Dann Phimphrachanh's Second Vive: an independent Portuguese watchmaker and the hand-making of his watch
Phimphrachanh (pronounced fimfracham) is the surname of Dann, a Portuguese watchmaker who inherited this name of Laotian origin from his grandfather, a native of Laos. The Instituto Português de Relojoaria (IPR) was in Geneva, at the Masters of Horology exhibition, where it had the opportunity to talk to Dann and take a close look at his first watch — a creation that marks the promising debut of this young talent in the world of independent watchmaking.
The interview was recorded at the exhibition itself (with some background noise).
Dann Phimphrachanh began his path as a watchmaker on the Watchmaking Technician course at the Centro de Educação e Desenvolvimento Pina Manique, part of the Casa Pia de Lisboa. After his studies at Casa Pia, he left for Switzerland, where he deepened his knowledge at WOSTEP, attending the Tour 70 course in 2011. The following year he began a three-year training programme at CIFOM La Chaux-de-Fonds, in watch construction technique and micromechanics (2012–2015), which allowed him to consolidate his skills at the highest level. Since then, he has built a solid career in some of the most prestigious watch manufactures in the world. He worked at Parmigiani Fleurier as a service watchmaker (Horloger SC), moved on to Greubel Forsey, where he devoted himself to complications, and joined the team at Daniel Roth at the very moment the brand was acquired by Bvlgari. Then came the complications department of Bvlgari in Neuchâtel, where he carried out specialised repairs, and, finally, he worked at Jaeger-LeCoultre, in Le Sentier, in after-sales service (SAV).
During this professional period he combined his watchmaking work with a demanding academic path: he studied three hours every night to complete a higher-education degree in micromechanical construction, specialising in watchmaking. In 2018, confident in his path and in the future he aspired to, Dann decided to become independent. He took out a loan to buy a precision lathe, the high-precision lathe Ed. Jaccard & S.A. – La Chaux-de-Fonds and a pointeuse Hauser 2A3 which is moved by hand with a precision of 1/1000 of a millimetre, an essential machine for marking exactly the point where a hole is to be drilled.
70 mm Ed. Jaccard & S.A. lathe, made in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland Hauser 2A3 pointeuse
This is how his workshop was born in Yverdon-les-Bains, in the canton of Vaud, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Since then the space has grown in equipment and tools, while Dann deepened his technical mastery. To finance the construction of his first watch, he worked in parallel on restoring pieces for brands and private collectors.
In April 2025 he finally presented his first creation of his own at the Masters of Horology exhibition, in Geneva.
The first Portuguese in the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI)
It is well known that Portugal has excellent repair watchmakers, and it is well known that in the Swiss watch factories a significant share of the workforce is Portuguese. In the world of independent watchmaking, however, no Portuguese had so far emerged. Dann Phimphrachanh is therefore the first Portuguese independent watchmaker. In Switzerland there is a body responsible for promoting and supporting these watchmakers, the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI). Founded in 1985 by Svend Andersen and Vincent Calabrese, its mission is to preserve and promote the art of independent watchmaking. It is an association that brings together some of the most talented and visionary master watchmakers in the world. The AHCI was born from the need to give a voice and visibility to independent creators — craftsmen who, outside the large industrial groups, continue to practise an authorial kind of watchmaking, often solitary but deeply innovative. The AHCI's mission is simple and noble: to preserve, promote and support artisanal and creative watchmaking, so as to offer an international platform where independent masters can exhibit their work, share knowledge and inspire new generations. Many of the most respected names in contemporary watchmaking — such as Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutilainen, Vianney Halter or Felix Baumgartner (Urwerk) — have passed through or remain linked to the AHCI, always willing to turn the association into a true beacon of mechanical excellence. In a world dominated by mass production, the AHCI stands for authenticity, creative freedom and living tradition, always with the creator at the centre of the watchmaking art.
The Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI) sets strict criteria for the admission of new members, which reflects its commitment to excellence and independence in watchmaking.
