Weekly Watch Photo: Alexandre Meerson – Introducing a New Luxury Watch Brand

Introducing a new brand is always a very special moment. Only a few who tried, have actually succeeded in this long and difficult endeavour. Some, however, started with a lead, and that helps in the difficult world of Haute Horlogerie. In the case of Alexandre Meerson, let’s say that he has the background, the knowledge of the industry and the sense of style. And looking at his recently revealed brand and the first collection, it looks like he has everything to make this into a success. And because Alexandre Meerson just send us some very nice photos, lets do a double twist: the introduction of the brand and our established Weekly Watch Photo column.

When we say that Alexandre Meerson has the background AND the knowledge of the industry it’s because of the family he’s coming from. Meerson is a name that could be familiar to some of you. His father, Emerich Meerson, was a watch and jewel designer, based in Paris. Alexandre learned about watchmaking between his father’s design studio in Paris and the family’s watch workshop in Besançon, France. He then worked for various LVMH and Richemont Group brands. In 2011 he decided that it was time for him to follow the family tradition and to create his own brand. Fast forward 3 years… here are the first two collections: the Altitude Premiere and Altitude Officier collections.

The brand may be established in the heart of the Surrey Hills, in England, the entire production is done in Switzerland. Alexandre Meerson sourced some pretty good manufactures and partners. But we’ll get back on this. The two collections share the same case with typical lugs. The round 41mm large case, features Art-Deco style lugs that hold the strap. However if you take a closer look, you’ll see that the round case is far from a simple round case, and that the number of interesting details are numerous. At first sight the design is very simple, classic, pure and elegant.

The first collection is the Altitude Premiere, with applied baton indexes (except for the 12) and Alpha hands. It is available in 3 editions: hour-minute / hour-minute-small second / hour-minute-date. This is the dressier watch of the brand, with a simple and pure dial. The watch comes in titanium or 18k Pink gold, with opaline silver or graphite grey dials.

The second collection is the Altitude Officer collection, with a more casual and sporty look, but still inspired with Art-Deco and vintage elegance. The Alexandre Meerson Officer has applied Breguet numerals (although they are slightly different from normal Breguet numerals), a rail minute track and straight hands. Again, it looks simple, and pure, however do not be mistaken. The vast number of remarkable details is impressive and will only be observed when taking the time to take a closer look. Like with the Altitude Premiere, you’ll have the choice of titanium and gold for the case and of silver or graphite for the dial.

All the watches are powered by an interesting movement from the Vaucher Manufacture in Fleurier, Switzerland, who also provide movements for Parmigiani Fleurier, Hermes and Richard Mille. The Calibre AM-4705 and AM-4808 are modern self-winding movements, beating at 4Hz (28,800 bph) and offering 50 hours of power reserve. The finish is clean and pleasant, with Geneva Stripes on the bridges, circular graining on the main plate, polished bevelled angles and polished screw heads.

The inaugural collection comes with a large choice of straps (Alligator, Berania, Sting Ray or Salmon leather) and is limited to 249 pieces. The collection is priced from € 6,875 Euro to € 22,200 Euro. Recently we met with Alexandre Meerson and soon we’ll come back to you with more hands-on reports, and of course we’ll be following the brand closely.

More info on the official website of Alexandre Meerson.