Like all the best watch brands, Mauron Musy is a fusion of two surnames, those of Eric Mauron and his son-in-law Christophe Musy, who work together at the small mechanical workshop, Atelier Régis Mauron S.A., which Eric Mauron took over from his father. The two workaholics often discuss ideas after hours and one day considered the idea of producing a watch. Unlike most such ventures, however, the idea was not for a ground-breaking movement, since the company’s strengths lie elsewhere. Having decided that their watch had to offer something completely different, Eric Mauron found inspiration in the clamp braces he produces for customers. These mechanical clamps need to remain perfectly sealed on pipes that transport molten plastics at around 300° Celsius. All Mr Mauron had to do was downsize the principle of such a clamp brace to the size of a watch case and, bingo, the patented nO-ring® waterproof watch case was born.
The delicious pun refers to the rubber O-ring gaskets used for water resistance in all other watches, which Mauron Musy’s design replaces. There is no O-ring, thus nO-Rings®. Instead of the gaskets inside the case, it is the hinged watch case itself that ensures the watertight seal. Closing the hinge and screwing the case shut provides a perfect water-resistant seal. In fact, the greater the pressure on the seal, the better the water-resistance.
Christophe Musy, together with the brand’s solitary watchmaker, found himself assembling 110 of these cases in just one week (working 20-hour days) in the run-up to their presentation. This was because the brand had taken an unusual approach to launching these new timepieces. Encouraged by a friend, the duo had decided to offer the first watches to members of the local community, with an appealing discount. Having grouped together 110 such ambassadors, the brand decided to issue every single ambassador with their new, 100% Swiss crafted MU03 Armure watch on the same evening.
Over a period of just two hours, members of the local community of the Broye valley came to the Chateau de St. Aubin, in the village where Mauron Musy is based, to collect their timepieces. The vast majority of new owners were male but covered a broad range of ages. There were a number of local entrepreneurs, with 80% of the new ambassadors coming from the region of La Broye (on the southern side of Lake Neuchâtel) and the rest coming from the Lake Geneva region and a few further flung areas of Switzerland like Basel. One of them was Edwin Stucky, who own the biggest collection of Dodge Vipers in Europe, which explained why a pristine model of that very car was parked at the entrance to the chateau. Could we see special Dodge Viper edition soon?
