Artya has mastered the concept of infusing art in every timepiece; we sat down with Yvan Arpa, founder of the maison, during Watches & Wonders to understand his artistic inspirations and the future of the brand
Can you tell us first about the brand, Artya?
Sure; the brand is now 17 years old, and it was conceived as “A Manufacturer of Emotion”. This is because now nobody needs a watch to tell the time. For most of us, the best time of our lives is when our father or mother was telling us a bedtime story. I want to recreate this emotional world with a fantastic object that we can have on our wrist and this masterpiece will not only tell us the time, but a story as well.
You mix horology with art in your timepieces; how do you balance that?
It was Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician and philosopher, who said “Art is Eternal”. All masterpieces must also be beautiful. We began the Purity collection with our own calibres; before we begin production, we spent a lot of time in designing so that our movements look not just incredible but are very avant-garde. This industry is 500 years old, so it’s a lot of work to invent new things that look different than what exists or existed, and this is what we are dedicated to. I love Vacheron Constantin, but if I want to create watches similar to Vacheron’s, I am a few centuries late. So now I am trying to find new ways and the public love it, especially in the Middle East. I have great support from my friends, collectors, and from my distributor in this region.
Since your timepieces are based on art, does that put pressure on you when you are creating something new every year, especially because art is a subjective perception?
On the contrary, I must do less because I wake up every night with new ideas. So it’s good for me to focus more. We have a four collections now. One is the Purity collection that only has our Manufacture movements, which are exceptional and architectural. We have the Aqua collection with all the Diver watches; the Luminity with our new micro rotor movement; and the Art collection. One of the four collections is now dedicated to Art. We having been doing butterfly wings on the dial for the past 16 years; these dials are handcrafted by my wife, and it is a highly successful line. Recently, Philippe Dufour, a living legend of the watch industry, came to see us and requested us to create the dial for his watch – the Philippe Dufour Simplicity. Philippe has a waiting list of 40 years for his watches, and he came to us to collaborate. We created this fabulous masterpiece together and are promoting it, for a good cause.
The Purity line is your newest one; can you tell us more about the Purity line?
Yes, Purity is the latest line, which is dedicated to extremely high watchmaking; everything in this line is 1000% totally done under our control and our design, even the screws. Everything you can see on the dial and at the back are of our own design and this is the collection where I have put my two sons to work on. One of my sons works on the movement and the other one on the design of the case – both work with me, of course, and this joint effort with the younger generation is to make something that is really avant-garde and liked not only by our generation but by the younger ones as well.
We have also worked with some incredible colours of sapphire; our latest is the NanoSaphir, which is a sapphire that changes colour according to the type of light. We also have a Ruby edition and a Titanium edition.
At Watches & Wonders, your concentration was on the HMS Mirror?
Yes, we have already come out with 5 different calibres of our own for tourbillons, and I wanted this time to open this very high-end line at a much more affordable price. We are offering a very nice architectural movement. We realised that some people don’t like to see their skin, so we had the idea of putting a mirror at the back. It’s very nice because not only don’t you not see your skin, but you are also able to see the movement better; it gives more light to the movement and to all the hand finishings. Everything is hand finished on this movement, and it is fantastic; with the mirror you see it much better.
Why do you think nobody came out with this idea before?
I have no idea why no one thought of this before, because it’s wonderful. I love it. It gives such light, and it is a big success. I think it is even more successful because of the movement and the caseback, as the mirror highlights the movement more.
As of now, in which countries is Artya present and which is your number one market?
We have 60 boutiques around the world, so we are present in the main countries across the world. For me, personally, the Middle East is my favourite place. When it’s too cold and rainy in Switzerland, it’s a pleasure to come over here. I have numerous friends like you here and the sea, which I love. This is a strong, good market that I love.
Are you planning to expand more around the world and in what region?
I have decided not to run after people. The product we do is really exceptional and people are really interested in it. This means that when I approach a distributor in a new country about representing us, usually they respond saying, “You have a fantastic product, we love it, and we would like to represent you”. It’s a nice way to proceed. We have a lot of demand now and we are now covering one country after the other to do the things properly.
Are you having any issues with delivery?
No, because I have a vision and have put in a lot of effort in building very close partnerships with suppliers who have the production capability. As you know, I have done a lot of design and production for other brands, and I am utilising all of this experience to ensure that we have a smooth production and timely delivery.