The main requirements are as follows:
Technical and Creative Competence: The candidate must demonstrate exceptional watchmaking skills, developing and producing his or her own creations independently.
Support from Current Members: It is necessary to obtain the sponsorship of at least two active members of the AHCI, who assess and recognise the candidate's talent and originality.
Participation in Exhibitions: The candidate must present his or her pieces at no fewer than three public exhibitions, providing a platform to show the work to the public and to the watchmaking community.
Candidacy Period: The candidacy phase lasts a minimum of two years, during which the candidate is assessed for competence, creativity and commitment to the values of the AHCI.
Unanimous Approval: Final admission requires the unanimous approval of the AHCI general assembly, with the certainty that all existing members agree with the inclusion of the new member.
These criteria ensure that only truly independent and talented watchmakers are admitted, so as to preserve the AHCI's mission of promoting innovation and art in watchmaking.
The admission of Dann Phimphrachanh to the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants is one of the greatest events of his professional life, as it allows him to present his watch to a very wide audience at the Ice Bergues, the venue of the Masters of Horology exhibition organised by the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants. This will be the first of three exhibitions at which he must present his watch. According to the rules, every candidate must have two sponsors; Dann's are Raul Pages and Bernhard Lederer, two excellent watchmakers.
Raul Pages Bernhard Lederer
Admission to this association also works as an enormous recognition and legitimation of his work by the greatest watchmakers in the world.
Masters of Horology
The Masters of Horology is an annual exhibition organised by the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI), which brings together and highlights the exceptional work of world-renowned independent watchmakers. The second edition of the exhibition is currently taking place, offering a unique opportunity for fine watchmaking enthusiasts to interact directly with the master craftsmen and admire their innovative creations.
The 2025 edition of Masters of Horology ran from 31 March to 5 April and coincided with the 40th anniversary of the AHCI. The event features 26 distinguished members of the AHCI, as well as new candidates who presented their magnificent pieces. Masters of Horology not only celebrates craftsmanship, but also reinforces the importance of innovation and creativity in the world of independent watchmaking.
Second Vive - Dann Phimphrachanh's watch 1
The name chosen was Second Vive. Dead seconds is a complication of mechanical watches that gives the hand a discontinuous rather than a continuous motion. This makes it possible to tell the exact differences between seconds. There are several names for this complication.
Construction of the Second Vive began in 2018. Dann strove to give the watch as high a proportion of hand-made construction as possible. Let us go through the whole process of building his watch by hand.
The following image shows the making of a ruby chaton, a small bush or ring, into which a ruby is fitted to support the pivot of an arbor.
In the next photo you can see the finished chatons, with the rubies set, fitted into the bridges of the watch.
In the image below you can see a pivot being made. It is a shaft of extremely small dimensions, whose tip comes into contact with a ruby. This pivot is found at the ends of the arbors that pass through the toothed wheels.
The toothed wheels are mounted between the mainplate — a metal plate that forms the base of the watch's construction — and the bridges, which are several metal plates placed over the mainplate. Both the mainplate and the bridges have holes into which the rubies are inserted. In higher-quality watches these rubies are set in Chatons, like those in the image above, which are then precisely fitted into those holes. With the right amount of oil, this construction architecture reduces friction as far as possible, which results in less wear on the pivots, better use of energy and a more efficient overall running of the watch itself.
In the following image you can see the pivot fitted into the ruby, set in a bridge.
As we have seen, the mainplate is a metal plate at the base of the watch; the following images show the making of a mainplate on an Schaublin 70 precision lathe.
Once the basic shape of the mainplate has been created, it has to be prepared to receive the remaining parts. The following images show the process of drilling the mainplate. The holes receive rubies, steady pins and screws.
The steady pins fix the bridges of the watch to the mainplate. In addition to this type of fixing, the bridges are also screwed down. These pins were hardened beforehand, that is, heated to high temperatures and cooled abruptly. This process hardens them.
