THE HEART OF TIME

How watchmaking's finest minds are shaping futures beyond the bench.

- Words: ANANDHI GOPINATH

Independent watchmaking has always celebrated the lone genius, the solitary craftsman hunched over a movement. But Dominique Renaud and Daniela Dufour are rewriting that narrative with a broader, more human vision. Through their respective foundations, they channel decades of horological excellence into something rarer than a grand complication: a blueprint for how watchmaking can uplift communities, preserve knowledge, and create purpose far beyond the workshop.

DOMINIQUE RENAUD

As a watch writer, I'm rarely starstruck. But there are a handful of people in this industry whom I consider—privately, quietly—celebrities, and Dominique Renaud definitely qualifies. His name is sewn into the fabric of contemporary watchmaking: co-founder of Renaud & Papi, architect of some of the most important complications of the last 40 years, and one of the few living inventors whose ideas permanently altered the trajectory of the craft.

We met in Geneva earlier this April during Watches & Wonders—though not inside the fair, where the crowds blur between appointments and displays. What makes that week remarkable is how it draws every watchmaker, designer and technical mind into the same city, far beyond the walls of Palexpo. So instead of meeting on the show floor, we sat down at a quiet café by Lake Geneva for coffee and croissants. The water was still, a few swans drifting past, and the contrast with the fair's intensity was striking. It felt almost absurd, in the best possible way, to speak with one of watchmaking’s great innovators in a setting so calm and unhurried.

Renaud greeted me with the gentle warmth of a man who prefers making to performing. He speaks English sparingly, slipping easily into French, so a translator joined us. But when he does speak directly, his eyes light up—curious, mischievous, young. I was meeting a legend, but what he wanted to talk about was legacy.