iLUXUS.ch Xavier Dietlin: “Everything inspires me!”

One shared by millions of young boys all over the world: he wanted to become a footballer! A nice dream! 

 

You just have to want something hard enough…

Fortune smiled on Xavier Dietlin and his dream came true. He joined Servette Football Club in its glory days: “I played with top level players, under the management of Roy Hodgson, with whom I took part in three selections for the Swiss national team. What do I think about football? It takes a huge amount of discipline, you think, live and eat football.

 

Your whole life revolves around it, and worrying about whether you will be playing at the weekend or whether you’re next on the transfer list. Football grinds you down, and it broke me.

 

This way of life wasn’t for me. I used to dream about getting injured, because you can’t suddenly stop on a whim. You have a price on your head, you’re worth a transfer fee.

 

He wanted nothing more than to return to real life when, at the age of 22, very badly torn ligaments allowed him to make a dignified exit from his childhood dream. He often looks back on this experience today, to remind himself of the strength of willpower, for example.

 

He joined the family business and very soon – Xavier never hangs around – suggested a change in the company’s activities.

“I watched my father resolve some very complex problems. With never as much as a word of thanks. But as soon as anything threatened to go off track, the architects turned against him. We needed to diversify.

And the display cases used to present items at exhibitions, in shops or public places are little buildings! Everything is the same, but on a much tinier scale.”

Xavier Dietlin had qualified as an industrial designer in the meantime. But above all, he is driven by an insatiable curiosity, always searching for clues which his constantly active brain then analyses, modifies, adapts and reinterprets.

Intrigue, appeal, amuse, irritate

In response to all his customers in search of the latest technological innovation to display their watches, Xavier Dietlin asks: “What story do you want to tell?” He believes that showcasing a watch, or a collection, or any object, generally involves telling its story, setting a scene that illustrates the mysteries of its present reality.

“Take the Antikythera mechanism at the Museum of Athens that gave Hublot the clever idea for its own collections. I was given the task of creating a showcase for it, a kind of fortress! The specifications were impossible to achieve. An anti-seismic showcase, with purified air, strict hydrography, light and heat regulation and more were required to present the fragments of this creation of Archimedes that had so astounded scientists.

The Greeks thought they were the best.

But in the end they purchased my transparent bunker! For this very important mechanism, its history affected ours, I designed an exceptional setting, as was fitting for an exceptional object. The same applies for the famous Marie-Antoinette watch that inspired Breguet.”

This creator of surprises uses every tactic in the book to attract attention: intrigue, appeal, amuse, irritate.

As long as it causes the customer to stop and desire the object reposing in its case. “People like movement,” he observes, “the Raptor case by Dietlin Artisans Métalliers is pure magic: it has no protective glass. The timepiece is just sitting there, the ultimate temptation…

But if you get a little too close, it disappears! It’s been a great success. It is currently being used in more than 200 Hublot points of sale all over the world.”

Or perhaps the client would like to set its product alight, without actually reducing it to ashes? Xavier Dietlin uses a hologram system to set fire to your priceless timepieces. Where is the watch? Where is the fire? Is it a fire? Is the watch real? The observer simply can’t work it out, and for the seller this means more customers!

“To be able to invent, present and surprise, I need emotional connections,” continues this wizard of showcases and displays. “I hate pyramid schemes. Friendly connections make the impossible become possible. I don’t like arrogance or pretentiousness. I am now aware of my own value and skills. Just six years ago, I felt very small.

When I was invited to New York, I was impressed. Now, they roll out the red carpet in Tokyo and LA for this ordinary man from Switzerland. Wherever I am, I stay myself. And if I’m not interested in a product, I turn down the contract. That’s the advantage of being in demand: people want you!” Xavier Dietlin is a pioneer, always at the cutting edge.

“It’s rewarding, but you never sit back and relax.

I’m constantly on the lookout, and one day a detail might jump out, a new take on an idea.”

In the end, the most important thing is to maintain a childlike view of the world, with play as your watchword.