About 20 years ago, watchmakers who were working behind the scenes to develop and construct complications for major brands began stepping out of the shadows and marketing watches under their own names ? Christophe Claret, Richard Mille, Peter Speake-Marin, and Franck Muller, to name a few. Others may have been self-employed for a few years but then came under the protective roof of a large company. But Antoine Preziuso is one of the lone fighters in the watch industry. His watch brand has existed since 1991. He produced up to 900 watches per year before the financial crisis struck in 2009. Since then, he has returned to his roots. Many of his timepieces are one-of-a-kind, although he also produces a few models in small series. The question of limitation, which some large brands may use to create individuality, does not arise here. Antoine Preziuso
Preziuso was strongly influenced by his Swiss homeland. He grew up in a traditional watchmaking neighborhood in Geneva in the 1950s. ?When I played in the narrow streets, I would tinker with watchmaking tools and components for watch movements that the little watchmaking workshops had put out on their doorsteps to be picked up for disposal,? he recalls. Preziuso?s father, who worked for a watch manufacturer, would show his son how to take apart and reassemble an alarm clock or a table clock. Antoine enjoyed himself immensely and his early experiences prompted him to enroll at the famous Geneva Watchmaking School when he became a ...