Belgian watchmaker Alexandre Martin makes his debut with the 1965

Alexandre Martin’s first independent watch takes its name from 1965, the year his father was born. The Belgian watchmaker, now based in Morges, Switzerland, worked with specialist teams at Greubel Forsey and Petermann Bédat before starting his own atelier. The 1965 is intentionally restrained: a gently textured three-part grey dial, suspended white-gold hour markers, polished steel hands and an enamel small-seconds counter made in the workshop of renowned enameller Anita Porchet.

The 38mm polished steel case measures only 9.35mm thick, with a sculpted concave bezel and stepped lugs. Its 46.8mm lug-to-lug measurement lends a little more presence than the diameter suggests. Martin’s enthusiasm for climbing and paragliding enters the design quietly: floating hour markers, hands inspired by ice-climbing screws, and a layered dial intended to evoke mountain landscapes.

Turn the watch over and the hand-wound movement provides the real spectacle. The prototype began with the architecture of the historic CYMA 586 but receives specially made and extensively reworked components, a reconfigured winding click, a new variable-inertia balance and Breguet overcoil, and delicately hand-finished German-silver bridges. The balance measures approximately 12.6mm; the movement runs at 18,000 vibrations per hour. Martin intends to manufacture all movement components anew for the twelve production watches, with a revised barrel and wheel-tooth geometry. The final power reserve is not yet confirmed.

The first series of twelve steel watches is priced at CHF 65,000. Further twelve-piece series in platinum and pink gold have been discussed as future editions, but these should not be confused with separate released references: the 1965 steel model is currently the only verifiable Alexandre Martin watch release.