Blancpain CEO: ‘You don’t get many chances in life to make a watch like the Grande Double Sonnerie’
Marc A. Hayek reflects on creating the most complicated watch in Blancpain’s history and on his own journey reshaping the world’s oldest watchmaking maison
[LE BRASSUS] When Marc A. Hayek took over Blancpain in 2002, he was a young executive with a storied watchmaking surname – but an even stronger conviction about what the craft should stand for.
More than two decades later, Hayek still speaks with the same disarming candour that made him an ideal choice to helm Switzerland’s oldest watchmaking brand.
“I’ve always been passionate about complications,” says the grandson of the Swatch Group founder. “But passion alone is not enough – you must have a vision of what the brand can be.”
That vision has defined his career. While Blancpain’s legacy spans 290 years, its modern identity owes much to Hayek’s long-term push to bring all strands of the brand’s history – high complications, diving watches, feminine creations – back under one cohesive roof.
“Blancpain did so many things throughout its history,” he says. “But for a long time, they were separated. My goal was always to let them live together again.”
Yet even with that broad portfolio, nothing prepared Blancpain for the scale and ambition of the Grande Double Sonnerie, the maison’s most complicated watch to date.
A new chapter after the legendary 1735 Hayek often references Blancpain’s famed 1735, a milestone piece from the early 2000s. But he is quick to point out that the new Grande Double Sonnerie represents a profound shift.
Unlike the 1735, the Grande Double Sonnerie is entirely conceived, developed and created in-house. “That is the biggest difference,” he explains. “It’s teamwork, but everyone had the same artisanal spirit.”
The watch took eight years and involved every technical discipline Blancpain possesses. The movement counts 1,053 components and houses 21 newly developed patents, 13 of which are integrated.
It is the only watch in the world that can chime the time using two selectable four-note melodies: the Westminster chime, and an original composition by Eric Singer, drummer of the band Kiss and one of Hayek’s long-standing watch-collecting friends.
The collaboration was never a celebrity stunt, according to Hayek: “Eric is a discreet, true watch fanatic.”
The idea of creating a second melody came from Hayek himself. “Westminster was the base. For the second, I wanted something more emotional.”
Together with keyboardist Derek Sherinian, Singer composed the ‘Blancpain Melody’ within the constraint of just four notes, a challenge “far tougher than most imagine”.
Wearability above all Despite its monumental complexity, Hayek was insistent that the watch had to remain wearable and technical features were not merely added for the sake of breaking new grounds.
The final watch measures 47 mm by 14.5 mm – substantial, but far slimmer than most expected. The case amplifies sound using a gold acoustic membrane integrated into the bezel, a patented system that acts like a miniaturised soundboard.
“We tested everything – bronze, steel, alloys,” Hayek says. “Gold was still the best.”
Inside, the movement is entirely crafted in 18k gold, including the mainplate and 26 bridges – in line with the prestige of the 1735. Everything is hand-polished and finished, even for parts not visible.
The retrograde perpetual calendar – integrated directly into the movement rather than as an add-on module – proved unexpectedly challenging. “You underestimate how difficult it is to redesign something you know so well,” Hayek admits.
Each Grande Double Sonnerie is assembled – start to finish – by a single master watchmaker, who then sign off on the watch on a gold plaque on the movement.“They are the first owners of the watch – it is their baby,” Hayek explains.
Blancpain will produce no more than two pieces per year, and despite the scarcity, there is no selection process. “No pre-selection, no bundling,” Hayek insists. “If you love the watch, we will work with you to build your piece.”
The future of Blancpain Hayek’s broader strategic view of Blancpain is rooted in continuity rather than reinvention.
He sees the modern Fifty Fathoms, Villeret complications and women’s Ladybird watches as expressions of a single brand with multiple histories. “It took over 20 years to bring all these worlds back together. But they must live in parallel. That is Blancpain.”
As for the future of high complications, Hayek says the next frontier lies in chronometry – precision timekeeping. “Precision was always the essence – it’s our tradition and that’s why we work very hard on that,” he says.
The Grande Double Sonnerie may be the most ambitious watch Blancpain has ever created, but for Hayek, it is ultimately a joyful project – a rare moment where vision, technical mastery and human passion aligned.
“You don’t get many chances in life to make a watch like this,” he says beaming.
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