Unfinished Business

Christophe Claret is not paying lip service when he says “there is much more to be done” for complication watchmaking.

- Alvin Wong

Unless you were a pop music obsessive, someone like Max Martin would probably fly under your radar. Yet, you’d most certainly have heard a song written by the Swedish songwriter, who has written hits for Katy Perry, Back street Boys, Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Justin Bieber and many others. In a similar vein, unless you have been into horology for a bit, Christophe Claret is a name that may draw a curious squint. Yet, the 54-year-old master watchmaker is a titan of sorts in haute horlogerie, having created complications for some of the most illustrious brands in the business.

Before he started his eponymous brand six years ago – partly because he needed a creative outlet and partly due to dwindling work from watch companies due to the financial crisis – Claret had, by his calculations, worked with over 65 brands.

A creative maverick known for his out-of the-box ideas and technically sophisticated movements, Claret’s self-named watches have unsurprisingly garnered acclaimed from aficionados with horological expression that span the avant-garde to the plain capricious. Watches that double up as card games? Check. Watches that use hovering magnetic balls to tell the time? Why not. And guess what? Claret’s not half done with his ideas.