In the Beginning
The story of the Vagabondage begins in 1995 with a Parisian client of mine (reported in certain auction records to be French collector Jean Aube). He had asked me to create a timepiece that was directly projected out of his own imagination.
He asked for a classic watch — very classic — something that would be reminiscent of what Abraham Louis Breguet might’ve created in his day. He did, however, also ask for a twist in the watch. He asked that the watch should tell time by means of vagabond hours. Or what most know better as wandering hours.
He was essentially asking me to come up with a whole new movement. This wasn’t a simply a new watch design — which in itself is a monumental task to embark on — but a movement development, from scratch, does require a substantially greater amount of time and resources.
I asked my client then if he would be open to doing the watch as a series, rather than a one-off pièce unique. Thankfully he was agreeable. He even offered to tap on a contact of his at a rather large watch brand (legend has it that the brand in question was Cartier, hence the tortue case shape) so that the watch might reach a larger audience.
Sadly, the brand in question pulled their interest from the project as soon as I had completed my first prototype. So, off went the watch into my drawer.
Some years later, ahead of their 30th anniversary charity auction, Antiquorum approached me and asked for me to create a special watch to be auctioned off at their anniversary sale. Problem was that when they had asked me, there was only six months left until the date of the auction.