FOB PARIS - The Proof by Three

After several months of collaboration, FOB Paris celebrated its new collection, taking over Leclaireur on rue Sévigné for an exceptional evening. From the light installations to the best DJs, from the ultra-select guest-list to the fiery dance-floor, all the ingredients were gathered for a burning night, to the rhythm of the feverishly ticking seconds. For Leclaireur, Sari, Laurent and Aurélien look back on a night that warmed up the minds numbed by winter.

Leclaireur : A dance-floor at Leclaireur ?

FOB Paris We absolutely wanted to celebrate our three years of FOB PARIS and, at the same time, the relationship we have recently built with our most beautiful client, whom we like to highlight, because we see eye to eye on many things. For us, it really made sense to do something together. Doing it during fashion week also allowed us to present the new line, and it was really the best way to celebrate our three years. This is the store that represents the avant-garde worldwide... and especially in Paris. For a watch brand, it's quite atypical to do what we did, but already in the first year, we went to LECLAIREUR saying "we would like to be sold there". To do a party like the one we did, light years away from the classic performance cocktail, and only two years later, it was cool! We wanted to create an event that really lived up to the hype, that was a highlight of Fashion Week. A very important element in our universe is the music. So we made a real set, with 3 DJ sets, rather electro-minimal, and a live of Primitive, with all its machines, in the middle. The FOB Paris network is made up of artists and creative people, whether it's video, photo or music. It is thus our Parisian circle, a whole universe of artistic creation, in a way, that we put forward.

L: You currently present 3 lines of watches. Where are you in terms of creation and design?

F: The project started in 2009, and it took us three-four years to launch the first product. We called our first collection "Rehab" because it has a rather dark dimension. At the same time, our watchmaking universe, very mechanical, very qualitative, brings a lot of elegance to it. The work on materials is advanced. But the term "Rehab" also came to us because we were rehabilitating an old product, the pocket watch, which was the first source of inspiration for the brand, and which we find in the general DNA of FOB Paris, which really mixes the eras, the very modern avant-garde and the watchmaking tradition...

Our next creation, the new line that will be released in a few months, will be previewed at the end of March during the Basel exhibition, and will enrich our permanent collection. We have integrated all the codes of the company on the straps, with a larger, more complicated case, which respects our universe but expresses it in a more exuberant, graphic and visual way. The richness of this watch is visible in the different layers of the dial, in the details of the sides, on the crown, etc.

We also present new products twice a year, alternating between men's and women's watches, in series that communicate with each other and allow us to renew part of the range.

L: What secrets can you reveal about your watch mechanisms?

F: Our watches are made in Paris, the mechanism is Japanese, and is visible on all our watches. We call it 'the skeleton mechanism' and we looked for the most beautiful and reliable mechanism, corresponding to our price range and we found the perfect product. We will now, for our new range, intervene visually on the mechanism.

L: You collaborate with three people... how is the work divided?

F: As far as the artistic direction of the brand is concerned, we work together and everything is done by the three of us, from the meetings to the regular updates, from the first sketches to the development. Then we communicate directly with our factories and suppliers to adapt our ideas and prototypes. It takes about 18 manufacturing steps from design to watch, and twelve months of work.

L: You are your own ambassadors, so you wear your watches. Which ones are your particular favorites?

F (Aurélien): I wear the Rehab matte black cuff, a matte black 40mm watch with an Italian cowhide leather strap. It is perhaps the most representative model of the brand today. It's my favorite because it's the first model with a strap where we've combined two of our defining characteristics - a very modern classicism and the underground environment - to create a very elegant product. This cuff represents all the elements that we like about the brand and that we like in everyday life.

F (Laurent): I'm wearing one of our newest models, but I too prefer the matte black one! It required so much development, so much going back and forth, and so many technical problems, with this piece of engineering made to receive the watch and stabilize it inside the case... We had to work on an aesthetic cut, and then work on the leather for the first time, because before, we didn't make a strap. We had to make about ten very advanced prototypes, ten different versions before validating this one.

L: Which of you three is an engineer?

F: All three of us! Engineers with a huge interest in the creative community in general. What we wanted most of all was to create something.