Claude Meylan is an independent watchmaker based in L’Abbaye, in the heart of the Joux Valley. The house speciality is creative watchmaking, based on bespoke calibres that are openworked or skeletonised, and designed in such a way as to offer a playful and unique vision of mechanical watchmaking. Claude Meylan is a sculptor that works with the shapes and lines of time to communicate a singular vision of creative watchmaking, where mechanical craftsmanship is revealed with emotion and sensitivity.
Claude Meylan
Using well-known and highly reliable mechanical movements as its base, Claude Meylan opens up the watch, allowing the wearer to plunge into its microcosm and navigate through it.
About
1988
Claude Meylan, a descendant of one of the four historical founding families of haute horlogerie in the Joux Valley, creates his own named brand.h
2002
The brand continues to grow in the hands of Henri Berney.
2010
Philippe Belais, the current CEO of Claude Meylan SA, takes the reins and launches his first collection, “Black”, in 2011.
2011
Claude Meylan positions itself as a company specialising in updating historic calibres.
2017
The brand focuses its expertise on exclusive movements.
Philosophy
Claude Meylan’s philosophy is to make the invisible visible, reveal the beauty of the movement and showcase the meticulous work carried out on each component. By creating watches without a dial, Claude Meylan made its mark by training the spotlight on watch movements developed in its own region, the Vallée de Joux. But the exercise didn’t stop there. Gradually, the workshop started redesigning the bridges and wheels, transcending their functional simplicity and turning them into individual works of art. Together, the movement parts combine, contrast and complement each other to create a unique and coherent image – like a painting – resulting in a watch whose form and function merge to celebrate a new, architectural vision of time.
Collections
Lac
The Lac de Joux sits at the heart of the watchmaking region of the Vallée de Joux. With its calm presence and silent strength, it forms an ever-changing backdrop of infinite colours and sensations that sets the stage for the models in this collection.
Tortue
Tortue takes its name from the delicately curved turtle-shell-shaped watch case that has become a Claude Meylan signature. Creating an ethereal showcase with its two sapphire crystals, this unusual format lends itself to myriad games of light and shadow. It has recently been made available in a ladies’ version, designed by women, for women.
Lionne
Taking the name of the river that runs past the workshop and empties into the Lac de Joux, the Lionne collection embodies the quintessentially feminine qualities of strength and elegance.
L'Abbaye
Claude Meylan’s home is in L’Abbaye, a typical village of the Vallée de Joux, in a building that dates back to 1684. This collection features both simple and complicated watches, representing the soul of the Claude Meylan brand.
