Introducing Ludovic Ballouard, an upcoming new Independent:

I was planning to write about Ludovic Ballouard a little later in the year when his new watch was closer to reality; however, as Felipe Jordão has recently posted an excellent interview with Ludovic on the TimeZone independent forum, I thought that I had better mention him here on Horomundi.


Ludovic Ballouard at his bench

I first met Ludovic in 2004 when he was working for F.P Journe. At that time he was working on the F.P. Calandrier (he has more hair now)- my favourite Journe and his - but in early 2007, François-Paul recognized Ludovic special talent as a watchmaker when he selected him to work on the majestic Sonnerie Souveraine.



In a 2005 interview with François-Paul for an article I wrote on the on the Sonnerie Souveraine, he revealed that one of the biggest problems he now faced, after developing this incredibly complex watch, was finding a watchmaker or two with the rare talent to work on it.

Ludovic was one of those rare talents.

But rare talents are not easy to hold and, after 7 very horologically rewarding years working at F.P. Journe - over two of which working on one of the world's most complicated watches- Ludovic decided to step out and develop his own watch.
In fact, his own brand as this first watch is certain to be one of many as Ludovic's sketch book is full of extremely interesting ideas.


The 'Upside Down'


Hour indicated by right-side-up number (and dot for instant recognition), central minute hand, sub-seconds at 6 o'clock.


Ludovic has a well developed sense of humour and he wanted his first timepiece to reflect his personality so he chose a complication that was 'fun'. The model is called 'Upside down' after the fact that only the correct hour is the right side up. When the minute hand reaches 12 o'clock, the old hour number instantaneously flips upside down and the new hour simultaneously flips right-side-up.

Delivery of the first 12 timepieces - the first 12 are a subscription only numbered limited edition with the hours numbers themselves indicating the number, e.g. 3/12 will have the 3 in a different colour to the other numbers.


Each hour number has its own tiny Maltese cross which is visible through the case back

Each hour has its own Maltese cross that is rotated at the appropriate time by a large diameter wheel. In an interesting twist, instead of hiding the complication under the dial (on top of the movement) as is usual, Ludovic placed it on the back of the movement so that the 12 Maltese crosses can been seen through the display back. That was no easy feat as it meant arranging the movement architecture so that 12 vertical pinions could traverse the movement and link each hour to its Maltese cross.



Ludovic's atelier is next door to the micro-mechanic workshop that is producing his components and all is on target for the first 12 watches to be ready before the end of the year.

To learn more I highly recommend reading Felipe Jordão's excellent interview with Ludovic Ballouard on the TimeZone Independent forum.

Ian Skellern
Greubel Forsey forum and URWERK forum moderator
www.facebook.com/underthedial
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Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2009 11:34AM by IanS.

Hi Ian,

Thanks for the introduction. I look forward to learning more about him and his work.

Cheers,

Curtis

Thanks Ian
I suspect that this gentleman will be one to watch - pardon the pun,in the future.