Taste and expertise

Your first love with watches?
Julien Meylan The first time I bought a watch on a whim, it was my Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso Sun Moon. I was immediately taken with its proportions, indications and movement decoration.

Yannick Meylan It’s the Girard-Perregaux 7000 rose gold! I used to work in the boutique on my days off when I was a kid. I saw a customer’s watch. I thought it was fantastic. When I was 20, my father gave me this watch! I still wear it.

Lionel Meylan This is Breitling’s Navitimer watch. It features a chronograph and a slide rule on the bezel.

What is the element of a watch that attracts you most?
YM I’m all about comfort. My watch shouldn’t be too heavy, without sharp angles or poor finishing. I like it when you can’t feel it, but you know it’s there.

JM I’m fascinated by the movement of the spiral spring, which symbolizes the heart of the watch. I’ll always remember the first time the hairspring on the clock I made in watchmaking school started to beat.

LM The first thing I see in a watch is its elegance. It’s perfect proportions, an ideal balance between all the elements.

What’s the ideal everyday watch?
LM I always come back to the Navitimer. I also regularly wear a Rolex Daytona, but without the calendar. Its proportions are very well suited to my wrist and everyday activities.

JM Comfortable, robust and reliable, this is the ideal watch!

YM For me, the ideal watch is the one that makes me smile when I look at it. It’s the watch with which I can do anything and everything without paying attention. The watch that’s there, but that I can forget about.

The model you choose for parties?
JM Ma Reverso Sun Moon, of course. It’s a classic, elegant watch with hour-minute-second, moon-phase, day-night and power-reserve indications on the front. On the reverse, its sapphire crystal caseback reveals the beautiful, finely hand-decorated mechanism. It allows me to hide the passage of time when the evening is pleasant, and also to introduce the other guests to fine Swiss watchmaking.

LM I chose a watch with complications. It will allow me to discuss a subject I’m passionate about. Elegance also remains an absolute criterion.

YM I have more casual evenings than dressy ones. So I don’t usually change my watch on an evening out. When I do go out on a fancy night, however, I wear my Chopard L.U.C 1937. It’s classic, with an anthracite dial that goes with everything.

An essential tip when choosing a watch?
YM Listen to your heart! Choosing well means letting your emotions speak for themselves. Take your time until love at first sight.

JM You have to know under what circumstances you want to wear it in order to be fully satisfied with your choice in the long term. It has to be a “coup de coeur”.

LM If it’s the one and only watch you own, it has to be suitable for all circumstances.
It’s also important to pay attention to sturdiness, water-resistance and comfort.

What’s your favourite material?
JM Titanium is a very interesting material in terms of its properties. It perfectly combines lightness and robustness, ideal for a sports watch.

LM Hublot’s Magic Gold is a brilliant material. Unlike other metals, it is completely scratch-proof, ensuring that it retains its beauty over time.

YM I love rose gold because it’s a warm shade of gold that always goes well with all skin tones.

Which complication do you consider indispensable?
JM I’d say the date, because it’s this indication that I miss when I wear a watch that doesn’t have one. On the other hand, my Reverso doesn’t have one…

YM Without hesitation, the date too. I never know what day it is.

LM The one I find most useful is the moon phase calendar. It’s both aesthetic and useful. But my Navitimer doesn’t have one.

Have your tastes changed over time?
JM No, not really. It’s all about proportions and consistency of form, which in my opinion is the key to making a beautiful, timeless watch.

YM Yes, all the time. But my tastes remain classic and traditional.

LM I’d say they’ve become more refined. I’ve become much more critical and sure of my choices with experience.

What if there’s only one left?
YM That would be Ulysse Nardin’s Dual Time Manufacture. I love it for its blue dial, but also because it’s engraved with my children’s names.

LM The Navitimer, of course. What’s more, I’m lucky enough to have a two-tone that I particularly like.

JM Impossible to choose! I’d keep one for each brand…