Background

Animated erotic watches came into being towards the end of the 17th century at a time when the invention of minute repeater movements with a system of hammers sounding a gong suddenly made it possible to bring tiny figures, country scenes and risqué scenes to life. 

Flirtatious conversations 

Manufactured primarily in England, France and Geneva, they were referred to by the English as “conversation pieces” since they served as a pretext for flirtatious conversations. Indeed, throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, virtually all of Europe's aristocracy were taken by erotic art of every genre, a fashion that endured until King Farouk's collection of art and erotic watches was put up for auction in the 1950s, and until the actor Michel Simon's erotic treasures were sold by Antiquorum of Geneva in January 1977. Nowadays the most impassioned enthusiasts are to be found in the Far East.

London as the hub 

18th century London was the hub of world trade, especially with Asia whose lettered classes were already erotic watch enthusiasts. Geneva, meanwhile, had watchmakers and enamellists capable of producing these highly complicated automata, which meant that the trade in libertine watches flourished between these two towns.

Presents from young brides 

In addition, these watches were widespread in Geneva towards the end of the 18th century. Wealthy families would give them to one another as gifts and they were often included in bridal baskets for brides to distribute among their maids of honour...

Yet this fashion was immediately quashed by both the Calvinist and Anglican churches. The austerity of the 19th century led to the enactment, in Geneva, of a prohibition on their manufacture in 1817. Especially since some watches featured priests, monks and nuns. Their trade was outlawed, pieces seized and destroyed ... hence their rarity nowadays.

Nevertheless, during the Boxer Uprising in China and then during the sack of the Summer Palace in Beijing in 1911, several pieces were repurchased by the Europeans who brought them back home. These can therefore be found regularly on sale at auctions.

A return to fashion 

In today's liberal society, erotic watches have made a comeback and are being manufactured by several major Swiss brands. They often sell at very high prices as the mechanisms are still just as complicated and have to be scaled down so they can be worn on the wrist.

Eroticism and watchmaking: a match made to last

The tradition of libertine watches all but died out at the start of the 20th century. Thanks to Blancpain, this know-how has been saved. And is arousing new passions.

King Farouk, Michel Simon, Henry Ford and Elton John ostensibly have nothing in common. And yet, at some time in their lives, they have all been consumed by the same passion: erotic automaton watches. 

Manufactured since the 17th century by the greatest watchmakers, these fob watches feature a libertine automaton hidden beneath a cover and activated by a secret push-button. 

King Farouk, undoubtedly the keenest of all, owned the world's largest collection while Henry Ford was also listed as a great enthusiast along with the comedian Michel Simon. A well-known figure among collectors in Calvin's city, Simon had dispatched touts to second-hand dealers and antiquarians to track down the finest saucy timepieces. Erotic watches, of course, but also objects, magazines or photographs of a pornographic nature.

More recently, Elton John treated himself to a libertine watch from a leading Swiss watchmaker. True to his tastes, he ordered a special piece depicting two men making love while a dog looks on. A celebrity whim? Not only. These timepieces attract a worldwide market and delight fortunate art lovers from the Sultanate of Brunei, the United States and the new Chinese Eldorado. It should be said that these small mechanical jewels are not within everyone's reach as they range between 25,000 and 200,000 francs in price.

A veritable niche market, the production of erotic watches does not exceed a few dozen pieces each year. And only a handful of watchmaking houses still carries on this old tradition. A know-how that nearly disappeared for good some 100 years ago when increasingly liberalised attitudes no longer justified hiding such bold scenes. 

We are indebted to Jean-Claude Biver for the revival of this particular watchmaking art. In the early 1990s, while seeking to restore Blancpain's credentials, he decided to create an erotic automaton on a bracelet watch for the first time. “I wanted to restore Blancpain's image as a house perpetuating the art of watchmaking. Driven by a missionary spirit, I came up with the idea of reinstating this old forgotten tradition,” the former boss explains.

A major challenge. It requires developing the automaton mechanism, resolving the numerous problems involving forces, and coupling everything to an already complex minute repeater movement. After a year of research, the first timepieces left the workshops. Although they met with a very positive reaction from the watchmaking world, some customers of the Brassus brand however expressed their shock. Like the Dutch woman who went as far as returning her Blancpain watch when she learnt that the manufactury was creating erotic automata. “She no longer identified with the brand,” Jean-Claude Biver recalls. “And she didn't even ask for a refund.“

BESPOKE WORK

“Some people still confuse eroticism and pornography,” bemoans Jean-Vincent Huguenin, master engraver for Blancpain. “But they're wrong. Because these pieces are works of art, even if it's applied art.” For over 10 years, this craftsman has overseen the creation of all the erotic automata produced by the brand. Each piece is unique and requires around one month's work. The first phase involves producing a sketch that meets the customer's demands. If he isn't satisfied, the customer is at liberty to send the engraver back to the drawing board until he is perfectly happy with the design. The craftsman then engraves the scene onto a gold plate and personally cuts out all the pieces needed to make the automaton work before assembling it. A job worthy of a Benedictine monk, requiring extreme precision to ensure that the automaton works optimally for decades, even centuries. Some scenes may call for as many as nine articulated pieces, all less than 1 mm thick. “Despite these constraints, my aim is to give an impression of depth to the scene in order to achieve a good sense of curve. An essential prerequisite when it comes to erotic automata,” Jean-Vincent Huguenin smiles.

