Independent watchmaker Sylvain Pinaud’s ‘Origine’ is one of the winners of the GPHG 2022, with the recent announcement that the watch was given the “Horological Revelation” award. Launched in earlier this year, I had the opportunity to see it not long after, from Svlvain himself.

Based in Sainte-Croix, Sylvain Pinaud is the son of a watchmaker whose debut timepiece, debuting in 2018 but formally launched at Baselworld 2019, was the Monopoussoir Chronograph

The Origine is not about complications, but about pure time, dial aesthetics, and finishing. At 40mm with a thickness of 11mm (water resistance is 30m), it is not a slim watch, but has short lugs, and having spent time with it, I can say that it is comfortable and easy to wear.

The silvered three-piece asymmetrically laid-out dial is silvered, and all about contrasts and finishing. There is a large off-set dial with rose gold polished hands (blued hands are also possible, as you can see), a small seconds counter, and the main part highlights the movement, with the large balance wheel with its polished bridges in rose gold (or not, for the blued hands model in this post) to match the hands.

The use of a large free sprung balance wheel was made for precision adjustment purposes. The movement is manually-wound, beating at 21,600 VPH and with a power reserve of 55 hours. It is actually a ‘stop’/ hacking balance wheel, so when the crown is pulled out, the hacking lever stops the balance wheel during time adjustment.

All parts of the movement are hand-finished, and as you can see when you flip the watch over, the main plate and bridges are made from German silver. The bridges are grained or black polished and bevelled with inward angles. The wheels feature ‘cerclage’ or ‘soleillage’.

The importance of the human touch and his pride in his skill as a watchmaker is why he chose to put “Hand made” on the dial.

There is a price for the base standard stainless steel version as seen in my photos, but he is also open to some changes such as the use of gold, as seen both in this post and in the piece submitted to the GPHG, so it is best to contact him directly for pricing. To give you a ballpark, you’re looking at around the CHF 70,000 mark including taxes as a starting point.

the ‘look’ of Origine is both traditional and very 2020s. It is an easy watch to like. This is a watch worth noting, and it reinforces the strength of independent watchmaking at the moment; we are seemingly spoilt for choice. Yes there is a lot of competition at this price point, and it is important to acknowledge this, but it is also important to pay attention to those who are making attractive watches.

Categories: Hands-on, Sylvain Pinaud, watches, Women's watches