Hello and welcome on WATCHES TV and today you are in for a treat A few months ago we did a really nice video report with Philippe Dufour who wanted to set the record straight on a few matters but he also explained some of the changes in terms of how he is now organized, especially with the arrival of his daughter Daniela by his side. So I though it would be a nice idea to do some kind of regular follow up and see how she was evolving in her new working environment and understand better the privileged relation she has with the best teacher one could ever have. So let’s now simply enjoy this together! Daniela has been working with you for almost a year. Yes. From the first day to today, how do you see this evolution? It's going very well. It changes the atmosphere of the workshop a bit, I used to be alone with my radio, and now Daniela is here, it puts a bit of an atmosphere. We choose the music we listen to, we mess around a bit from time to time. There's a good atmosphere. The difference, I would say, is that at school I was seen as the daughter of, I was seen as a pupil who didn't know anything at all and when I arrived at the workshop, my dad saw me as a watchmaker and not his daughter. Then I gained confidence in myself, I made watches and I proved to myself and to my parents that I was made for this job and could continue my dad's name in the future. I think she is very lucky to be with her father and I think this is the only person who stayed this long with her father. Everybody knows why they don't stay, because Philippe always needs a very high level and nobody can achieve this level. I knew what she was capable of, because during her training, the four years of school, the last two years, she came here to the workshop quite often and she had done all the operations. I was very surprised. All the operations on the "Simplicity" movement,, even the balance-spring. This first movement that she made, I told her: "When it is finished, the watch is for you. That motivated her. I knew when she arrived, what she was capable of. When she came back from school she went directly to the workshop and she listened to every word that her father said and she was looking carefully for every single details. And even the weekends, she went Saturdays and Sundays to the workshop and since last year when she finished school she never took one day off. When I came here, I had to learn everything again. Not because I didn't know how to work, not because I was incompetent, but because the way of working is different. I mean, when I got out of school, I said to myself, "I have my paper, but this is where the real school starts, this is where I'll learn for the rest of my life, and this is where I'll gain my experience, and then I'll be able to reapply it to watches later on." Watchmaking is a profession where you learn continuously. You learn something new every day. It is a rich profession, because as long as it has existed, as long as it will exist, there will always be new things to learn. From time to time, there are small calls to order, which happen, but you remember, I told you, we do it like that, "Yes" ok then make a note. In short, but it's going smoothly, I mean. There are no big confrontations, there's no irritation, and I let her evolve at her own pace. Above all, I don't put pressure on her. I don't want to tell her: "You have to finish this tomorrow". No. She goes at her own pace, then she does things as they should be done. At the workshop, even if we joke, we work. What I will say is that in the workshop, it's the only place where I don't contradict him. Because he's always right and yes, he's demanding, but he's right. Because he's at the top, He's not allowed to make mistake, people are waiting him out, and me as well. She listens a lot more. I've had employees, I'd explain to them, they would say "yes, I know" and then in the end, they would do the opposite of what I asked. Whereas she follows the directions, in terms of the operations, the different things to be done. She loves her job, she loves watchmaking and she is working from all her heart and she's working carefully she listens to any details that Philippe say. It's a completely different world from what I learned at school. When I arrived here, I had to change all my basics to adapt, and that's when I realised that watchmaking has several parallel worlds, if I can put it like that, and that in each place, there is a different way of doing things. There I relearned everything. There were things I would say, things I had learned at school, and my dad would looked at me with big eyes and say: "Who told you that?", and I would say: "That's what I learned at school", and then he said: "No, that's not how you do it", and then he would show me how he did it. I realised that his way was the best way. Of course it was complicated at the beginning, and it still is a little bit, but in our profession, we have to like complexity. If everything is easy, you get a bit bored. I'm always a bit harsh in what I say, but at my age, I can afford to say things. But the trend anyway, in watchmaking school, is to train for what the companies need. What do they need? Operators. So all the decoration and finishing works, those things where you really put the human touch on the product, is not really taught anymore, unfortunately. In schools, there is