Rarely has a watchmaker had such an influence on his peers as Vianney Halter who took the world by surprise in 1998 with his incredibly original and unusual Antiqua perpetual calendar. A watch that set one of the first stones in what would be called a few years later Creative Independent Horology.

The late 1990s was a period bursting with creative energy that saw the arrival of young talented watchmakers perfectly mastering traditional horology and with experience in the restoration of historical timepieces. These watchmakers, such as Felix Baumgartner of Urwerk, Denis Flageollet of De Bethune or Vianney Halter decided to create a cut from classical designs to create something truly disruptive.

In 2000, after his surprising Antiqua, Halter presented his personal vision of a three hand classical dress watch. A steampunk UFO straight out of the whirlwinding imagination of Jules Verne or H.G. Wells, the Classic features a bezel with rivets on each hour marker inspired by the portholes of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus. The dial gleams in its architectural beauty, it is multileveled with an elegant mix of frosted and polished surfaces. The whole topped with flame blued hands.

The automatic movement features an ingenious sapphire central rotor enabling a full view of the movement.

It is important to note that every component on the dial, case and hands has been hand finished by Vianney Halter in his workshops in St Imier, Switzerland.

The Classic was made in a total of 250 pieces in pink, yellow and white gold with different dial variants.

The present Vianney Halter Classic offers the opportunity to the collector of independent artisans to own an extremely coveted and hard to find timepiece.