SOUL GEAR TRAIN

In a world of assembly lines and financial investments, Blancpain anchors itself in the realm of passion. By entrusting every Ref. 15GSQ to the hands of a single watchmaker, President and CEO Marc A. Hayek proves that the ultimate metric of a grand complication is not its part count, but its ability to make the wearer smile

- WORDS ASHOK SOMAN INTERVIEW RUCKDEE CHOTJINDA

In the high-walled sanctuaries of Swiss watchmaking, there is a recurring temptation to turn horology into a game of statistics - a race to see who can cram the most complications into a single case or shave another tenth of a millimetre off a movement.

But for Marc A. Hayek, President and CEO of Blancpain, the "arms race" of technical records is a hollow pursuit if it lacks a pulse.

Under Hayek's stewardship, Blancpain has carved out a philosophy that prioritizes the visceral over the mathematical. The brand's latest masterpiece, the Grande Double Sonnerie Ref. 15GSQ, serves as more than just a flagship complication; it is a manifest of the values Hayek has instilled in the manufacture: a rejection of industrial shortcuts, a focus on internal mastery, and a belief that a watch must, above all, trigger an emotional response.

The Rejection of the “Complication Race”

The modern history of the “Grand Complication” is often defined by the number of functions listed on a spec sheet. Hayek, however, is vocal about his disdain for this approach. To him, the quality of a single, perfectly executed complication far outweighs an arsenal of functions.

“ I didn’t want to just add complications for the sake of a race. We've seen that for years,” Hayek explains, referring to the super complications of the recent past, and by extension one prominent example that debuted for an anniversary last year too. “ I have seven, I have 12... and what is the sense? I didn’t want to join the race of having 28 (or whatever number) different complications because then you get a watch that is (not really a wristwatch).”