MICKAËL GASPAR SOUSCRIPTION — A DECADE IN THE MAKING

10 years after conceiving his first watch as a student, French watchmaker Mickaël Gaspar introduces the Souscription, a hand-wound wristwatch that places its mechanical workings on full display. Unveiled at IAMWATCH 2026 in Singapore, the debut creation reflects a decade of development, during which Gaspar refined an idea that began at the Morteau watchmaking school into a finished movement bearing his name.

At 29, Gaspar has already accumulated experience working on some of watchmaking's most demanding complications. His Souscription brings that knowledge into a watch distinguished by its dial-side movement, retrograde date mechanism, and extensive hand-finishing. Developed and assembled in his atelier in Les Brenets, Switzerland, the watch presents its mechanical architecture through a domed sapphire crystal, allowing the wearer to observe the components responsible for measuring and displaying time.

Gaspar's introduction to watchmaking began long before the Souscription. The great-grandson of a watchmaker who spent four decades at Lip, he pursued his training at the Morteau watchmaking school in France, where he received a silver medal in the Meilleurs Apprentis de France competition.

Between the ages of 17 and 19, Gaspar developed a school watch featuring a retrograde date display and an exposed movement. His intention was to create a dial whose moving components would make the workings of a mechanical watch understandable to someone without specialist knowledge. Encouraged by his classmates to place his name on the dial, he established the foundations of a project that would occupy the following decade.

His professional career subsequently took him to Breitling, where he was selected as one of three apprentices from 50 candidates, followed by four years at Sellita. He later joined MH Horlogerie in Les Brenets, becoming a partner and head of workshop.

There, Gaspar developed and repaired complications for other watchmaking houses, gaining experience with flying tourbillons, fusée-and-chain mechanisms, minute repeaters, and natural escapements. Throughout this period, he continued refining the mechanism first conceived during his studies.

In 2026, he established his own atelier, bringing the Souscription to fruition as his first wristwatch.

The Souscription centres on the relationship between the movement and its display. Its hand-wound calibre positions the balance, pallet lever, and retrograde date mechanism on the dial side, making components traditionally concealed beneath the dial visible to the wearer.

Occupying the upper portion of the dial, the retrograde date indication follows an arc spanning the days of the month. At midnight on the final day, the hand returns instantaneously to the first position, beginning its progression once again. The mechanism can also be corrected through the crown.

A domed box-shaped sapphire crystal provides an expansive view of the dial-side architecture, functioning much like a watchmaker's loupe. Beneath it, the hand-sandblasted, rose-gold-plated dial serves as a backdrop for the exposed components.

The balance and its supporting bridge occupy the area between seven and eight o'clock, while the small seconds indication provides another visible point of motion. The watch's individual number is engraved at nine o'clock, opposite Gaspar's signature at three.

The stainless steel case measures 39.9mm in diameter and 13mm in height, with a mirror-polished bevel extending around the case band. The date numerals, small seconds, chapter ring, and hands incorporate Super-LumiNova, while the hands themselves are black-polished and curved by hand. The result remains faithful to Gaspar's original ambition: a mechanical display that allows its construction and operation to be studied directly from the wrist.

The movement's construction draws on a modified Swiss base plate and gear train, built around the retrograde date mechanism that Gaspar originally designed as a student. Its development combines established Swiss movement architecture with components manufactured, adjusted, and finished in his workshop.

Wheel staffs and pinions are turned using a traditional lathe, while certain wheels are cut in Les Brenets. The balance wheel is manufactured and balanced within the atelier, and its Breguet overcoil is formed and pinned by hand. The movement's finishing is equally considered. Bridges undergo hand-sandblasting and bevelling, with mirror-polished edges and inward angles that require careful control of the finishing process. Nine components receive black polishing, including two steel bridges and the hands.

Each Souscription requires approximately 250 hours of machining and hand-finishing, with Gaspar personally responsible for assembling, adjusting, and testing the completed movement. Operating at 2.5Hz, or 18,000 vibrations per hour, the calibre incorporates 26 jewels and provides a power reserve of 46 hours. A flat sapphire crystal on the case back offers a further view of the movement, while water resistance is rated to 3 bar, with each watch individually tested.

Together, these details establish the mechanical and artisanal foundation of the Souscription, demonstrating the skills Gaspar has developed through years of working on complicated watch movements.

Gaspar's first series comprises 20 individually numbered watches, each produced through his atelier in Les Brenets. The watches are presented on hand-stitched calf leather straps with stainless steel pin buckles and delivered in wooden boxes featuring marquetry depicting the Doubs valley. The project also marks the first partnership undertaken by Ateliers Associés, a Swiss incubator for independent watchmaking established by William Massena and Louis Westphalen-Lemaitre.

Announced in November 2026, the initiative provides emerging independent watchmakers with commercial and organisational support, allowing them to devote more of their time to designing and producing watches. For Gaspar, this includes assistance with communications, imagery, and relationships with collectors, while responsibility for watchmaking remains within his atelier.

The partnership illustrates the practical considerations involved in establishing an independent watchmaking practice. Beyond technical ability, a young watchmaker must develop the infrastructure required to manage production, deliveries, and client relationships. For Gaspar, the arrangement provides the opportunity to concentrate on the workbench and the completion of his first series.

The Souscription made its public debut during IAMWATCH 2026, held from 12 to 15 November 2026 at The Singapore EDITION. Its introduction brings Gaspar's decade-long project into the same setting as established and emerging independent watchmakers, offering collectors an opportunity to meet the individual responsible for its creation.

The watch retains the central idea behind his original school project: the mechanics should remain visible and comprehensible. What began as an exercise in watchmaking education has since been developed through professional experience, technical refinement, and hundreds of hours devoted to manufacturing and finishing.

With the establishment of his atelier and the introduction of the Souscription, Gaspar begins the next stage of his career under his own name, with a watch that reflects the work he has pursued since his earliest years at the bench.