Haute Horlogerie Demystified: What It Is And Isn't

Haute horlogerie (high watchmaking) is a term widely used in the watch industry today, but what does it really mean? In simple terms, what it comes down to is the minute details of finissage – the art of deep hand working on the movements and dials – but it takes a keen eye to spot a perfect finish, and in the end, the entire watch, rather than its various finished parts, has to be coherent.

Most types of finishing are historically rooted in function: polished and blued screws were oxidized to that color in order to prevent them from deteriorating from moisture damage in the days before water resistant cases; côtes de Genéve, the fine stripes often engraved on the rotor or bridges, were designed to deflect dust; perlage, the circular graining often applied to back plates, was applied because it hid the scratches that could occur during movement assembly and final adjustment. So it’s not just about aesthetics; it’s also about function: almost every component in a watch movement works against another component, and when they’re hand finished, with smoother, more precisely calibrated edges, they will last longer, with less need for lubrication.

Today’s CNC machines and other industrial methods have taken over a lot of the processes that were once wrought by hand. Take pivots, for example, the metallic tips of the arbors, or pinions, that hold the wheels of a movement in place, most crucially the balance wheel. In high watchmaking, a pivot is burnished, a process that involves shaping and finishing them by hand. Many companies, however, polish them with a ceramic disk, which cuts the metal away, which can weaken the component and require frequent replacement. 

Chronometry is also important – a high-watchmaking movement has to be extremely precise. “It need not incorporate complications, but if it does, they must work seamlessly,” says collector Gary Getz. “If the watch provides some elegant solution to a longstanding challenge such as durability in the perpetual calendar, or cleverly solves a problem we didn’t know we had before, like making chronograph hands vanish when not in use, that’s certainly a plus.”

Collector Justin Hast is a stickler for how a dial is made: “High watchmaking means the use of a traditional lathe to produce a guilloché dial, versus it being stamped,” he says, echoing one of the biggest pet peeves of collectors who insist brands specify whether a so-called guilloché dial is hand engraved or machined.

“The starting point for me is that the watch is elegantly made,” says Getz, “with quality materials, elegant exterior curves with smooth transitions from one surface to another, dial details that catch the light — flowing movement profiles and finishing that shows at least some touches of the human hand are basic requirements at this level. More than that, the watch must be coherent: every part must fit with every other into a seamless overall presentation. How many times have you seen a watch whose individual parts seem quite pleasant but that as a whole just doesn’t make sense?”

James Schaff, co-founder of elite private collector’s group CollectorSphere, is adamant about that last point. “For me, ‘haute’ is defined by coherence. It’s very easy to lose sight of the global picture when creating a watch. While one bridge or screw may be finished to tip-top, competition-beating standards, the total composition can sometimes be incongruous as a finished piece. Complete alignment is essential,” he says. “My references would be Greubel Forsey, Vanguart, Ferdinand Berthoud and Simon Brette.”

Pre-owned dealer Eric Wind of Wind Vintage agrees it comes down to the extent of hand finishing – which is not to say that a watch that doesn’t fit that criteria is a bad watch, but just appreciated for different reasons, such as robustness, or accessibility or design.

“Most Rolex sports watches I think would not be considered haute horlogerie, although you could say the Rolex Le Mans [an off-catalog, short-production limited edition Daytona] is, and so is the platinum Daytona, because the movement is front and center with those watches. But in general, it depends on the hand finishing on their movements. A. Lange & Söhne would definitely be considered haute horlogerie because [its watchmakers] do so much hand work on the movements and engraving of the balance cocks and everything else. They assemble the movement and then disassemble it and reassemble it again when they build it. Obviously many of the independent watchmakers are also going to the absolute max level of precision and finish. Philippe Dufour is kind of the archetype in my view in that category. I would add JN Shapiro in Torrance, California as well, particularly with his Resurgence time-only watch. That’s the first fully 'made in America' in-house movement since 1969.”

And what is not haute horlogerie? It’s a common assumption that price is a factor in determining whether or not you have a masterpiece on your hands, but that’s a false assumption. In-demand sports watches carry high price tags, but don’t look for beveled bridges or metiers dials just because it has an integrated bracelet or a grand feu dial. Justin Hast calls out movements “with no human intervention” as a sign that you have been oversold. “Often you can spot the good stuff when you see internal angles [inward facing corners where two beveled edges meet]."

James Schaaf reiterates his insistence that a watch must have coherence. “Declaring something as haute horology is often a camouflage way of justifying a high price,” he says. “But a watch that debuts to the market at six figures that displays admirable finishing but has no purpose, no rationale and no coherence, isn’t haute.”

Getz agrees that even though there are many watches out there with good finishing and great design, they still fail to clear the bar of haute horlogerie because of this inconsistency. “It is on the criteria of coherence and identifiability that many fail; too many of today’s new pieces, particularly from recently established independents, seem either designed by committee and pieced together as a collection of parts, or fail to say anything in their design or construction that sets them apart from the herd or creates a distinct brand identity.”

High prices on the pre-owned market can also be deceiving. “Some of the luxury sports watches with integrated bracelets are not really that great in terms of movement finishing or anything like that, and yet they’re a lot of money,” says Wind. He notes that this assumption is often made about one of the top brands (which he names off the record) that sell at auction. “Honestly, the finishing is not there on most of the stuff. The plates are all made in CNC mills, and assembled without anything being finished. It’s just stacked and assembled like a Lego kit, but good luck telling that to... collectors who think it’s the greatest thing ever made.”

It’s important to remember that just because a brand does produce haute horlogerie pieces, that doesn’t mean all of its models meet those standards. “You have people who try to say that if it’s a really special dial, like an enamel dial, you could define that as haute horlogerie, but really it’s just metier d’art. It’s not high watchmaking,” says Wind.

Like these seasoned collectors, once you start to recognize the finer points of a high watchmaking, you can’t unsee them, and you intuitively understand the term. Great finish makes a watch beautiful, and it is a sign of overall quality. As the poet Keats said:”Beauty is truth, truth is beauty — that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.”