How to Build the Next Great Watch Brand
In 2023, the watchmaker Sylvain Berneron launched his namesake brand with a bang. His Mirage—featuring an unusual warped shape and twisty hands—became a smash hit, selling out instantaneously and earning watch-of-the-year plaudits in the industry. According to Berneron, he could up his annual production of the Mirage five times over and still comfortably find a buyer for every piece. Now, Berneron is back with the sequel—though anyone hoping for more Dalí-esque curves will likely be disappointed.
“It is the strict opposite of a Mirage,” he says of his latest creation, “which is either stupid or brave.”
Whereas his debut defied expectations aesthetically, the new Quantième Annuel is downright old-fashioned at first glance, with a symmetrical round case and elegant dial layout. Despite its more traditional appearance, however, the Quantième Annuel is far more complicated beneath the hood: While the Mirage’s movement had 135 pieces, the QA boasts 450. The goal, Berneron suggests, is to prove he’s not merely a radical designer but a masterful watchmaker as well. “When you make a new brand, people tend to box you into your first [release],” he says. “I don’t want to be a one-trick pony.”
What is most apparent in the new watch is that Berneron thought hard about how real people would actually use his creation. The dial is organized to provide relevant information with hyper–efficiency: “You start top to bottom to read the time, and if you want the date you go left to right,” he explains. “And finito, there is no drama.” The watch comes fitted with replaceable steel bumpers, laid over the soft and dentable platinum case like armor. And while he might have loved to show off his watchmaking prowess with a more sophisticated perpetual calendar (which is designed to remain accurate with no adjustments until the year 2100), he surveyed collectors and found an annual calendar (set once a year) to be more practical.
Berneron isn’t a medium, but he has a clear vision for his brand’s future. The next 10 years are meticulously plotted out in his mind: He knows the exact number of timepieces he’ll produce in 2035 (600, on the higher end for independent watchmakers), and plans for his third collection, called the Fiasco and designed to showcase high–jewelry techniques, are already well underway. It seems critical for him to proceed this way, plugging all the potential gaps to sustain his brand. Because Berneron knows what he can’t see too. “It would be naive to think that the Mirage would be the talk of the town for the next 50 years,” he says.
The sophomore release is always the most difficult in any industry. How do you convert a single hyped watch into an enduring business? That’s what Berneron is hoping to achieve with the Quantième Annuel. When he discusses his fledgling company, he doesn’t compare it to other indie watchmakers. Rather, he takes inspiration from the way Patek Philippe and Cartier have diversified their staple offerings, or the way Rolex always thinks decades ahead. “There is a huge difference between making a cool watch and making a brand,” he says. A second cool watch certainly helps with the latter.
Cam Wolf is GQ’s Watch Editor.
A version of this story originally appeared in the September 2025 issue of GQ with the title “How to Build the Next Great Watch Brand”
