Gilbert Meylan: “The watchmaking gene, cementing generations”.

The memory is one that leaves a deep impression on you. Gilbert Meylan was 6 years old and proudly wore a Reverso by Jaeger-LeCoultre that didn’t belong to him. I thought it was really beautiful,” he says. It was sitting in a drawer in my father’s workshop, so I took it. When he found out, I got a huge slap in the face. It’s hard to say what made the biggest impression on him. The reprimand or the watch? One thing is certain: some things can’t be taught. They’re passed down naturally, from father to son, through the generations.

Time ahead

Gilbert inherited his passion for watchmaking. My grandfather, John-Henri, was a watchmaker at the bench,” he says. He worked for manufacturers like Audemars Piguet. My father, Richard, had a small store selling and repairing watches and porcelain in Le Brassus, next to our family home. In the heart of this valley where watchmaking is practiced religiously, Gilbert’s entry into the Ecole d’Horlogerie in 1945 was the logical next step. He specialized as a stamp maker and, after four years, graduated with honors. It was 1948, Gilbert was 20 years old, he had life ahead of him and energy to spare.After a year in Grenchen, in the canton of Solothurn, where he practiced his trade as a stamp-maker, his meeting with Paulette Guignard changed everything. Paulette was the granddaughter of the founder of the Golay-Buchel company, which specialized in garnets, spare parts and watchmaking tools,” explains Gilbert Meylan. I fell madly in love. After spending time in England and Germany, I joined the company in 1951. He remained with the company until his retirement in 1994, climbing the ranks one by one to become Export Manager for spare parts and tooling for the watchmaking and jewelry industries.

Watchmaking in the blood

Passion can’t be controlled. As a child, Gilbert carefully observed his father, his meticulous gestures, his patience and know-how. As an adult, he was surprised by his son’s manual dexterity and “diabolical skill”. Today, he says he is “enthusiastic and in awe of what Lionel, Julien and Yannick have accomplished”. From father to son, “watchmaking is in our blood. The passion has been passed down from generation to generation, like a relay, a taut thread punctuated by anecdotes: as a student at the Ecole d’horlogerie, Julien lived for a few years in the family home in Le Brassus. His bedroom was none other than Richard Meylan’s former watchmaking workshop.Gilbert smiles at the thought.

From left to right: Lionel, Lucie (Lionel’s paternal grandmother), Richard (paternal grandfather), Paulette (Lionel’s mother) and Lise Meylan (Lionel’s elder sister).