Philippe Dufour Simplicity: Universal Perfection
The greatest watchmaker working today isn't in a lab putting together Rolexes or Pateks. He's a 71-year-old artisan named Philippe Dufour who works in a converted schoolhouse in the Swiss countryside, painstakingly creating a minuscule number of timepieces.
Dufour turns out so few watches that it's more likely you'll be struck by lightning than encounter one in person. In a good year, he produces just over a dozen. His influence, however, far exceeds his output, because each watch bearing his name represents a singular technical and aesthetic achievement.
Take the Philippe Dufour Simplicity. Using traditional Swiss watchmaking techniques, Dufour has harnessed the unfathomable concept of time in one of the most beautiful objects I have ever seen. With a creamy white lacquer dial, blued Breguet hands, and an elegantly recessed sub-seconds dial, the Simplicity approaches sacred geometry, so perfectly proportioned that it boggles the mind. It's only 34 mm and it has the presence of Big Ben.
Dufour became a watchmaker in 1967, launched his brand in 1978, and introduced his masterpiece in 2000. In the years that followed, he made only 205 Simplicity watches, in a range of precious metals. Each one was ordered via direct commission, meaning that before he made it, he knew exactly whose wrist it would end up on. (Some 120 were sold in Japan, where Dufour has developed a cult following.) He discontinued the Simplicity in 2012 and, save for a handful specially created for big clients, has not made any more.
If you were lucky enough to get your name on Dufour's list early, you could have scored a Simplicity for around $34,000. In 2016, a similar Simplicity to this one—borrowed courtesy of The Keystone—sold at auction for just over $225,000.
“Simplicity” is actually a funny name for this watch, considering that Dufour has managed to squeeze an insanely complicated movement into such a small case. When it comes to designing movements, Dufour is nothing short of a genius—he was the first watchmaker to put a grande sonnerie (it chimes every 15 minutes) in a wristwatch. And when it comes to the finishing and detailing on the Simplicity's movement, viewed through the crystal case back, the big brands are all playing catch-up.
One of the most interesting parts of the Simplicity is that little “Metalem” stamp on the dial. Dufour outsources his dial making to a Swiss shop called Metalem, which supplies all the major watch brands. While others keep the supplier a secret, Dufour, in a grand gesture of humility and ransparency, leaves Metalem's name right there for all to see.
Like any true artist, Dufour has disciples and devotees. Many of them—including Rexhep Rexhepi, a 32-year-old Swiss watchmaker who also produces neoclassical time only watches in extremely small quantities—are establishing themselves as the future of horology. But there's reason to think that Dufour is yet to make his most profound mark. He has reportedly been working on a new design, perfecting the expression of time.
A version of this story originally appeared in the February 2020 issue with the title "Universal Perfection."
Originally Appeared on GQ
