Laurent Ferrier, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Montres Laurent Ferrier (Geneva, Switzerland)
Christian Ferrier, Movement Creator at Montres Laurent Ferrier (Geneva, Switzerland)
October 4, 2021
Video recordings of lectures are available to members immediately (using your membership password), and to the general public with a two-month delay.
For the Horological Society of New York (HSNY) October 2021 lecture, the audience watched a 30-minute pre-recorded video with English subtitles followed by a live translated Q&A session with Laurent Ferrier and Christian Ferrier of Montres Laurent Ferrier.
Laurent Ferrier commenced the lecture by giving a brief history of his company that was co-founded with his friend François Servanin in 2009. The Tourbillon Double Hairspring was the first piece that was created in 2010. When a New York collector advised the company to enter their timepiece in the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG), they had the fortune of winning the GPHG Men’s Category that year. In the subsequent year, Montres Laurent Ferrier’s first Natural Escapement watch debuted followed by the Traveller Dual-Time in 2013.
Laurent Ferrier then turned the second part of the lecture over to his son, Christian Ferrier, to speak about the company’s natural escapement in five phases:
Why The Natural Escapement?
Its high-efficiency performance
The Masters
The historical research of Breguet, Daniels and others from documented designs
Laurent Ferrier’s Design Approach
Inspired by A.L. Breguet’s first idea
Comparisons of the Natural Escapement and the Swiss Level Escapement
Illustrated via computer animation
Conclusion
The real interest of having taken up the challenge of a Natural Escapement
HSNY thanks Laurent Ferrier and Christian Ferrier for their fascinating lecture!
Submitted by Melody Benloss, Recording Secretary