One of the most thrilling aspects of being invited to Watches and Wonders Geneva is gaining access to some of the most brilliant minds in watchmaking. Every April, watch enthusiasts, retailers, clients, and the press descend on the watchmaking capital of Switzerland to witness the latest creations. The ones who make the biggest impact are often the best storytellers, but there’s a difference between hearing it from a marketer and the person who has driven the creative process from concept to production. Alexandre Beauregard is the latter. The Canadian entrepreneur manages four businesses and moves between his atelier in Montreal and Geneva when he’s not travelling to source unusual gems for his precious timepieces. Self-taught in both watchmaking and gemmology, he avoided formal training. “School is too long. I have the feeling I don’t have time,” he says, when I interviewed him at Watches and Wonders in 2024.
He can’t pinpoint what sparked his obsession with watchmaking but traces it back to the early days of the Internet. “I was always very attracted to intricacy in design. Everything complicated gets my attention. I studied graphics for fashion design, but in Montreal, nobody makes watches. There’s no culture for it. The Internet was my door to that universe, and I just became obsessed.”
His fascination with gemstones developed in tandem. “I drowned in it. Ever since that day, I’ve been drawing watches and living the dream.”
For Alexandre, making watches is about more than money. With five businesses to manage, life would be easier without this one. Initially, it was all-consuming. “I stopped sleeping. I stopped eating. I was just drawing watches until my wife told me, ‘You know what, just go.’ So, I took my backpack and flew to Geneva for a gem show. That’s how it started.”
A chance introduction to lapidary artist Yves Saint-Pierre in 2009 changed his learning trajectory. Yves, the best in America, taught Alexandre how to work with and recognise stones. For 16 years, he has honed this expertise, now advising gemmologists on rare stones like spinel, tsavorite, old-stock Iranian turquoise, fire opal from Mexico, red coral from Napoli, and pink coral from Japan. “Those get me excited.”
He pulls out a watch with a lapis lazuli dial – an exquisite but unreleased piece. The stone, sourced from a now-closed mine, makes it exceptionally rare. “This is music. You can’t find this stone anymore.” Despite its incredible composition, he shelved the project, drawn instead to creating a central flying tourbillon set in gold and surrounded by gemstones and diamonds. “I know I’m insane, but I have no regrets. It was the right decision.”
His signature floral design emerged from a desire to work with stones in a sculptural way. “I wanted volume, so I started drawing. The petals came naturally, forming a flower that let me highlight the stone’s beauty.”
Achieving this required inventing a new technique – an invisible setting by compression, which locks the petals into place with extreme precision. His watches feature peridot, garnet, opal, amethyst, and chrysoprase, among others, with mother-of-pearl beneath each petal to reflect light.
It’s just Alexandre, his apprentice Jeremie, and Yves, who is now retired but visits regularly to share knowledge.
Assembly time is a mystifying 30 minutes. “It’s like playing in a football game that lasts an hour, but you’ve been practising for 20 years to be there. All the jewellery work is done in Montreal, so when I go to Switzerland, it takes half an hour to assemble.”
He insists on physical prototypes, a rarity in Swiss watchmaking. “They do 3D printing, but I want to see how the light reflects on the gold. A tenth of a millimetre can change everything. I need to feel the final product on my wrist.”
Last year’s limited-edition box set was dictated by the stones available. The rare Mexican opal, colour-matching challenges with Australian green chrysoprase, and direct sourcing from miners add to the exclusivity. He meets suppliers yearly at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Fair, where relationships built over the years grant him access to their best finds. “I want the stones from rough to finish inside my shop. In my hands. That way, I know they’re untouched, original.”
His floral dials have gained international acclaim with their exquisitely cut and invisibly set petals. The Dahlia, with its gemstone arrangement around the central flying tourbillon, and the Lily Bouton earned a Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève nomination in 2018 and 2023 respectively, while the Dahlia C1 Mechanical won a Golden Design Award in 2019-2020.
At Watches and Wonders 2024, Alexandre turned a new page. He introduced his first men’s watch – the 41mm Ulysse in gold – a departure from his floral designs yet unmistakably Beauregard. This limited-edition piece maintains his signature craftsmanship while embracing a bolder, more structured aesthetic.
For Alexandre, the magic lies in the details. Whether crafting a prototype by hand to perfect light reflection or spending years developing a movement, his process is meticulous. “I agree with everyone – I know I’m insane. But I have no regrets. It was the right decision.”
With each timepiece, Beauregard redefines the intersection of high jewellery and fine watchmaking, ensuring that every watch tells a story of passion, precision, and the pursuit of perfection.
Visit beauregard.ch for more information or visit their booth at Time to Watches at Villa Sarasin, Geneva from 1-6 April 2025.
