Hands-On The Alexandre Martin 1965

Alexandre Martin came to my attention when his former employer, Gael Peterman, shared a moody monochrome photo of a prototype on Instagram. His Instagram profile still doesn’t have more than 20 posts, but a couple of weeks later in the Swiss capital during Geneva Watch Days, his name was on the lips of everyone - for all the right reasons.

His debut, the 1965, is part of the latest wave in independent watchmaking that’s uncompromisingly dedicated to exactingly finished simplicity. It’s a movement that counts watchmakers like Rexhep Rexhepi and his brother Xhevdet Rexhepi, as well as names like Peterman Bedat and Biver. Some will see shades of the Rexhepi ethos in Alexandre Martin’s debut creation, and to me that makes sense: not only for the placement of applied indices that skip the typical cardinal points, but also their shared traditionalism, their arguably perfect proportions, and the visual delight that’s revealed when flipping the watch over. The watch is a classical 38mm, with a distinct, softly textured warm grey dial, an oversized small seconds (at least by contemporary standards) at six, and a sense of deliberate restraint that comes from the traditional movement architecture that is both on-trend and timeless. 

I had the pleasure of sitting down for a coffee with Alexandre Martin in Geneva, where he had brought the singular prototype of his 1965. It didn’t have a press release, and he still hasn’t set up his website, but judging from the level of interest that already exists, it doesn’t sound like the admin of compiling spec sheets or registering domains will be needed to fill his order book with clients for the first 12 pieces.

Born in Belgium just before the turn of the millennium, Alexandre Martin spent his childhood in his father’s furniture restoration workshop. He was probably expected to follow his father into the restoration business - a craft that fascinated Martin - but while his future was guaranteed to be one where he worked with his hands, the scale at which he would eventually work was smaller than his father's. He now lives in Morges, in Switzerland, having moved to the country after watchmaking school, suitcase in hand, knocking on doors until Manufacture Haute Complication took him on. 

From there, he moved on to working in the complications department at Greubel Forsey, where he worked on watches like the Hand Made 1 - a collection that takes more than 250 hours to assemble and hand-finish a single movement. His next move was to the workshop of Petermann Bédat, which continued to deepen his love of complications, before he reminded Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat what he'd already told them years earlier as a young watchmaker: he wanted to build something of his own. It was there that he began to develop his first design, working nights and weekends with the blessing of the pair of legendary watchmakers.

Beyond the old-school impression that comes with the quietly spoken minimalism and three-handed restraint of the 1965, there’s a respect for doing things the proper way that led to the creation of this prototype. As good as 3D digital renders look today, Martin didn’t want to fill his first order book with a sales pitch based on artists’ impressions, instead taking the path of significantly more resistance by spending countless hours to create the single prototype I had the pleasure of holding in my hands. It wasn’t about selling watches as much as it was showing clients exactly what he was capable of achieving in the metal.

In my personal opinion, 38mm is pretty much the perfect size for a time-only watch, and on the wrist, the prototype wears remarkably well on the wrist. It’s also the form factor I tend to prefer. As much as I enjoy the theoretical capabilities of a nicely made chronograph or moonphase display, it’s not often that I find myself making use of a timer, and my moonphase is perpetually out of sync with our nearest natural satellite. From talking to Alexandre Martin about his love of complications, I’m sure something more technically sophisticated will be unveiled in the near future, but for now, he seems happy to pour his obsessive attention to detail into components that look simple from a quick glance. 

Components like his utterly complex hands, which feature an ambitious combination of both flat and curved surfaces, all of which are painstakingly polished to a mirror-like finish. The centre of the monochromatic dial is raised, punctuated by bold, slightly curved indices that appear to float towards the railroad minute track, but the real star of the show is at six o’clock. The seconds subdial arrives as a separate piece to the rest of the dial, and is created from a gold base in the workshop of legendary enamel artist Anita Porchet. While a typical glossy enamel surface would pop against the finely grained surface of the main dial, instead Martin chose a barely perceptible, eggshell-like textured surface for the sundial that further emphasises the restraint of the young watchmaker.

The case of this prototype is made of stainless steel, but it’s reasonable to expect precious metal versions. As mentioned, it measures 38mm in diameter and has a thickness of less than 10mm, with slightly curved flanks, a scalloped bezel, and long, sweeping lugs with a slight step on their outer edge for a touch of visual detail. Overall, the case architecture feels much more resolved than the majority of recent debuts, befitting its price of CHF 65,000 (~A$112,000) and speaking volumes about Martin’s potential as he continues to build his brand. 

Housed within the case is another demonstration of Martin’s ability, with the movement of the 1965 prototype being based on a vintage Cyma 586 calibre, featuring a fully reworked winding and time-setting system, a click mechanism designed to prevent the tension caused by manual winding, a newly developed barrel to increase the power reserve, and a variable inertia balance wheel that’s affixed by a large, sweeping triangular bridge. The main bridgework is grained, many flat surfaces are black polished, and all bevels of the bridges are hand-finished, including the interior angles, in a confirmation of what Martin has learned over his years in haute horlogerie workshops.

The first series of the1965 reference will share the foundations of Martin’s prototype, but all pieces will be remanufactured, including all base ébauches. He tells me that the positioning of the wheels will stay like the original Cyma ébauche as a base, but details that will be reworked include the shape of the gear teeth, which will be done to ensure a movement that performs to today’s standards. This labour-intensive approach also speaks to another inevitability in Martin’s work: the development of his own in-house calibre. Combine that with his penchant for complication and his unyielding care for the smallest of details, and there’s enthusiastic anticipation for exactly where this fledgling brand will find itself in the years to come. 

For me, after handling his first watch and seeing it up close, those expectations are more than justified.

Brand: Alexandre Martin
Model: 1965
Diameter: 38mm
Thickness: 9.35mm (including front and back sapphire crystals)
Lug-to-Lug: 46.8mm
Case Material: Stainless steel
Dial Colour: Grey matte lacquer, with railway minute track in relief and applied white gold indexes; small seconds subdial in grand feu enamel on a white gold base by Anita Porchet
Water Resistance: 50 meters
Crystal: Sapphire front and caseback
Strap: Calfskin leather, 19mm at the lugs tapering to 16mm at the buckle

Calibre: Manual-winding calibre based on the vintage CYMA 586 architecture, redeveloped and remanufactured
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds
Frequency: 18,000 vph (2.5 Hz)
Jewels: 19

Price: CHF 65,000 ex. taxes (~A$112,000)
Availability: Allocation goes through an interest list, with deliveries from 2027
Limited Edition: Yes, 12 pieces

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