CEO Bernard R. Fleury shares why he’s reviving Edouard Koehn, which recently launched an update of its World Heritage universal time and alarm watch
Edouard Koehn was a clockmaker in the grand duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany, before moving to Geneva where he would establish his own manufacture in 1891. It would be known for its high-precision watches, many of which master complications.
Under the new management of CEO Bernard R. Fleury, the brand continues to pay tribute to this legacy of high-level precision and quality. “Edouard Koehn was a master watchmaker who had done great things. In the 19th century, he went to the watchmaking school in Geneva, and then joined Patek Phillipe. In 1891, he bought over an existing manufacture and set up his own brand with his son, producing watches with the split-second chronographs and minute repeaters,” Fleury notes.
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Fleury, who revived Edouard Koehn in 2020, was in Kuala Lumpur recently to introduce the follow-up to the World Heritage model. Edouard Koehn is available exclusively at Sincere Haute Horlogerie in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.
He reveals that he discovered the brand through an auction. “It had a very nice pocket watch with a minute repeater and split-second chronograph, and I started doing some research into it.”
Currently, Edouard Koehn produces two collections: a contemporary interpretation of the chronograph called Tempus, and the World Heritage universal time with alarm function in classic form.
"World time [watch] is a personal favourite, while an alarm function in mechanical watches is very rare,” he enthuses. “We want all our watches to have a distinction, with sophisticated movements and produced in limited number. Customisation is also something we want to do for our customers.”
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The movements are a top priority at Edouard Koehn. “We need to be creative with our movements, and how we can master, develop, and manufacture them,” Fleury asserts.
Despite having been in the industry for four decades, including reviving Vulcain in the early 2000s, Fleury is still driven by passion. “I love the creativity. I love to develop new pieces and see them. Passion is my energy bar.”
