Going deep into the heart of creativity with Giulio Papi

As I have often mentioned in the past, working in watchmaking amounts to experiencing an amazing technical and cultural adventure, as it is one of the vastest fields that man has or will ever explore. It calls upon philosophy, creativity, pictorial arts, material techniques, research of new materials, mathematics, and the list goes on. It is such a vast and open subject that only a few can actually master it to a large extent. But even they are yet to grasp it completely.

Nevertheless, many actors of the watchmaking world speak like they know all about it.

I am clueless as to why they do this and I have also written about this before, but unfortunately it often happens that, when they start talking about time measurement, they show signs of the Zeppelin syndrome. In other words, the less these “master lecturers” know, the more they find it difficult to go through doors as they are so big-headed.

Giulio Papi

With honed skills comes humility

Among this big jumble of narcissistic boasting, there are fortunately some men and women who have understood that unity makes intelligence and that watchmaking is way too vast to be within the reach of one brain only. They thus work in the shadows, question their work daily, carry out research, explore, compare and test. Eventually, they find solutions that contribute to the progress of the art of watchmaking in the most difficult and highly specialized field, namely reliability, precision and sustainability.

Yet, as we know, it is not gaining a second of precision per day that appeals to most customers and watch enthusiasts.

However, it is a victory for those who have gained this second; those who have made huge investments in many ways, hit dead ends, and worked consistently. Nonetheless, when they obtain these less spectacular but oh-so - important accomplishments, they do not feel the need to boast.

Audemars Piguet Concept watch no 1

Giulio Papi: an ego that is inversely proportional to skills

Giulio Papi is among the designers and watchmakers who are both skilled and humble. He is one of the two founders of Renaud-Papi, which is today known as Renaud-Papi-Audemars Piguet. There is no doubt about it: Giulio is one of the three greatest watch designers in the world, but he is above all a rational man with an amazing background. As he recollects: “I have always been fascinated by automobiles, aeronautics and spatial technique; in short, anything that touches mechanics, and not watchmaking in itself. I am not fond of electronics even if I was trained to be an analyst programmer. Our world is mechanical but it’s got its physical laws. I am thus also interested in the search for rational explanations because I like to know how and why things happen.

Electromagnetics is interesting but I am not particularly drawn to it.  I am naturally curious and as a kid, I liked to observe things. Like all kids, I shot questions at my father and he never failed to answer any of them. He knew mechanics, as he was a machine tool technician. My mother had a wide knowledge of manual work and DIY. She must have inherited it from her father, who was a blacksmith. As a child, my first DIY creations were small machines, such as windmills with their bell cranks and pin-pallet gears; vault mechanisms with 3-digit combinations; sweet automata in which you inserted a coin in exchange for sweets. And of course, I spent hours playing with Meccano”.

Audemars Piguet Tradition d'Excellence no 5

Choosing a job

It was when he had to choose a job that Giulio Papi developed a passion for watchmaking. Given that he lived in a region specialized in micro-technique, he automatically chose watchmaking. However, this was a crisis-ridden period, which brought about difficult situations.

As he tells us: “It was in 1979. I was fourteen and in my last year at school. Like all my schoolmates, I had to choose a job. I was personally drawn to automobiles and I was seduced by the idea of becoming a car mechanic or an IT specialist. On top of that, at the time no one wanted to choose watchmaking, as the region had just gone through a major crisis in the wake of the quartz watch debut. But my father told me that if I became the only watchmaker in the region, I would always have work, as there are always watches or pendulums to repair. So I chose watchmaking. I started my studies after the summer of 1980, but I was not thoroughly convinced that it was my true calling”.

Audemars Piguet Grande Sonnerie Répétition Minutes Carillon Dynamographe

The sole student

In a crisis-ridden period, youngsters had lost interest in the craft and Giulio Papi was the only novice watchmaker around. He was placed with fourth-year students, as the school wasn’t going to open a class only for him. In the class, there was your typical master watchmaker: he was able to conceptualize and design watches, use their components and decorate them to finish the assembling. He was not afraid of making either cases, hands or dials. Giulio Papi spent almost his entire four-year training program with him and learned a lot more than he would have if he had followed the standard syllabus.

In the summer of 1984, when he had just finished his studies and with his federal certificate in his hand, he started to look for a job in a high-end watchmaking factory. As he explains: “I intended to work in the sector of complicated watches. Thus, I thought that if I created a skeletonized watch by hand, I would be able to show my true skills. As soon as I got the idea, I started working on it. In October 1984, I showed up at Audemars Piguet with my skeletonized watch. I had a very short meeting with the HR manager but my watch worked a treat. I started working at Audemars Piguet’s special watch workshop in November 1984. It was there that I met Dominique Renaud, who later became my partner. During breaks and in the evenings after work, we used to dream about the complicated watches we were going to create. Six months after I was hired, I went to see the HR manager because I wanted to change workshops and start working with complicated watches. I got a firm, cold and irrevocable no; he said that, maybe, after twenty years of service, I would be ready to go in the holiest of holies to work on the saint Grail that is a complicated watch. My friend Dominique then convinced me to set up a workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds, which we opened in February 1986. We registered as a partnership with the name “Renaud & Papi”. The workshop specialized in complicated watches.

After some time, we sold most of the shares to Audemars Piguet”.

Audemars Piguet Tourbillon Chronographe Répétition Minutes

Eventual success

Little by little the company became successful and today it is this success that explains Giulio Papi’s worldwide reputation. When asked about future watchmaking challenges, he explains that, though in different segments, all watchmaking actors are determined to improve the chronometry, reliability and sustainability of watches. It is only in this way – and here he echoes the thoughts of Swatch Group’s CEO Nick Hayek – that Swiss watchmaking will be a step ahead of its competitors, but not through commercial wars over markets or through marketing. The future trend is thus that the sector has to continue to explore ways of improving the functioning of timepieces.

Eric Othenin-Girard: “Ode to a big-hearted man”

Giulio Papi is a gentle, sweet and very charming man. He never forgets to thank his masters, never criticizes his competitors, and is a true friend.

Audemars Piguet Répétition Minutes Heures Sautantes GMT Acoustique

Every time you meet him, he comes across as kind and skilled, and he is very pleasant. He never shows irritation at being asked basic questions. Giulio is an enthusiastic advocate of watchmaking and does not hesitate to spend some time with the youngsters who visit RPAP. He explains to them how it all works or he opens his laptop to show them how difficult it can be to transform a mathematical formula into a watch movement. In short, it is a pleasure to be one of his friends. I am lucky to be so and I am very proud of it!

Pictures: Movements and watches which movement has been designed by Giulio Papi