Worn & Wound
Interview: Sylvain Berneron on Building a Brand, and Rethinking Modern Watchmaking
Every few years, a new independent hits the scene with something that hits just the right notes to get all the factions of the watch world vibrating at the same frequency. However, no recent newcomer has managed to unite the watch echo chamber the way Swiss independent Berneron has. When Berneron unveiled their debut offering, the Mirage, in 2023, it was universally lauded as the most intriguing and refreshing new watch seen in ages. The Mirage was a legitimately unique take on upscale watchmaking, with a striking aesthetic and design narrative as unexpected as its asymmetrical shape and wildly ambitious bespoke movement. The Mirage’s styling was initially met with comparisons to the Cartier Crash, but the reality is its melted case shape was an elegant solution for housing the watch’s impressive mechanics–a case shrink-wrapped around a new caliber that was designed from scratch, free from the rules of traditional movement design. The Mirage was a helluva of a breakout hit; it had mystique, it was technically impressive, and it was different without resorting to arbitrary design choices. The Mirage’s success would be difficult to replicate, but with the Quantième, Berneron has both side-steped the sophomore slump and cemented the reputation of its founder and Creative Director Sylvain Berneron as a true visionary and a generational talent. The Quantième applies Berneron’s virtuosic technicality to a watch that embraces a more traditional look than the Mir...