In his tiny workshop, the master engraver thus spends his days satisfying the most intimate desires of his customers, using the same tools as those used by his predecessors for three centuries. Sometimes the demands are very specific. “I remember an order where a man insisted on being depicted while making love on the bonnet of his Ferrari, or one where a customer wanted to be fitted with gigantic genitals. Given the price of these watches, which fetch up to 180,000 francs, I never cheat the customer: all my designs are done in the old-fashioned way, based on living models,“ explains Jean-Vincent Huguenin.

In a different spirit, the watchmaker Svend Andersen also makes erotic watches and is regularly called on to work from photographs brought to him by customers. “One man, for example, wanted the scar on his right leg to be clearly visible along with his baldness. But the most outlandish order that comes to mind is one from a customer wanting to see Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton in full swing in the Oval Office.” A piece that required the go-ahead from the watchmaker’s lawyer before embarking on the work. Very soon, news about him spread among horology enthusiasts and Svend Andersen met with huge success as he travelled to the various watchmaking exhibitions around the world. “I wore it on my wrist and everyone wanted a peak at this naughty timepiece. And so I made a dozen more watches. Although this scandal shook puritanical America, it has prompted laughter elsewhere in the world,” he recalls. “The upshot is that erotic watches costing 80,000 francs apiece were sold in record time in Asia and the Middle East.“

BLANCPAIN TRIGGERS A PHENOMENON

Jean-Claude Biver did not expect to trigger such a phenomenon when he relaunched the production of erotic watches in the early 1990s. Following in the footsteps of Blancpain, several watchmakers embarked on their own automata with varying degrees of success. Thus Svend Andersen, Chopard, Preziuso, Hublot and a few others have come up with models. Books have been published on the subject, most notably "The Hours of Love" by Roland Carrera, the great horology specialist. “A real bestseller that sold out very fast and received worldwide press coverage on its release in 1993, from the New York Times in particular which devoted its last page to it,” its author recalls.

Antiquorum, the world's leading auctioneer of timepieces, also jumped on the bandwagon by organising a special sale on the theme of love in 1997. “Customers came from far and wide to admire the libertine watches up for sale,” remembers Etienne Lemenager, director and expert of the Genevan-based company. The interest in risqué pieces would subsequently remain unabated, but would doubtlessly not have been so strong without a helping hand from fate. Thus, in 1994, while Blancpain was staging an exhibition of libertine watches at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the 28 timepieces on show, 15 of which were historical, were stolen. The notoriety of erotic watches and of Blancpain swept throughout Germany and the rest of Europe, such was the press interest in the fate of the famous missing collection. A second wave of media frenzy occurred four years later when the thieves were finally found along with the watches - in a sorry state.

AN ASSUMED EROTICISM AFTER ALL

Today, watchmakers exhibit a certain pride in making erotic watches, even if they are not destined to be commercial successes. “On the contrary, our production capacity for these pieces remains very limited and it is not our intention to develop it,” confirms Mark-Alexandre Hayek, Blancpain's current CEO. “These watches are intended for connoisseurs, lovers of the art of watchmaking and of art in general.” Thus Jean-Vincent Huguenin appears without fail at every watchmaking exhibition, where pride of place is reserved for him to engrave his pieces directly on the Blancpain stand. 

A new strategy for the watchmaking houses which have hitherto favoured discretion. Indeed, since the 18th century, these risqué watches, made essentially in Switzerland, France and England by the greatest watchmakers, have tended to be traded on the sly. A discretion which, at the time, did not stop them from being hugely successful with the aristocracy throughout Europe.

“Even the dignitaries of the French court were fond of them,” explains Roland Carrera. “They had no hesitation in exhibiting them during meals, washed down with lots of wine in the hope of engaging in a flirtatious conversation.” The most prized watches of the time featured priests, monks or nuns indulging in unrestrained sexual acts, more often than not observed or accompanied by dogs. An appeal that still endures today. These pieces are often the most sought-after and the most rare, according to a major Genevan collector and owner of nearly 35 erotic watches. A real scandal in the eyes of the Church which, in Geneva in 1817 - a particularly austere period that was strongly rooted in Calvinist precepts - issued a prohibition on the manufacture of these objects which ostensibly scorned Christian morality.

“Initially, these pieces were confiscated,” Roland Carrera points out. “But very soon the order was given to destroy them because police officers were accused of spending too much time toying with the seized automata.” The fascination with these erotic pieces would remain very much alive, despite the prohibition, for almost a century. However, the increasingly liberal attitudes of the early 20th century resulted in the death of this tradition. Some pieces were still made during the First World War, but in an altogether different spirit. The watches depict, for example, a French soldier sodomising a pig sporting the pointed helmet of a German.

Today, having been forgotten for more than 50 years, this watchmaking art has matured by being faithful once again to its age. A further three centuries of licentiousness?

Bilan; 02.05.2004; page 36 / www.bilan.ch