Luxe
By Gary Girdvainis
BEATING HEARTS
Paul Forrest’ s unique accessories do not actually tell the time, but the Fleurier mechanical movements housed within his necklaces-in-motion elicit fine Swiss micro mechanics. iW recently had a chance to meet with the man himself. Here are his thoughts on developing his mechanical jewelry.
iW: Who are the key players behind the idea and the creation of Paul Forrest’ s Jewelry-in-motion? Paul Forrest Hartzband: About five years ago during the Baselworld Fair, the idea came to me during a walk to the jewelry side of the Fair. For the next several hours, I sat with Alexander Nugent, now COO of Paul Forrest Co, drawing some very rough concept ideas for the heart beat and its function.
Once we had finished the basic technical drawings for the operation of Heart’ s Passion a few weeks later, we immediately began the international patent process.
I knew we had created something in Heart’ s Passion that did not exist. The next step was to find a very high level movement manufacturer for the engine of Heart’ s Passion. I had previously worked with Le Temps Manufacture( LTM) in Fleurier, Switzerland, for some years and knew they were the right partners to get the job done. It is extremely important to me that the heartbeat is very subtle and poetic with a strong life, and I knew LTM could make this happen.
The next step was to find the right partner for manufacture of the jewelry, which is quite complex. There are over thirty-five parts in just the jewelry
alone. I presented the concept to long-term colleagues of mine, and they had a great thought regarding this manufacture. They introduced me to Franck Muller Manufacture. As they liked the idea, they agreed to take on this task. They don’ t do work with any other outsiders of their group, so we are quite honored.
Even the heart-shaped key that is also the clasp is quite complex. It has an internal ratcheting system for winding. For this, we partnered with the Italian Jeweler Gaspari.
What were the most difficult hurdles in bringing these to life? Since this is my first brand, it was very important for me to make it the best it could be. I decided not to cut any corners that would sacrifice quality, and I therefore needed to work with a group of companies that represented the best craftsmanship available. It is very important to me that the product is Swiss made.
I have been working LTM for other projects and patents that I have developed. They accepted the challenge to help develop and manufacture Calibre PFC-001 for Hearts Passion.
First of all, we had to create a mechanical movement and complication that was exceptionally small with enough power to drive the motion of heavy diamond-set heart arms. In a watch, the movement drives very lightweight, typically aluminum hands. This movement creates an opening and closing motion, which is quite different from a watch.
Another challenge was to make the motion of the heartbeat very subtle and poetic. This was done by using a specially designed cam wheel. It took near two years to develop this movement, which is built completely for Paul Forrest Co. from the ground up. Normally, even very high-end watch brands begin with an existing Caliber movement, before modifying it to make it their own.
126 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SUMMER 2018