Nabil: Can you tell me about how the collaboration between AM & GP came about?

Clemence Dubois: Well, from the beginning, we didn’t want to do any merchandising products, so the intention wasn't to just put Aston Martin's logo on a watch instead to develop a watch together, so we started with flying Bridges tourbillon in 2021 which was showcasing at the same time Aston Martin and Girard-Perregaux histories.

Then we went to explore new colors and new materials using carbon fiber coming from Formula 1 cars, using green ceramic like the one Stefano is wearing to match the exact Aston Martin racing green color, which we had to develop for that particular product, and now we are taking the collaboration further by trusting Aston Martin to revisit the Girard-Perregaux movement that features the bridges, probably you know the bridges, it is the oldest mechanical signature in the industry, it has been existing for more than 160 years and we are very happy that the engineers from Aston Martin revisited the bridges’ line which is the new bridges, as you see here taking inspiration from the latest designs on the DB12.

Nabil: So the AM engineers played an actual role in the development of the watch?

Stefano Saporetti: Absolutely, first of all, let me answer the question by saying that today's customers will not accept what was done 20 years ago, so our collaboration is now by sharing the know-how and a common view on things.

There are more and more in this direction, there now is more involvement from people who normally have different know-how and mindset coming from a different industry, thus trying to collaborate and mix the knowledge and create something that is at least recognized as something serious and unique, it can be the material or the design or the evolution of the product itself.

Nabil: Will there be any input from Girard-Perregaux in Aston Martin's future cars?

Stefano Saporetti: of course, it’s a 2-way collaboration, there is no limit to collaborating as long as it adds value to the project in general, clearly each of us has a different perspective. It is something that is not yet in the scope of discussion, but as I said there are no limits.

Clemence Dubois: I think if we were to do it we would definitely to do it right, so we wouldn’t be just putting some GP color on the car because it wouldn’t mean anything, that kind of project needs long discussion to see how AM can benefit from the materials used in the watchmaking industry within the automotive industry, maybe something like color treatment or something else that makes sense rather than putting GP logo somewhere in the car or putting a slandered clock inside the car like we had seen in the past.

Nabil: This is why I am asking it’s not about just inserting a clock in the center of the console; I am talking about a real collaboration that could be the use of materials, colors?

Stefano Saporetti: This is an ongoing discussion with the technicians, the product scope collaboration among some other things that can be implemented so it might take more time, the automotive industry is changing also and is going towards the digital world so might clash with what we would like to do, I am not saying that it is not possible, all am saying is that sometimes it’s easier to talk about other aspects of the collaboration like the materials, colors, painting technics or some materials that could be used and vice versa. These are the subjects that are easier to talk about also because engineers and designers come from two different industries trying to find a meeting point it is not always easy.

Clemence Dubois: It took like 3 years to come to a point where designers and engineers from AM can remake one of our movements so definitely it will take some time to have our engineers and designers have a look at AM cars to try to come out with something that would make sense in terms of explaining the story behind the collaboration.

Nabil: This year is very special to AM because it is the 110 anniversary. Will we see this year a 110-anniversary watch by GP?

Stefano Saporetti: Today we are celebrating the launch of this project not celebrating the 110 anniversary of the company. No, we don’t have a specific project for different reasons.

Clemence Dubois: Since we decided to work on this project it is a tribute to both partnership and heritage, so obviously we didn’t do the 110 editions because it would have been too obvious for us, but the fact that we trusted AM to rework the movement for us it’s the celebration of the history and partnership. At the same time, we want to offer AM this opportunity because it’s the only time we allowed a partner to play with the bridges, and this is something very special to us because it’s the oldest signature that exists in the industry but is also the signature you find in our logo and is something that symbolizes our brand, so it’s not something you can easily give up, so the fact that we trusted AM on that particular watch recognizes our trust in AM and it celebrates the 110-Anniversay.

Everything we do aims at celebrating the heritage and trying to meet both worlds in something nice to wear and keep close to your heart.

Nabil: This is the 5th collaboration since 2021 between Aston Martin and Girard-Perregaux, that’s almost two watches per year; do you think this will dilute the exclusivity of these watches?

