Catching Up with 26-Year-Old French Watchmaker, Remy Cools
Remy Cools is one of the most highly regarded up-and-coming independent watchmakers, especially with his impressive credentials since a young age and more recently, the debut of his second watch, the Tourbillon Atelier.
He has heard all the ‘cool’ jokes but Remy Cools is unfazed, not even in the height of the fanfare and attention he has received over his watches. The 26-year-old French watchmaker was simply in love with the joy of watchmaking and the rise in his passion and career might seem quicker than some. At 11 years old, he knew he wanted to be in the field. At 15, he applied to a prestigious watchmaking school in Morteau, France. He was a pupil of Florent Lecomte, and would later go on to win the F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition in 2018 with his Mechanica Tempus Pendulette Tourbillon desk clock.
In 2022, he delivered his first series of watches called the Tourbillon Souscription. By the last quarter of 2023, the second series, named Tourbillon Atelier, was ready to impress with a new 33 mm hand-wound movement featuring a 60 seconds tourbillon and 48 hours of power reserve. Cools created two variants of the Tourbillon Atelier: yellow gold or pink gold dial, but both housed in a 39 mm platinum case and a domed sapphire crystal to draw attention to the tourbillon itself.
With two series of watches officially released in his name, he described the DNA of a Remy Cools watch as “the combination of traditional French watchmaking with the modern era”. He added, “I take inspiration from the old watchmakers but adapt it to our current times.” It was clear that Remy Cools is blazing down his path with a clear goal in mind. Ahead, we caught up with Cools during his maiden visit to Singapore to talk about the new Tourbillon Atelier, the lengths he went to for his collection of old-school machinery and more.
The story goes that you’ve always wanted to be a watchmaker since you were as young as 11 years old – what made you so sure back then? What did you experience at that visit to the Swiss manufacturer in the Vallée de Joux?
Remy Cools: “It was very simple. For me, it was truly like a revelation to discover this job. It’s difficult to explain, but after a mere five minutes of my little experience at the workbench, I knew I wanted to be a watchmaker in my life. I bought so many different books before going to the watchmaking school. My father even bought me a small watchmaking workbench and I had a lot of old pocket watches to work with but a lot of them didn’t work after my reassembly. [laughs] I think I destroyed 80 per cent of the watches.”
What is the most challenging part about being a watchmaker?
Remy Cools: “Finding the perfect balance between the watch’s mechanical and aesthetic side when creating the movement or watch. I like to design the dial first because it’s the first thing you see when one wears a watch. But after working on the face of the watch, then moving on to the mechanical side, you might find problems with the design. So, sometimes, after I adapt the movement and mechanics to the design, I have to make some adjustments for the watch to work. You have to find the right balance between the two.”
Photo: Remy Cools Tourbillon Souscription
Who inspires you as a watchmaker, past and present?
Remy Cools: “Many of the French watchmakers between the 18th and the 19th century inspire me, because that, to me, was one of the best periods for watchmaking. So many beautiful objects were made in that period and it was back when technology wasn’t as readily available as we have now, which made things very complicated yet beautiful. It humbles me and so, ironically, the present is difficult because my inspiration comes from old things.”
We hear you enjoy working with old-school watch-related machinery and they’re all in great condition. Can you share any interesting stories on how you got your hands on them?
Remy Cools: “More often than not, they’re in a very used condition so it’s actually really difficult to find them in a reliable condition. There was once when I found a seller for this machine that can be used as a watch wheel and pinion cutter but it was hard to tell if it was in good condition based on the photo alone. So I took my car and drove four hours out to see it in person. It turned out it was never used, so we were the first people to use it. That was a lucky find.”
The Tourbillon Atelier is your follow-up watch after the Tourbillon Souscription – what can you tell us about it? It has a crown now versus the pair of planar crowns on the caseback from before.
Remy Cools: “It’s rather different as there are no common points between the Souscription and the Atelier. It’s a huge upgrade with improvements. For example, we developed a new calibre, new case, and new design – it was my goal to have very different-looking pieces compared to the Souscription. It was important that they’re easy to distinguish because I also wanted collectors to be able to tell within two seconds if it’s the Souscription or the new one.”
Photo: Remy Cools Tourbillon Atelier
Previously, we read that the school watch took 1,000 hours to complete, the Souscription was 40 hours for the hands, and a single wheel took more than 30 hours? How long did it take to complete the Tourbillon Atelier?
Remy Cools: “You know when you develop a new watch or movement, every task towards its creation takes a lot of time. For the true prototype alone, my watchmaker and I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours making it, finding the problems and fixing them. We spend most of the time with the prototype because it goes through the various tests. That way, we can produce the series more efficiently and with better precision.”
How big is your team?
Remy Cools: “We are two people. My girlfriend, who is a watchmaker, and I. [laughs] I do marketing, after-sales, management, everything. She mostly handles the assembly and the finishes.”
Since the delivery of the Tourbillon Souscription, what has changed for you as a watchmaker and entrepreneur?
Remy Cools: “I realised many things actually. I began to see the problems in a different light and I learnt how to manage and fix them. On the watchmaking front, we have become more efficient and precise, especially on our finishings. Moreover, we have learnt a lot from doing more things internally so the goal for the near future is to be totally independent. In the right sense, we plan to eventually stop relying on outsourced suppliers even for things like mainsprings or hairsprings. It’s completely stupid to invest millions of dollars into an outsider machine for just 12 hairsprings a year. It’s ridiculous! So, we plan to internalise some of these processes but in a smart way. As for expanding the team, I do have plans but I’ll take my time in that area. I don’t want to grow too fast.”
How would you compare the watch community back home and the one in Singapore?
Remy Cools: “It’s definitely not the same spirit in Asia or the Middle East compared to Europe. For example, during Dubai Watch Week, I had many questions about machinery work, processes and how I do my finishing – all very technical questions. In Singapore or in most Asian countries – while they do ask technical questions too – I would also get questions revolving around my watch-collecting interests that aren’t related to watchmaking. It’s interesting because they’re interested in not just the watchmaker side but wanting to get to know me as a person.”
What are your future plans?
Remy Cools: “First, it’s to produce the watches and deliver them all to my clients [laughs]. Then we will start work on a new watch and movement and if all goes well, we will do the unveiling in 2025. Other than that, I do have many plans for the future beyond that.”
Discover Remy Cools’ story at our online exhibition, The Persistence of Memory.
