William Massena and Louis Westphalen-Lemaitre launch an incubator for independent watchmakers
William Massena, founder of Massena LAB, and Louis Westphalen-Lemaitre, a former La Fabrique du Temps executive, launched Ateliers Associés on 4 November, an incubator for independent watchmakers at the start of their careers. The aim is to support four watchmakers a year.
Each watchmaker it backs receives funding for a first prototype, in return for a minority stake in the business the incubator helps to build. Beyond the money, it offers access to a network of suppliers and artisans and intends to assemble a team for technical development, sourcing, production and after-sales, as well as brand, press, pricing, allocation and collector relations.
Westphalen-Lemaitre worked on the relaunch of Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth for LVMH, and Massena has created special editions with Luca Soprana, Sylvain Pinaud, Raúl Pagès and Habring². According to WatchPro, the project is funded by its founders and a small circle of private investors, and next year it will open to further investors to create a fund for prototypes and first commercial pieces.
The first watchmaker to be supported is Frenchman Mickaël Gaspar, 29, based in Les Brenets, in the canton of Neuchâtel. He trained at the Morteau watchmaking school, worked at Breitling and Sellita, and is now at MH Horlogerie, where he creates high-complication movements for other brands. “I never had the time for everything around my watches: the brand, the images, the press, the collectors, the deliveries,” he told WatchPro.
His first model, the Souscription N° 1, will be presented next week at IAMWATCH in Singapore. It has a retrograde date and the movement on the dial side, and will be a collection of 20 pieces, already available to pre-order. Work on it began a decade ago, when Gaspar was still at watchmaking school.
Find out more on the incubator's website.
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