Christophe Claret

Christophe Claret, a French-born watchmaker whose passion ignited at age 14, trained at the École d'Horlogerie in Geneva before opening a restoration workshop in Lyon. In 1987, he met Rolf Schnyder, who had just purchased Ulysse Nardin, and received a commission for 20 San Marco minute repeater movements with jacks - launching his career as a specialist movement maker. He officially founded his manufacture in 1989 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. Throughout the 1990s, Claret developed movements for brands including Breguet, Cartier, Chopard, Corum, de Grisogono, Franck Muller, Girard-Perregaux, Harry Winston, and Parmigiani. In 1999, the manufacture relocated to the historic Manoir du Soleil-d'Or overlooking Le Locle. Major collaborations followed, including the Harry Winston Opus 4 in 2004. In 2009, the DualTow became his first piece under the Christophe Claret brand name, nominated for the GPHG. Notable own-brand creations include the 21 Blackjack gaming watch (2011), the X-Trem-1 using magnets to display time (2012), and the Poker watch.