Today we are pleased to present Julien Coudray 1518's "Draw Me A Happy Child"
JULIEN COUDRAY 1518
Fabien Lamarche has a passionate interest in watchmaking, antique timepieces, robotics and micromechanical engineering. He began his career as a process manager for Breguet followed by the role of product manager at Roger Dubuis. From there he moved to L. Leroy and finally Zenith where he went from methods and industrial director and then as head of the mechanical and prototype department. In 2007 he set up his own manufacture, bringing together some forty artisans of traditional and contemporary watchmaking. In 2012 he established Julien Coudray 1518.According to Fabien, the decision to start his own watch brand came when he began working at Breguet, becoming fascinated by the beauty of watches. When the time came create the brand, it was decided that there would be an emphasis on design, art and a tribute to the Renaissance, a time of extraordinary creativity and a rebirth of artistic expression. The most effective way to achieve creative freedom while expressing a dedicated passion for sixteenth-century watchmaking was by assembling a team of experts in enamelling, burnishing, engraving, miniature painting and of course, watchmaking.
Naming a Swiss brand after a French watchmaker may seem somewhat out of the ordinary but the name, Julien Courdray, invoked the Renaissance appeal that Lamarche was looking for.
Julien Courdray is one of the earliest known watchmakers in history. His exact date of birth is unclear but experts place it somewhere between 1450 and 1470. Courdray has been credited with making the first moving spere, a kind of astronomical clock with a special mechanism tracking the course of the stars and their passage through the different zodiac signs. It is known that he served as horologer to the French court under the reigns of Louis XII and Francois I. According to historical sources, he is considered the inventor of the portable watch in 1518 (hence the name, Julien Courdray 1518) in the shape of spring-based movements inserted at the request of François I into the pommel of two of his daggers. These are regarded as being the first portable movements and the smallest moving clockwork mechanisms of the time.
During his time at court, particularly during the reign of Francois I, he was able to rub shoulders with the likes of Leonardo da Vinci who was present from 1515 until his death in 1519. Francois I enriched his court with respected thinkers and artists from France and Italy. Art, literature and science were all represented by brilliant and inventive minds, brought together to embody the vision of a forward thinking ruler.
Courdray died in 1530, after paving the way for modern watchmaking, and almost 500 years later, Fabien Lamrche saw him as a symbol of an ancestral tradition and an icon of the style and imagery of the Renaissance.
The Julien Courdray 1518 manufacture is highly selective in its distribution and limits the number of pieces it creates each year. In 2012, they created and sold 15 watches. This year they are aiming for 50. Lamarche states the brand is not seeking to industrialise of automate production and do not wish to exceed 300 watches per year.
Everything is developed and produced in-house, from the technical department through to finishing and from screws to the exclusive Julien Coudray wheels with special-shaped spokes. The set of tungsten carbide tools required for each model is developed on-site, including for example hundreds of milling cutters for each component. The Julien Coudray unit encapsulates the quintessence of this perfectionist quest. Enameling a 1 mm thick part is no pipedream here. Devoting three days to the bridge of a tourbillon carriage, or ten operations to a single dial hour-markers, are all part of a day’s job. Cutting millimeter-thick parts on historical machines improved by in-house developed and more modern technologies is all part of a contagious enthusiasm shared by each department. Sculpting an oscillating weight shaped like the crossed daggers of François 1 of France on a fleur de lys is a natural expression of the magical atmosphere pervading these premises. Fabien Lamarche is everywhere at once, serving as both the driving force and a link in the chain – such as by applying the laser weldings in gold wire in the same colour as the dial, or designing patented hands sweeping across the grand feu enamel dial, or an also patented folding clasp. Thus for the Humanoid Face Collection, Fabien Lamarche drew the sketch for this “face” some years ago, imagining a way to sculpt a dial from solid gold and grand feu enamel. Now he sees it as an interpretation of the marks left by time on the faces of the world.
