Angus Davies chats to Octavio Garcia
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Design
Design shapes everything we see. It can bestow pleasing tactility, emote passion, enhance function and enrich the environment we all share.
Indeed, being a designer is a meritorious occupation, adding value to society. Some may argue it’s a vocation. A designer by virtue of their chosen career wishes to enhance life’s enjoyment. They seek to optimise the interface between objects and their fellow man or woman.
The ability of some designers is greater than others. When a design hits its mark with laser-like accuracy, then an icon is born. Consider the Le Corbusier chair, it will be unsullied despite the passage of time. The Bialetti Moka Express is the iconic coffee maker which has been sold for over 75 years and proved an essential tool to millions of coffee lovers.
Buildings are some of the largest expressions of the designers imagination. Architecture has enriched lives with impressive structures which become destinations for those who appreciate these large forms of artistic magnificence. The Empire State Building may no longer be the tallest building in the world, but its Art Deco design still beguiles with its beauty. It personifies optimism with every line as it soars up to the sky in elevated elation.
There have been occasions when architecture has been criticised. Most famously HRH The Prince of Wales once coined the phrase, “monstrous carbuncles” when describing some modernist architecture which did not appeal to his sense of aesthetics. I must admit I agree with his criticism of some buildings which prove challenging to cherish.
The word icon is often linked with design. Sometimes it may be wastefully used to describe something with little merit. However, think of the Porsche 911 and the word icon is well deserved. Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, Anatole Lapine and Harm Lagaay were responsible for the 911 of 1963. This initial 911, defined the shape and created a form with the same ubiquitous recognition of a Coca Cola bottle. Everybody recognises the flowing form of the 911.
Marketeers monitor the product life cycle and inform the board when the icon needs to be redefined. It must be refreshed, brought up to date but mustn’t lose the recognisable design language.
The financial types will point out that the icon is a “cash cow”, delivering significant Euros to the bottom line. It is therefore a tough brief for any designer to accept. Create something new, make it neoteric yet faithful to the traditional styling cues.
I confess to being a Porsche fan. I still look back to the time I had a 911 in my own driveway, before the children’s lumbering limbs necessitated the purchase of a family four door. Somehow, they have evolved the design whilst retaining the 911 DNA. The latest 911, launched in 2011 is my favourite car to leave the factory gates in Zuffenhausen. Michael Mauer, Porsche’s head of design and his team have created a handsome car, oozing modernity but most importantly still a 911.
This preamble, leads me to Le Brassus in the Jura mountains. Haute horology is my first love and every night as I lay in bed, it is a watch book or catalogue of timepieces which falls from my grip as my eyes close and I drift into deep slumber. But, the night before, my big day, I can’t sleep. I am scheduled to meet Octavio Garcia, Chief Artistic Officer of Audemars Piguet, the following morning. I have met celebrities from the sporting world, but it is the professionals who inhabit the higher echelons of watchmaking and design I most admire.
I am to meet one of my design heroes. This is the man who was tasked with revisiting the Gérald Genta masterpiece of 1972, the Royal Oak, and refreshing it for 2012, the 40th anniversary of the iconic model. The pressure must have been immense. One of the true design classics of the horological world being refreshed but retaining its highly prized identity. The parallels with the 911 are obvious.
I sit in the lounge at the superbly named; “Hotel des Horlogers”, nervously waiting to meet one of my idols. Octavio entered the room, stylishly attired, perfectly groomed with elegant looks which any fair lady would find hard to resist. He orders an espresso and immediately his warm and friendly personality allay any anxiety and disarmingly put me at ease.
Interview with Octavio Garcia
Angus Davies (AD): I am sure you have heard many times, parallels being drawn between the Royal Oak and the Porsche 911. It must be a very difficult design job to revisit an icon, make it look fresh but without losing the DNA of the original design. What was the most stressful aspect of redesigning the Royal Oak?
Octavio Garcia (OG): The new Royal Oak Collection consists of eight different pieces with different proportions. At first glance they don’t look any different and that was actually the objective. It was important to give the watch beautiful, contemporary proportions and refine it. The stressful part of this process, because it was a multi-disciplinary team that was working on the project, was orientating everybody and making sure that every 1/100th of a millimetre we changed was in the right place and it enhanced the overall look.
When you are designing or contributing to evolve an iconic piece like the Royal Oak, it’s a tremendous responsibility.
AD: I would have thought this was a risky job for you as a designer. The Royal Oak is a “cash cow” for Audemars Piguet and you are being handed the “holy grail” of watch design and being told to revisit the styling but with the express proviso not to mess it up. If things had gone wrong it could have spelt the demise of your career. Did you really feel that pressure?
OG: The pressure I felt was not succumbing to temptation and injecting some of my own personal taste into the watch. I have had discussions with people from the outside to get their feedback. Some would have preferred to see the watch evolve in a more edgier way. But, that was exactly what I did not want to do. I felt it was important to keep the physical attributes of the piece intact and just give it a smooth transition. I was much more concerned about the watch being able to take on another 40 years, more so than my own career.
AD: Another piece you have been recently involved with is the Royal Oak Leo Messi. With this piece you have set aside the tapisserie dial and gone with a brushed dial, which I particularly like. Are we likely to see this appear on other models? It is very successful. It works.
OG: It does. The Leo Messi piece was a very interesting challenge because the limited edition models we do with ambassadors are usually based on the Royal Oak Offshore. Choosing the Royal Oak for Leo Messi was a turning point for the company. He is someone who is at the top of his game in the most popular sport in the world.