Clemence Dubois: That’s a good question, it is something we ask ourselves a lot, I would say that there is a reason for that and we allowed ourselves to do it, because every time we work on something different so the green ceramic is a good example it was developing a new material on the Laureato, this one is about reworking the movement, the formula 1 car was about how we can integrate the carbon from a racing car into carbon watch.

So I would say if it was only about colors yes it would be too much but since we have thousands of ideas per minute between the two companies and believe me we refrain our engineers and designers from working on so many projects.

Nabil: Will there be an Aston Martin Edition for every collection at Girard-Perregaux?

Clemence Dubois: It’s a good question, we don’t think ahead for each collection and what we want to achieve for example for that one we wanted to play on the iridescent color that AM has on its catalog on the Valhalla, and the DB12, and we knew that will be very challenging as well to do changes on the movement component because on a car you place different layers of paint to that iridescent color but on a watch, you definitely can’t do that because it will be too thick, so the challenge was how do we come with a process to get that different shades on a movement component, and the best watch to do it on is the Bridge Collection.

Nabil: Talking about this, so inverted movement, this is something that was inspired by AM team or GP team? What is it exactly?

Clemence Dubois: It has been exciting at GP for a long time, one of our founders, Constant Girard, 160 years ago had this amazing idea of giving a special shape to a component which is the bridge, because back in the days, everyone was using standard bridges or standard components and no one was able to identify from which watchmaker this watch comes from, so he wanted to make a statement and say that this is our recognizable shape this was with pocket watches.

For the 100th anniversary of the brand, the brand decided to translate this design into a wristwatch version. The thing is that bridges normally on standard watches are at the back of the movement and we didn’t see why, they are beautiful and very recognizable, so for the 200th anniversary in 1991 we took the challenge to put the mechanics upside down to have the bridges appearing in the front. Hence the turbilion was the first timepiece back in the day. Since then we continued playing on the wristwatch with different shapes of the bridges, taking different materials and different finishes to have this particular look that is very recognizable, so the upside down comes from there.

Nabil: If you want to select a specific feature in that specific watch that you like the most what will it be?

Clemence Dubois: In that one, it would be the green color, I am a huge fan of green, let me tell you this story, when I started heading the product development team I went to my CEO and told him we wanted to do green watches but at that time every one wanted the blue color, and he asked me why you want to do green, am sure it will become the new blue and then we started the trend, we said we will not do the green because we will be doing like everyone else but I said okey I am going to manage to do green if we sign with a partner that loves green so who is better than AM to do green with.

It's not only about the color, it’s the fact that changing from blue to green makes it interesting and that this is something we never did before and it gives a different look to the shape of the component.

Stefano Saporetti: For us as a brand we want to enhance some of our characteristics, so when we play in this field and add our color which is also part of our DNA and this is why we enforce our message with our partner and the watch has a lot of design features in terms how it is done which we have a lot in common whether in experience or common eye of the product.

Nabil: We are seeing AM going into watches and products, what is the next move or something that you haven’t talked about yet in media not in automotive but fashion, technology, and gaming..?

Stefano Saporetti: It’s a difficult question I have to say. Every industry is different but every industry can be an opportunity to re-launch the DNA of the company, so if I have to choose an area where I would like to differentiate and justify the experience of brand lovers it would be in entertainment which is a big industry today more and more the people want the experience which has to be selective, so there is an evolution in opportunity so AM is trying to go in this direction to offer again a luxury aspect of entertainment to its customer base to stretch into new customers.

Just to make an example without any criticism, if you look at Formula 1, this is a mainstream opportunity, Formula 1 has a different target.

AM is a luxurious car company that has to deliver a different experience.

Clemence Dubois: Do you like the watch Nabil?

Nabil: It’s very impressive and I like the most the combination of colors you mentioned.

Clemence Dubois: I want to say something about the partnership that we work hard together to make sure it is not only putting color into a watch but also a glimpse into the AM world and I think every time the team is trying to raise the bar when it comes to the challenges in terms of designs and engineering. We both have a long history and I think we have a lot to tell in the next coming years.

Stefano Saporetti: As Clemence said our future looks brighter and our interest in working together and finding new ways to introduce new products for loyal and new customers, and this is the challenge for everybody, unfortunately everybody is going to digital.