One To Watch: Hazemann & Monnin – Two Young Watchmakers, Two Aesthetics, One Model, One Brand

Origin Story

Keeping up with the new faces on the independent scene could be a full-time job. When people ask me how they can follow what is happening and get ahead of the curve, ensuring that they don’t miss out on an incredible young brand, all I can say is to keep in touch with collectors and follow who is coming out of the important watchmaking programs or winning awards. Sure, some people have a vested interest in seeing success out of brands they were early to support. 

Still, once you cut through the noise, you start to find some real gems like Alexandre Hazemann and Victor Monnin’s “School Watch,” a 20-piece limited edition Sonnerie au Passage avec Heure Sautante Instantanée (passing chime with instantaneous jumping hour) made in two different variations.

If the names ring a bell (sonnerie pun not intended), that’s because they were the winners of F.P. Journe’s Young Talent Competition. Well, technically, Alexandre Hazemann was the winner, but that’s not how the two see it. See, Hazemann and Monnin met in their first year of watchmaking school in Morteau, France, and instantly connected. It’s a place that has produced a lot of great watchmakers – Sylvain Pinaud, Theo Auffret, Julien Tixier, and Rémy Cools all came through the school. But they saw in each other the same work ethic and passion to go the extra mile. Since then, the success of either has been the prize of both.

“When I met him, I saw he liked to work until something was 100% done,” said Victor Monnin about Alexandre Hazemann. “Some people just work until the day is over, but for us, even if you are at school, if you have to stay an extra hour to finish the work, we did it. So when everyone else was leaving the class, I just saw Alex at the bench, and I understood that he had the same work ethic I did.”

At the end of their schooling, to get a diploma, the assignment was to spend nine months making a chiming movement with a jump hour. The two were already living together, so they decided to team up and go further, making a full, robust, and reliable wristwatch that fulfilled the assignment but would be something they could use to apply for jobs or maybe even sell to fund their next steps. The result was the prototype for the “School Watch.” But they went further still, entering the F.P. Journe competition – something they’d seen upper-level students do. Here’s their version of what happened next.

“At the beginning of the [F.P. Journe] contest, they said to us, we cannot choose between the blue and the green pieces,” says Hazemann. Monnin continued. “They said, ‘We want to give both watches first place, but we can’t because of the rules.’ They loved the technical design of the blue model, so they gave the blue one the award. But we had a deal since the beginning. We don’t care about who wins; it’s always been about both of us.”

Of course, with the award came many inquiries about the watch. At first, the two weren’t sure about starting a business, but eventually, they found the right workshop in Switzerland, renovated the space, and have now grown to a staff of nine people without any outside investment. That meant trying to be judicious about spending – the two use the same workbenches and some of the tools they used when they learned after buying them from the school. But they haven’t cut corners on a great watch.

Why We Love Them

Many of the images in the story are of the prototype from Alexandre Hazemann, which I photographed in a hotel bar on the first night of Watches and Wonders. I specifically note Hazemann’s name because the two have a very unusual approach to their first release. Hazemann has his version, and Monnin has another. Each is limited to 10 pieces and cased in a 39.5mm by 10.9mm steel case, but each has its own touches based on the aesthetics and strengths of each watchmaker.

“Alex has more talent for development and construction and does the work of the 3D modeling on the computer,” says Monnin. “I was better at managing the project and working with decorators, constructors, and people in the watchmaking industry to put on paper our goal, the schedule, and to quantify everything. After all that comes together, at the bench, we have the same capacity to do the prototyping and construction.” Beyond that, it seems like Monnin has a bit more artistic streak that carries through his version of their “School Watch.”

Certain things have become expected from independent watchmakers—finishing is probably second only to a watchmaker’s creativity and vision. This is funny to say for a brand that has two visions weaving in and out of each other, but it works—as does the base design and finishing. The dial side shows three subdials: instantaneous jumping hours are at 12 o’clock, minutes at 3 o’clock, and seconds at 9 o’clock. Wrapping the edge of those subdials is a long single gong which, at the top of the hour, is struck once by the massive black-polished hammer between 7 and 8 o’clock on the dial. 

