Welcome to Issue 25

My grandfather and the founder of our Group, Nicolas G. Hayek, used to say that he never worked. Instead, he “amused himself 12 hours a day”.

That captures perfectly the more than eight-year project that led to the new Grande Double Sonnerie that is now in the limelight. In order to do justice to all the dimensions of this grand complication, we devote fully 9 articles to it in this Issue. Being the captain for the project has been no less than a personal quest. The word “Adventure”, that is the title of the first story on the Grande Double Sonnerie, I hope gives a flavor of the excitement and pleasure that my team and I felt “amusing” ourselves as we navigated through the many phases of its creation.

Villeret has been a pillar of Blancpain since the early 80s. Nothing, not even timepieces as iconic as our Villeret’s, can remain static. I am confident that devotees of Villeret, as they read the story in this Issue describing today’s refresh, will be pleased to find its virtues and DNA fully respected.

We are proud to have supported not one but three of the highest profile dives in modern times, all focused on the elusive and biologically important Coelacanth: two dives of Laurent Ballesta and, featured in this issue, that of Alexis Chappuis.

Enjoy Issue 25!

Marc A. Hayek
President and CEO Blancpain