Laurent Ferrier, a third-generation Geneva watchmaker, and François Servanin, his teammate at Le Mans, waited 30 years to make their own watch, then won a GPHG prize with it.
Le Mans, then Geneva
Laurent Ferrier was born in Geneva on 19 December 1946. His parents and grandparents were watchmakers, and his father worked on high-end complications in a shop below the family apartment. He graduated from the École d’Horlogerie de Genève in 1968.
Motor racing pulled just as hard. He raced seven times at the Le Mans 24 Hours and took first place in the 2-litre prototype category in 1978. A year later he and François Servanin, an industrialist and fellow driver, finished third overall in a Porsche 935T. The two friends dreamed of a watch brand of their own.
Ferrier spent 37 years at a major Geneva watch house, latterly in charge of its Creation Department. In 2009, three years before he was due to retire, he took up Servanin’s offer to develop a watch from scratch. He was 63. Servanin sold his own company that year to devote himself to the project, and LAURENT FERRIER launched officially in 2010.
In his own words, the aim was plain: “I nurtured a dream of making watches that represented my horological values: simplicity, precision, and pure, uncluttered beauty”.
Precision first
Those values shape both case and movement. The Classic case takes its smooth pebble shape from 19th-century pocket watches, and carries a generous ball-shaped crown. The first watch, the Classic Tourbillon Double Hairspring, won best men’s watch at the 2010 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Its tourbillon is not there for show. The brand says it serves its original purpose, precision, helped by two balance springs mounted in opposition.
In 2012 came Calibre FBN229.1, an automatic movement with a micro-rotor and a natural escapement. Abraham-Louis Breguet completed a watch with this kind of escapement in 1802, hoping to do without lubricants, but the materials of his day held him back. Ferrier’s version sets its two escape wheels asymmetrically, and makes the lever and double table roller in silicium. The brand says these parts are virtually friction free, so they need no lubricant.
Hand-finishing carries the same weight. Rounded bevels, such as those on the balance bridge of the micro-rotor calibres, can only be done by hand. Each LF270.01 movement takes more than 139 manual finishing operations.
The watches
The GPHG returned to the brand twice more. The Square Micro-Rotor won its Horological Revelation prize in 2015, and the Ecole Annual Calendar won Best Men’s Complication in 2018. The Classic Origin marked the 10th anniversary in a 40mm Classic case of grade 5 titanium, the first time the brand used the alloy.
The Sport Auto, presented at the start of 2022, is a tribute to those years at Le Mans. Ferrier says it would have been the ideal watch to wear in each of their races. Its 41.5mm case and fully integrated bracelet are grade 5 titanium, and water resistance is tested to 120 metres. The Classic Moon added the brand’s first moon phase, with a disc engraved from Aventurine glass made by Murano artisans.
The house today
The founders are still at the house. Laurent Ferrier and his son Christian work together in the Creative Department, and François Servanin remains President. The workshop is in Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, with 15 watchmakers and eight decorators for movement production, assembly and hand-finishing.
In 2025 the brand marked 15 years of independent creation with the Classic Tourbillon Teal, its first watch in 950 platinum, with a teal grand feu enamel dial. It pays tribute to the first watch, a tourbillon built for precision rather than show.
At a glance
- Founded: 2009; official launch 2010
- Founders: Laurent Ferrier and François Servanin
- Based in: Plan-les-Ouates, Geneva, Switzerland
- Known for: the pebble-shaped Classic case and ball-shaped crown, the natural escapement, hand-finished movements
- Independent: yes
Sources: LAURENT FERRIER’s own website (Our Story, and its news articles on the natural escapement, the 10th anniversary, the Sport Auto, the Classic Moon, the art of finishing and the Classic Tourbillon Teal).