parallel, I would advice the present members of the AHCI (including myself) to keep in mind that the AHCI needs new candidate contribution as much as young talentful watchmakers may need the AHCI support.

The AHCI is now 20 year old and it needs fresh blood to keep the spirit that led to its creation.