Instinctively we were going towards Royal Oak Offshore which is our champion product in the sports domain. However, we chose the Royal Oak because it was in line with Leo Messi’s personality. It was about creating something which was elegant, sobre, understated and therefore the idea of featuring the brushed dial was to enhance this impression. The monochromatic play between the tantalum, the steel and the slate grey dial helped to underscore the elegance and sophistication of the game of Leo Messi.
AD: I was in Berlin last week for the launch of the Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Michael Schumacher. One of the things that came across was that Michael did not appear to just lend his name to the watch but stamp his own mark on it. Is this the case? I came away with the impression he came to you with his ideas.
OG: Like many of our ambassadors they are very passionate about watches. They often have watch collections and Michael Schumacher is no exception. He also has a very strong technical understanding, obviously, from his motorsport background. It was natural for him to come into this project with a lot of enthusiasm because of his passion for watches. The fact that he lives in Switzerland was a great help, many of our Ambassadors are in different continents. Michael living near the Manufacture allowed us to work closely on this project. We met a number of times around the drawings and designs. He had a strong input and he knew what he wanted. He had questions about ergonomics, he gave his thoughts on what he wanted to express with the watch. The result is a strong collaboration between him and the brand.
AD: I note you work with forged carbon for cases. Were you tempted to use this on Michael’s watch? Possibly on the movement?
OG: Forged carbon is material we have refined for our cases and is now part of our core collection. One of the new projects we are working on, is to integrate it into the calibres. It was too soon for the Michael Schumacher piece. If all goes well, and I see no reason why it shouldn’t, we are going to exploit this in other areas of the watch.
AD: The Royal Oak Leo Messi was such a successful design. Were you tempted to repeat using the Royal Oak for Michael’s watch?
OG: The Royal Oak Offshore is part of a lineage of Formula One inspired timepieces which goes back to the Juan Pablo Montoya model. For us it was clear we had to do a Royal Oak Offshore model with Michael. There was no question about it.
AD: Whilst we are talking about new models, can we move to another model which I personally love, the Millenary 4101. What made you think of putting the escapement on the front?
OG: It all started with a much more complex piece, the Audemars Piguet Millenary Tradition d’Excellence Cabinet No.5 model. I had the privilege, I consider it a privilege to work with Giulio Papi of Audemars Piguet Renaud et Papi in Le Locle. I don’t know if you know of him?
AD: I do, I am reading his book (High-end horological finishing and decoration by Caroline Sermier and Giulio Papi). I am a geek.
OG: I love his book. It really explains all the terminology to watch geeks like us about all the hard work our watchmakers put into these pieces.
Giulio had some ideas in mind and when I looked at the original Cabinets which had already been done, there were two Jules Audemars, round pieces, an Edward Piguet and then there was a Royal Oak. So, I said what is missing, we had just launched the Millenary with the closed dial. I said let’s try and do something new, let’s do a Millenary.
The complications Giulio was proposing were; a perpetual calendar, small seconds, a power reserve and the Robin escapement which was the basis for the AP escapement. I thought these things were suited to a classic piece. A piece which is both classic and contemporary is the Millenary, so we began work around the Millenary case.
It was a fantastic playground because you have a horizontal oval, I started designing the movement. This was a first for me. Watch designers are always working on the outside but rarely do we have the opportunity to work on a calibre. Giulio gave me a lot of space, I started composing the calibre as I imagined it in this oval shape. One of the things I really wanted to showcase was the balance and the escapement because we considered it a significant step forward for us with this direct impulse escapement.
The CEO at the time thought it was amazing, so then we did the Audemars Piguet Millenary Deadbeat Seconds. We then had two locomotives that people had taken a liking to. We then created an accessible core model and that is how the Millenary 4101 came about.
AD: There are several families within the Audemars Piguet range; Millenary, Jules Audemars, Edward Piguet, Royal Oak, Royal Oak Offshore. Do you think we will see new families emerge from Audemars Piguet? I think you have a great repertoire of skills within Audemars Piguet, yet because the Royal Oak is so successful, people often overlook some of the other gems in your range.
OG: We are doing now with Tim Sayler, our Chief Marketing Officer. Sometimes people talk more about Royal Oak than Audemars Piguet. One of the things we are working on is unearthing all of the beauty of the brand. That is something we have been working on for the past two years. Sharing with people what the brand is about and its positioning in the world. We are trying to convey the philosophy of the company, the mantra of the organisation, our origins and spirit of independence.
That is going to allow us to educate the public about our other strengths such as our Grand Complications. The Millenary 4101 was one of our first efforts to create a new strong pillar. It embodies all the qualities of the company from both a design point of view and a manufacture standpoint.
We have the Jules Audemars and Edward Piguet models you mentioned before. These are sleeping beauties for me. I would say before we venture into new territories we have to awaken these two sleeping beauties. So work is being done to do so.
Summary
Octavio Garcia has an innate talent for design. His makeover of the Royal Oak was sympathetic to the original Gérald Genta model of 1972. However, I was left in no doubt that Octavio will pen his own design icons which will thrill future generations. He clearly has a deep understanding of horology but in collaboration with Giulio Papi is not afraid to break the rules and create spellbindingly engaging watches.
An American, who originates from Chicago, he is unduly modest despite his incredible talent. I hope to meet Octavio again in a few years time, share an espresso and chat about the next chapter in his illustrious career.
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