The following image shows the bridges of the watch, already with some holes and still unfinished. The toothed wheels sit between these bridges and the mainplate.
At this stage Dann considered skeletonising the movement — that is, removing the inner material of the bridges and leaving only their outline, so that the moving parts of the watch can be observed in operation.
In the following video you can follow the process of drilling the bridges and the mainplate. With the technique used by Dann, the bridges and the mainplate are drilled simultaneously, which gives a perfect alignment between them.
Finishing is the name given to the process of embellishing the different parts or even the case of a watch. One of the techniques is called Anglage, a manual or mechanical operation that consists of breaking the angle formed by the edge between two surfaces. In most cases, anglage is carried out between the upper surface of a component and its flank, with an essentially aesthetic purpose. The chamfer can be flat or rounded and convex. From a decorative point of view, the polished chamfer reflects light in different prisms and, by contrast, sets off the surfaces.
The part shown next belongs to the barrel of the watch. The barrel is the component that houses the mainspring — a coiled spring that winds up when the watch is wound and unwinds in a controlled and discontinuous way. This is the energy source of a mechanical watch.
Next we will see the making of a toothed wheel. The process involves great skill and some calculations to decide on the number of teeth and their shape, among many other aspects. This work is done on a watchmaker's lathe from a brass rod. At the end the part is given a galvanic bath. The galvanic bath is an electrochemical process used to coat a metal part with a thin layer of another metal. The part to be coated is immersed in a conductive solution (electrolyte) containing salts of the metal to be deposited. When an electric current is applied, the metal ions in the solution adhere to the surface of the part, forming a uniform coating. This process is used to protect against corrosion, improve appearance or confer specific properties such as hardness or conductivity.
The following image shows a balance wheel still under construction. This is the wheel that will receive the hairspring and which, together with other parts, regulates the running of the watch. In the image on the left you can see a gold part which, because of its density, is used as a weight to poise the balance wheel. The adjustment is made by rotating this part, which is one of four. By turning these weights it is possible to ensure the even motion of the balance wheel.
The part shown next is a pallet fork, one of the elements of the watch's escapement. The function of the escapement is to transform the continuous energy released by the mainspring into periodic impulses, regulating the running of the watch. The pallet fork, visible in the fourth image, below on the right, is responsible for alternately locking and unlocking the escape wheel, allowing a controlled release of energy. This conversion of continuous motion into regular impulses makes it possible to count time with precision.
The following video shows the initial process of making the dial. We can see the marking out, the cutting of the metal plate on the lathe, the hardening and the enamelling.
However, this was not the path Dann followed: he opted for a guilloché dial, blued by heat, which keeps its appearance for at least several decades.
The following images show the process of making the seconds scale
The case of the watch is the part that comes most into contact with the wearer and must be made with great technical and aesthetic care.
The dial of the Seconde Vive shows a very high technical level — all its parts were carefully thought out and meticulously executed. Dann chose to inscribe his full surname on the dial, instead of resorting to an abbreviation or a name that is easier to pronounce, which at first sight may seem a risky choice. However, it is worth remembering that we all learned to pronounce Arnold Schwarzenegger. A name this singular may require a longer learning curve, but what truly matters is that it is unique in the world of watchmaking.
Although Dann Phimphrachanh considers that he has not created any new complication, the truth is that it is quite possible to consider that he has. His way of displaying dead seconds may not be regarded as the dead-seconds complication, since the energy is not taken in the same way. To display his seconds Dann built a new escapement system, which uses a ruby Reuleaux triangle. The motion is taken directly from the seconds wheel, as happens in chronographs.
The final result is a true tribute to time — a watch conceived to reveal itself in the most sublime way possible. The wearer can observe the whole process of winding and time-setting, as well as appreciate the absolutely perfect finishes. Above all, he or she will have on the wrist a piece that results almost exclusively from the manual work of a watchmaker in love with time.
His motto is vivre le temps avec passion — living time with passion.
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