The elephant in the room is that there’s a passing resemblance (passage pun not intended) to the Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto, which also has a sonnerie au passage strike. But if you can’t differentiate between the two in quality, aesthetics, or approach, there’s not much I can say to help you. This watch was in development before the Christopher Ward was announced. It features the instantaneous jumping hour, and the chime is much, much stronger, clearer, and more pleasing to the ear. This is a high-end independent chiming watch, not – and all due credit to Christopher Ward for their innovation – an affordable entry point into a chiming complication. In the metal, and with your eyes closed, you can feel and hear the difference.

“It felt like a thousand miles from our school watch to the subscription,” says Monnin. “It’s not just a smaller case and movement, it’s a complete project. It’s about the workshop, about the team, and of course the watches. We wanted to do our own movement in-house at the workshop. It’s very simple: we do everything. Since the design, it’s been that way. Alex and I do the design and the construction. Alex is the engineer of the workshop, and we have a department for the remaining pieces. When we start a prototype, we can make all parts. For production, we don’t do everything – we’re not doing thousands of screws – but we do as much as possible.”

I would call the overall aesthetic very French in style, with large frosted plates and deep anglage. I’ve always found the idea of maximizing the interior angles for the sake of someone counting at home to be a bit silly. Instead, the movement construction is exactly what it needs to be to accomplish the goal of the watch while maintaining beauty – no more, no less. The movement isn’t completely symmetrical, but it maintains that sort of satisfying center line from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock that balances really well. The large balance sits at the bottom, and the movement has a lot of depth for a 10.9mm thick watch. If there was any feedback I could give, it’s that the case (while fine) is a bit generic, and I hope to see them think about that last piece of the puzzle a bit more in the future.

The watch was created through the duo’s own calculations of gear ratios to create their own caliber – the HM-01 movement – something they plan to do for all watches in the future. The power reserve of the movement is 50 hours. The price for the now sold-out souscription-style series was a very reasonable CHF 59,000.

It’s watches like these that get me really excited about the future of the independent space. A lot of people wish they could have gotten in on the ground floor of the Journes, Dufours, and Smiths of the world back before everyone knew their names. Time will tell the pair’s legacy here, but I look around at the space and think, “We’ve got good ones right now, too.” Hazemann and Monnin, Cools, Auffret, the Rexhepis, Petermann, and Bedat – this generation is worth watching. There is so much more attention paid to these watchmakers now than ever before, so you have to be quick if you want to be a part of their story and do it for the right reasons.

What’s Next

“Today, we can control maybe 90% of the process,” says Monnin. But in the future, we want to control 100%. It’s a goal for us.” Another challenge is managing the expectations, potential clients, and the future of the brand. First came choosing the 20 clients for their first watch.

“When we talk to collectors now, I think you can be able to know if they’re really passionate or not in maybe five minutes,” says Hazemann. “When the person is really passionate, this discussion will go very deep, very fast. They ask a lot of questions about the details of the journey, and you can quickly tell that they are really interested.”

“The first delivery starts at the end of this month for the first collectors,” Monnin says. “After that, we will deliver the rest by the end of 2025. That’s very important to us. We don’t want to be the kind of watchmakers who take someone’s money and keep pushing deadlines further and further out and asking for more and more money to cover expenses. Then, at the same time, we are working on the new project for the next one with a new application, new movement, new color, but the same vision of watchmaking.:

“We know the next watch will be the most important watch of the brand for the next ten years. Because after the first school watch, we know all the collectors will be waiting to see if we are good or just lucky guys at school.”

As for the size and aesthetics, a few things are up in the air and up for discussion every day. The two don’t want to become a larger brand like F.P. Journe but rather stay small and be themselves. You might not see individual names on separate watches anymore, however. The two told me they no longer want a “Hazemann” line and a “Monnin” line but something together. Maybe they’ll continue to have two lines under a different name – the technical and the artistic, for instance – but their goal will be to continue building a brand off the back of complicated watchmaking and do it together.

For more information, visit Hazemann & Monnin on Instagram.

​Hodinkee 

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