Philippe Dufour Duality, Platinum

£1,415,000
Price excludes 20% VAT for UK buyers. Learn more
Watchdrawer

This is one of 10 examples of the Philippe Dufour Duality*. It wears a 34mm platinum case with a sunburst silver dial with applied indices. The Duality’s manually wound calibre features Dufour’s double balance architecture, an innovation which at the time of the time of release was a first in wristwatches. The Duality, which is extensively hand-finished, is one of the most consequential pieces in modern watchmaking.

THE Watchmaker

Philippe Dufour was born in 1948 in Le Sentier, in the Vallée de Joux, to a mother and father who were both watchmakers. At the age of fifteen, he attended the Ecole d’Horlogerie in Le Sentier, where he excelled in his studies. Upon graduation, in 1967, he joined Jaeger-LeCoultre, spending time in their after-sales department. Whilst there, he worked closely with Gabriel Locatelli, who became a mentor for the young watchmaker, educating him on “all the things you don’t learn at watchmaking school,” Dufour recalls.

In the following years, he worked for a number of different manufacturers, including Audemars Piguet, before focusing on restoring antique and vintage watches, on behalf of collectors and auction houses. In doing so, he became enamoured with the pieces which were created in the Vallée de Joux between 1800 and 1920, before any sort of industrialisation was introduced. He realised that the ébauches created here had been used throughout Switzerland, Germany, and even Britain, making this the epicentre of traditional watchmaking.

Born in the Vallée de Joux himself, Dufour was determined to bring back this long-lost style of watchmaking. As he puts it, “I never invented anything, I just took inspiration from what was done before me.” He has only produced three series models in his time as an independent watchmaker - the Grande et Petite Sonnerie, the Duality and the Simplicity.