Sunday Lifestyle

Finding eternity in Harry Winston

September 25, 2011 | 12:00am

GENEVA, Switzerland — What defines the style and character of a man? Is it his shirt? His tie? His haircut? These questions race through my mind as I sit on a train from Paris to Geneva. I look at the men seated around me and mentally try to guess what lies beneath, say, that sleek coat paired with faded denims; or how a corporate blazer rocks when paired with rubber shoes.

As I bite into my croissant, flaky pieces of golden brown crust fall onto the pages of my book. I brush off the bits, some falling deep into the middle crease, where the pages are bound together. I am reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, and I am at the part where the incessantly-contrite-for-being-solipsistic author Dave Eggers is auditioning for a role for MTV’s Real World. But the real world seems so far, far away for me right now. I am seated in First Class on the TGV from Paris to Geneva to visit the Harry Winston Timepiece Manufacture.

Directly across me is Adora president Eman Pineda. On my side of the table are a glass of jus d’orange, a banana peel, a now-empty plate with remnants of French pastry, crumpled paper napkins, and my iPod touch. His side, however, is arranged with folders, paperwork, notes, two mobile phones, an iPad and a laptop. As he sits upright, hard at work, while I slouch in my seat with my left thigh close to my chest and the other leg dangling.

I notice the disparities don’t end there: I wear a sheer olive-green blouse with my animal print scarf carelessly hanging around my neck, vintage Levi’s shorts, black tights, and my dusty Doc Marten boots; Eman wears a black button-down shirt with double-collared details (Neil Barrett, I believe), dark jeans and immaculate white sneakers. Seemingly a simple getup. But check the details: on his wrist, there’s a Harry Winston midnight automatic in white gold with black crocodile strap. How elegant. “I wouldn’t wear any other strap color,” he says.

When it comes to sartorial senses and accessorizing, men have fewer options than women. A spiffy pair of shoes and a handsome watch go a long way. In fact, it is said that you can gauge the taste of a man by simply looking at two things: his shoes and his watch.

I look out of the window to watch the passing blurry vista. I then shut the book, put my earphones on, and listen to some Sufjan Stevens. Eman lifts his wrist to check the time, and that is my cue to close my eyes.

Adora president Eman Pineda (second from right) and author Raya Mananquil (right) take a tour of the Harry Winston Timepiece Manufacture in Geneva.

Three hours later, we arrive at Gare de Genve-Cornavin station as the train slowly makes it stop on Platform 7. We expertly maneuver through the crowd, make our way to exit, and get a taxi. “To ‘Arry Winston, Plan-les-Ouates,” Eman says to the driver in his best French accent, noting the silent “h.”

Suddenly, we are surrounded by buildings housing several other recognizable luxury Swiss-made watch brands. But as we turn into the driveway, it is clear that this one is the most distinctive of all. Immediately you catch sight of the iconic “HW” initials marking opposite wings, like an insignia of the Winston legacy. The façade is mostly glass of crystalline brilliance, reflecting the company’s lifelong attraction to diamonds. And though its architecture is sleek and modern, the gold-trimmed threshold is almost reverential of a more classic period. “I love the door,” Eman says with a deep sigh. As if entering a giant vault, our footsteps echo on the Indian marble within the vestibule grounds.

Since its opening in October 2007, the Harry Winston Timepiece Manufacture has been running almost self-sufficiently in the production of timepieces. Harry Winston involves roughly a 60-person in-house operation from design conception to final product, housed in one side of the wing where assembly and quality control takes place. The other wing serves as administrative quarters to international sales, marketing, communications, IT and human resources.

For many, watches serve a merely functional purpose — that is, to tell time. For others, timepieces possess aesthetic value, like an accessory to complete an outfit. And often, a watch defines status. In my afternoon of touring the Harry Winston horological atelier, it was all of the above. I discovered that the intricacies of creating a timepiece involve creative minds, passionate artisans and intelligent craftsmen.

While Harry Winston, often called “the King of Diamonds,” has become one of the most well-known jewelers in the world, the company decided only 21 years ago to start making timepieces that possessed the same qualities found in Harry Winston: rare, exceptional, of exquisite craftsmanship and driven to excellence. There was no doubting the company’s standing in jewelry — that had been established by the mid-20th century when Harry Winston was creating pieces for royalty, nobility and Hollywood celebrities. But by 1989, not only was Harry Winston producing luxury diamond watches, but devising the technology to match. In 1995, Harry Winston was the first in the world to produce a bi-retrograde perpetual calendar timepiece, setting the tone for the years to come as a watchmaker. Examples are the Opus Adventure, and Histoire de Tourbillon Series, which gave the company mechanical and watchmaking legitimacy within the industry itself.

Two decades later, Harry Winston continues to make watches in the same tradition. Every piece is assembled by hand in the very premises I am visiting. There are no giant industrial machines piecing parts together. Instead, there are skilled artisans with very specific tasks in each stage of the production.

Chronode team and the Opus X: Created in collaboration with Jean-Francois Mojon, the Opus X imagines the shape of time, through an innovative movement. Creating a new technical challenge the entire time display is mounted on a rotating platform, in which the orientation of the dials remain intact.

The expert employees that I meet in each room are dressed in white laboratory coats, and around me I see tools, kits, apparatuses, even bottles of solutions. It’s as if they’re doctors performing very complicated surgery. They are actually all watchmakers, meticulously executing their craft with mastery, patience, and above all, passion. For example, the four diamond setters need to achieve perfection using microscopes and the same tools for hand manipulation that have been used in the last two to three centuries. The test of a perfect setting: when a scarf glides over it, not a single scratch is left on the silk.

In between operations, cleaning is required, again also done manually by polishers who have been trained for about five years. The final assembly, believe it or not, consists of only a four-man team. It is clear that Harry Winston is one of the most exclusive makers in jewelry and watchmaking, not only because of the quality of its products, but also because of the care and attention given to each oeuvre. This makes Harry Winston watches perhaps the world’s most exclusive luxury timepieces. While most other luxury watch brands produce anywhere between 350,000 and 800,000 pieces per year, Harry Winston manufactures only 4,500.

The magnum timepiece to date is the Ocean collection, a handsome and classic design that has been their most popular and bestselling line. I also find out that, though there is always a team dreaming up contemporary creations, there are also designs that are unchanged from 1989, still being used today. One of Harry Winston’s signature trademarks is its “face” or the dial that tells the time “excenter” so that the main time is placed off the center of the dial, leaving space available for other features such as a second time zone or chronograph. But no matter which series it is, at closer inspection, you will notice that the lugs resemble that of an archway, very much reminiscent of those seen at the iconic entranceway of Harry Winston salons.

As we step out of the building, I look back one more time to see the sun setting against the glass veneer, like a towering diamond sparkle. Eman, his Rimowa luggage in tow, is flying directly back to Manila to finish his work obligations. And I am taking the train back to Paris to rock out at a concert. I am reminded of Harry Winston’s recent campaign, which is to “Live the Moment.” In Eman’s case, never wasting a moment in time dedicated to his passion for retail. And for me, it’s occasionally being a little too daring for my own good, enjoying the luxury of time.

That is the clockwork of our lives.