Vincent Bérard SA/fr
Vincent Bérard SA
In creating his horological art company in the spring of 2003, Vincent Bérard had decided to fulfil his dream, or rather his "vision" of a different kind of watchmaking, by reviving the pioneering spirit that has empowered the Swiss watchmaking tradition. The ultimate goal is to generate inventiveness in the technical field, creativity in aesthetics, and the capacity to master the entire product, from design through to after-sales service.
For this creative mind trained at the workbench of a watch repairer and technician in restoring antique clocks and watches, the genuine horological tradition does not consist of remaking what has already been made, but of contributing to its progress by bringing new ideas and inventions, in the same spirit as those who created this tradition several centuries ago.
The approach of the youthful company is essentially geared towards developing high-precision mechanical horological products endowed with Grand Complications, in the form of watches and various types of clocks.
This "Companion of time", as he refers to himself under the brand name he has created, has already made his mark on watchmaking over the past decade or so by crafting developments and prototypes for some of the great names in Swiss high-end watchmaking.
Remodelling the past in a contemporary spirit in order to generate new shapes: such is the vocation of this horological "sculptor" for whom art and technology are constantly interacting and may also be expressed through original sculptures related to time, such as the astonishing "Mobile des longitudes" exhibited at the Musée International d'Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Vincent Bérard is convinced that "just as dry ground cannot yield abundance, the creative core of a company must be able to work in an environment propitious to dreams and amazement, just as the object created there." It is thus in his own property, an old Neuchâtel farmhouse located in the upper part of La Chaux-de-Fonds, that Vincent Bérard, Companion of time, has set up his design studios.