now talk of abolishing the school watch. What's the point? It's useless. That's what scares me, this trend. Every time, we lose something. These things, once lost, are like an endangered species. Once it's gone, it's gone. You can try to reintroduce it, but the biotope is no longer there. Here, we are experiencing a similar situation in the watchmaking industry. That's what worries me. In Japan, the students who study the art of sushi, in the first two years, roughly speaking, these students only prepare the rice. What could be a bit equivalent here in this workshop that would just represent this kind of gesture that you have to do to master your ranges? The balance-spring, the heart of the watch. It can bring many surprises. Even after a year, you can see things that you've never seen before, problems that you're faced with and you have no idea how to do it, and you have to find a solution, you have to think and solve the problem. Making the balance-spring is
one of the most complicated steps. It is a craft where a lot of time may be needed, to be really good at it. There is this demand today, there is an audience that is a little
more knowledgeable than in the past. Yes. For Daniela, it's important for her future too? Of course it is. The demand is there, because people have acquired knowledge. This knowledge, I always say, the independents, my colleagues, I can't name them, because I will forget one, but my colleagues from the academy and all that, we have paved the way with our products and through our products we have educated the final customer, I mean the collectors et cetera. But we are a bit the black sheep in this story, because the big brands, they give us big smiles, but we bother them a little. Because through our products, we have educated these costumers and people who are now interested in watches, go to the shop with a magnifying glass in their pocket, then they look, then they say: "There, that's not bad, but your screws there, it's not very polished. I've seen better elsewhere." There is comparison and there is knowledge. That's what's extraordinary. Modern media have allowed this. Look at the watch blogs, how they discuss, it's fabulous. The Finishing is essential. Because no matter how good a job you do, if the movement isn't beautiful, people won't buy it. it also shows that you have an advanced knowledge. Because you can always reinvent yourself in the decoration of a timepiece, and this is a bit of a trademark for each watch company. Here, naturally... Here, naturally, it's high, and I have to do like my father. You can do like him, you can do better, but you not lower. We expect to find her as Philippe because she is very calm she takes all her time to do the job and I think in some years what she will be able to do if now she is completing the full movement what can she do better, there is no better. Until now, she complete 4 or 5 movements from A to Z. I think that in the next ten years, I will also have the grace from my dad, to learn how to make a Grande Sonnerie, a duality, and maybe I will be able to apply this, maybe in a watch that I will make later on. You never know. But I have time. I prefer to take my time to learn the right way, and then everything will come in its own time. I don't want to jump the gun, announce something when I haven't done anything behind it. I want to be sure of what I'm saying first, I do my little thing in secret, then it will happen, then I'll say it. Daniela, I think it's well on her way to take up the torch, as they say, but sometimes we talk, she has ideas for a new watch, but not a Philippe Dufour, one of her own. And there you go, everything is happiness. It can be great. With more aide by his side, what has changed for Philippe? When we started since around two years Philippe had more time to work Before most of the journalists, most of the tourists, most of the collectors, everyone was coming to the workshop and took a lot of time and he never knows how to say no, anyone come inside, most welcomed. So when we start, I am taking care of the commercial things and his wife Elisabeth is taking care of the communication and the allocation of the watches is very very difficult. No one is happy, everybody needs a watch We cannot give 20 watches for I don't know how many billion of people around the world. Especially in China, Japan and everywhere, in America. But very few watches are coming out. And Philippe is working as he doesn't agree to do the 20 watches in one year and in low quality He always likes the highest level ever and he is teaching his daughter to do the same so that's why it's taking time. Well I hope you enjoyed this exceptional moment, loved to share this with you and count on us to continue our follow up in the future. Thanks for watching, a special thanks to our patrons, the very best to all and Viva Watchmaking! See you soon. What I also could say,
is that my parents have given me so much. During my apprenticeship,
they never pressured me, I knew that they were expecting a lot from me, but my mother has always been supporting my dad and I. Even during these times when I am at the workshop, she is the one bringing us together. They have always encouraged me. They have always pushed me to give the best of myself. This is one of my biggest strength today and I know that there are at least 2 people behind me.
