Innovation in watch design is a gamble. Go too far and you risk alienating people, don’t differentiate yourself enough and you’re lost in a sea of integrated bracelets and blue dials. Vanguart (a portmanteau of “vanguard” and “art”), formed in 2017, has managed to walk this fine line with aplomb. It’s not surprising given the business’s horological pedigree. CEO Axel Leuenberger and chief technical officer Jérémy Freléchox are both APRP (Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi) alumni – the renowned high-complication making company that has produced works of mechanical wizardry for the likes of Chanel, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille, and which has become the breeding ground for the industry’s most talented watchmakers. So, it comes as no surprise that Vanguart’s first watch wasn’t a simple three-hander. It was an attempt, in watch form, to represent a black hole. 

‘We wanted to do something never done before,’ says cofounder and chairman of Vanguart, Mehmet Koruturk, who came to high horology through working in private equity. ‘We wanted to make a statement for our first model and show that we can do very advanced complications.’ For a first watch, it certainly had a lot to say. The design is taken from Thierry Fisher’s Tourbillon Black Hole Concept watch – Leuenberger and Freléchox met the designer while at APRP when it worked with graphic-design company Etude de Style on a project – and it is dizzying in its construct.

The dial is a series of concentric circles representing, from periphery to centre, hours, tenths of minutes and minutes. These rotate either clockwise or counterclockwise and, in order for the wearer to appreciate the movement, each one takes between 200 and 500 milliseconds to change indication, rather than an instant change, which most timepieces adopt. That should be impressive enough, until you notice the flying tourbillon, raised above the dial so it appears to float. Again, for most watch brands that would be it, however Vanguart has gone further still. There are two crowns. There is one for winding and time correction, but the other has a much more interesting purpose. Referred to as the “joystick”, it allows you to instantly adjust the discs, but its most fun application is using the discs to set a countdown, whose indicator sits at four o’clock on the dial. This completely original movement took five years to develop. It would have been three but unfortunately, Covid hit. 

‘Obviously it was not ideal, and frustrating at that moment when our first model was ready in the middle of the Covid outbreak,’ says Koruturk. ‘However, when we look back now, we are grateful that it was a blessing in disguise.’  

Given the Black Hole’s complexity, you’d expect Vanguart to take some time creating its next concept, however just three years after its launch, in 2024 it unveiled Orb. At first glance, it is simpler than its predecessor – not something that’s a challenge – with Vanguart’s signature flying tourbillon. However, above the tourbillon at 12 o’clock is a large disc on which is written “manual” and “automatic”. Using the crown, which operates as a button, the wearer can choose how the movement is wound and, because no Vanguart watch is complete without some visual representation of the mechanical marvel within, when the watch is switched from automatic to manual, the diamond set into the dialside peripheral rotor locks where the “12” indication would normally be. 

‘We have never faced an insurmountable mechanical impossibility that forced us to abandon a project,’ says Koruturk, when asked if there has ever been a moment when the team’s boundless imagination has hit physical roadblocks. ‘Our rigorous development methods allow us to push the limits while ensuring technical feasibility. However, in the realm of pure research and exploration, some ideas may remain conceptual due to current technological constraints. But it is precisely this relentless pursuit that fuels our vision and drives us to continuously innovate.’ Vanguart is definitely a brand that is living up to its name. 

Vanguart Black Hole Tourbillon; vanguart.com