City Times a rencontré Renaud De Retz. Un entretien pour faire connaissance avec le CEO de la marque...

It was the 'absence of innovation' in the watch industry that led Renaud De Retz and his friends to create the HAUTLENCE brand.

He had no legacy to begin with. His family was not in the business. He himself was "absolutely not the business". Still, Frenchman Renaud De Retz, banding together with some friends, managed to create a genuine storm in an industry known for its familial legacies and traditions going back to several generations: the rarefied Swiss watch industry.

Renaud De Retz was always a marketing man, working first for Longines and then for Jaeger-LeCoultre in France. In 2001, he came to Switzerland and joined LVMH Watches and Jewellery branch in Neuchatel, the historic cradle of watch making. There, he met Guillaume Tetu, a designer working for Tag Heuer. A friendship formed, a circle that soon grew to include Jean Plazenet, Jean-Christophe Chopin and Alain de Forges, who were not part of the watch industry.

As the friends met they naturally talked watches. What rankled them most was one aspect of their industry: absence of innovation. So, one day they decided to do something about it. Joining forces, they brought their combined rich entrepreneurial and industrial experience and launched their own watch that was in sync with their shared philosophy of watchmaking. They called it HAUTLENCE, a name derived from the anagram of Neuchatel, signifying the acme of excellence and precision in watchmaking.

When it was first launched last year in the Basel Watch and Jewellery Fair, it created an unprecedented storm among horologists and watch connoisseurs for its bold, groundbreaking design. Incorporating advanced technology and authentic craftsmanship, the watches come in three models, HL01, HL02 and HL03. Limited editions of 88 pieces per model are produced. Prices range from Dh200,000 for the cheapest upto Dh1 million and above for exclusive customised pieces.


HAUTLENCE was recently launched in the UAE. Its three models are available at Damas Jewellery, Emirates Towers, Dubai; Ahmed Seddiqi and Sons, Burjuman Centre, Dubai; Al Sayegh Jewellery, Abu Dhabi and Al Majed Jewellery.

"I was absolutely not in watchmaking business. But I always loved beautiful products that tell a story," said HAUTLENCE CEO Renaud De Retz, talking to City Times in this exclusive interview.

Do you collect watches yourself? What are the watches in your collection?
I used to collect watches such as Ikepod or vintage watches. But now, I focus on HAUTLENCE and as this passion is quite expensive, I calmed down my collection when I started HAUTLENCE.

What really motivated you partners to create your new watch?
The willingness to move forward and create watches that we, Guillaume and I, wanted to have on our wrist. From both our perspectives, we thought there was a desire for products that could reinterpret the mechanism for displaying time. The watch would have to be aesthetically innovative, both for the case as well as the movement.

There is a story that you and your partners decided to create the new brand as a challenge. Is that true?
As I said before, we wished to create watches that we wanted to wear. But at the very beginning, creating our own brand was not a challenge. The main fact that pushed us to create our own brand was the lack of innovation in the watch industry. In Basel 2001, a lot of brands were presenting their novelties only by taking former models of their catalogue, putting two or three diamonds, changing the colour of the dial and for these brands, this was a novelty. A novelty has to have a real new philosophy and a new approach. This was highly frustrating for us! But if you look at any luxury industry, fashion, cars and so on, there is a constant design evolution. So we decided to challenge ourselves.

In an industry where there are scores and scores of different high-end watches with different features, how did you expect to come up with something totally new?
We don't follow the trends and moreover, we don't follow the followers in the watch industry. As long as you are following your own way honestly, I feel that there is space for everybody.

How did you come up with the idea for HAUTLENCE watches?
We wanted to create a daring timepiece, but one that still didn't break completely from the past. The first watch we created, the HL, was a bridge between traditional watchmaking and our vision of watchmaking's future. With this collection, we were inspired by the railway industry, with a long bar across the dial that resembles the connecting rod of a steam locomotive and wanted to have something like this in our watches. The original concept involved telling time using our discs and connecting rods but this was technically a bit too complicated for the reading of time. We did simulations and decided that a disc for the minutes would be too small and it would also take too much energy. So we decided to try something with retrograde minutes because it was achievable and also very reliable.

When you decided to launch the watch, what kind of customer did you have in mind?
Watches are becoming more art forms and ways for self-expression. We thought we could reach emerging consumers who are more product-centric, rather than brand-centric. We do think that as long as you like the product you are developing, it may be hoped that some people in the world will also like it.

What has been the motivation and driving force behind this pursuit of excellence?
Passion and to turn a dream into reality! And we still keep on dreaming...

What is the identity of your brand compared to other haute horology brands?
Our brand is born from the encounter of strong ideas about new approaches to time display and the exploration of mechanical conceptions that can be associated with time display. The HL uses a jump hour indicator to show the hours, and a retrograde minute hand to show the minutes. The real innovation is also to display time in a different way. The concept was, is and will always be: a new approach to displaying time and a strong link between shape and function, which is the real definition of the term design.

Who are your target customers?
Our target buyers are watch aficionados and people who want to be recognised with a very specific timepiece on their wrist. People who are interested in our watches want to belong to a very exclusive club.

Do you have a philosophy of watch making? If yes, what is it? Do you think that watch making is still an art?
Everybody at our brand shares a view of the future of watchmaking in the third millennium that takes traditional technology and shoves it outside the box for a while. The first steps reveal a motivation to enrich technology and give a free rein to exceptional talent.

What changes do you foresee in the future in the high-end Swiss watch industry? How do you personally sum up the essence of watch making?
We hope that the Swiss watch industry will come back to its fundamentals on quality and innovation, and will not become only a marketing matter. The brand identity should be in the product and the service and that's all. When you need to have ambassadors, maybe this is because your products themselves don't tell a story strong enough.

In which aspects of watch making do you think innovation is still possible?
Innovation is always possible. Our claim is: "The universe has no frontiers, no limits other than those imposed by the mechanical composition. Even in this domain, nothing is static, as genuine art has no boundaries."

What prompted you to choose the UAE for the launch of HAUTLENCE? How do you expect your innovative watch to fare in the country and in the Middle East?
Dubai and all the Middle East are very important places for us as it is with these kinds of places that you really can establish your brand awareness. The Middle East is also very important for gaining a 'status brand'. Today, our brand is strong in Europe, Russia, the US and Asia. So the Middle East is a priority for us as I feel we could do great here, but it takes time to establish a brand and to explain your philosophy and products.

What is your vision for the brand?
In 10 years, we want to have different family products. We work on eight families of 88 watches each. And with each watch, we want to bring something unique to it - whether it is a different type of power reserve or big date or whatever. What we don't want is to fool the consumer by changing the dial colour and calling it a different reference. We want people to have the value of uniqueness.

Vijay Dandige

City Times