MOVING WITH THE TIMES

A journey to the heart of the Swiss Jura Valley explores the convergence of watchmaking, sustainability and architecture, which redefines the world of horology and luxury.

- NG HAN MIN & ZHUAN LEE

There's this pencil that I swiped from my room at Hotel de Horlogers in Le Brassus, Switzerland. With a body crafted out of recycled materials, it featured a transparent cap with fine black particles within, instead of a traditional eraser.

I owe my fascination with this pencil to the hotel's general manager Andre Cheminade, who introduced me to the intriguing story behind it. He highlighted that even seemingly trivial items like a pencil should reflect the hotel's commitment to environmental sustainability. The cap on the pencil is a pharmaceutical-grade capsule that dissolves upon contact with water, and the black particles are, in fact, thyme seeds. Once you've used up the pencil, you can plant the end with the capsule directly into soil. With regular watering, the capsule dissolves, the seeds germinate, and while the pencil's life concludes, new beginnings emerge in the form of a plant.

This marks my second stay at Hotel des Horlogers, a property built and owned by Audemars Piguet. On my initial visit, the hotel was in its trial phase and was not yet officially open. But even then, I found myself deeply impressed by its design.

From the street-side, it exuded modesty, appearing to consist of only a single floor. However, upon entering the building, it suddenly becomes apparent that the level visible from the street is but the top floor of this six-storey establishment.

The building, constructed in a distinctive zig-zag configuration along the slope, descends layer by layer without any overlap between the floors. Below the incline, an extensive farmland unfolds. Rather than imposing itself as a jarring presence upon the meadow, Hotel des Horlogers humbly integrates with the land, as if it has always been a part of the slope.