From conception through to hand decoration, from cutting to thermal treatment, from traditional grand feu enamelling through to miniature painting, along with crafting the watch hands and assembling the components, a total of over 40 people representing as many professions, pool their talents in designing, producing and assembling the brand’s entire range of watches and movements. Working with precious metals such as solid gold and platinum, the brand specialises in developing hand-made in-house timepieces performed assembled part by part, component by component.
At the request of several clients with sophisticated demands, Julien Coudray devotes its concentrated blend of expertise to creating some particularly accomplished models. This desire to share is expressed with extraordinary generosity, since Fabien Lamarche has designed for Only Watch a one-of-a-kind model on the theme “Draw me a happy child”. Created from one kilo of Pd125 18K gold, a gesture that represents a significant commitment for a youthful brand such as Julien Coudray 1518, this exceptional creation is intended for the Only Watch auction taking place during the Monaco Yacht Show in support of the Monaco Association against Muscular Dystrophy.
As its name indicates, this unique piece draws its inspiration from the interpretation of the theme "Draw me a happy child" by a 5-year old schoolchild, from the "Diablotins" nursery school in Le Locle, Switzerland.
The movement of this unique piece is hand-engraved and enamelled according to the drawing chosen from a drawing competition.
From 20 pictures drawn by the children of the "Diablotins" nursery school in Le Locle, Switzerland, only one could be chosen to adorn this creation by Julien Coudray 1518. The children, aged between 4 and 6, were given a special tour of the Julien Coudray 1518 facilities on the 8th of July this year. They spent the day fascinated by the different workshops and watching the manufactures artists at work. Whenever they would enter a new atelier they wanted to grab the 'binoculaire' and examine the fine chamfering or to polish the intricate parts. Upon seeing their classmates work in fine detail of the barrel bridge of the watch, one of them exclaimed "I see! It is red, and then orange". Head of communications for the brand stated that "they are the youngest apprentices we have had". Of course, growing up in this part of the world where the local, daily paper, "L 'Impartial" contains a section dedicated to horlogerie, it's no wonder that they are so enthralled by the goings on inside a watch manufacture such as Julien Coudray 1518.
In support of the Monaco Association Against Myopathy, Julien Coudray 1518 will approach children from other countries in the same way, to create other unique pieces on the same theme. It will be interesting to see what other designs come out of this endeavour and when news becomes known, there will be a future blog post either here, or on the Pawnbank blog. Whichever it is, Facebook and Twitter will broadcast it's posting.
"Draw Me A Happy Child" by the Children of the World
A unique piece that draws its inspiration from the interpretation of the theme "Draw Me A Happy Child"by a 5-year old schoolchild in Switzerland, in the Le Locle district. 95% of the watch is made from one kilogram of solid 18ct Pd125 white gold: movement, dial, case, crown and buckle.
Catalogue Description:
| Julien Coudray 1518 MANUFA CTURA 1528 MASTERPIECE for Only Watch Julien Coudray 1518, Manufactura 1528 Masterpiece, "Draw Me a Happy Child" collection by The Children of the World. A fine and unique, 18k white gold wristwatch with center-seconds, enamel dial and service indicator. Accompanied by a fitted box and Certificate. | |
| C. Made from solid 18k Pd125 white gold 39mm/9.85mm, sapphire crystal and caseback with anti-reflection coating, solid 18k Pd125 white gold collar. D. 13-part dial made from enameled solid 18k Pd125 white gold, traditional « grand feu » black and white enameled domed cartouches, dial center made from hand-engraved (guilloché) 18k solid white gold and transparent blue enamel. Blued hands. M. Mechanical movement made from solid 18k Pd125 white gold, manual winding, hand-engraved and hand-decorated, enameled 18k gold service indicator, power reserve of more than 55 hours, 34 jewels. A movement hand-engraved and enameled according to a drawing chosen from a drawing competition at a nursery school in Le Locle, Switzerland. | |
| Estimate: 55,000 EUR - 80,000 EUR |
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