Nothing about Antonin Mercier, the founder of
horological label Laps, is conventional. Starting
with his pocket-sized atelier, a revamped garage just
a stone’s throw from the Musée d’Orsay. ‘This is my
showroom, and where I assemble most of my watches,’
he says. The space is a hodgepodge of unexpected
elements: chunks of wood, crocodile skins, Cuban cigar
leaves, a poster from a 1970s Thai monster movie.
And then there are the watches: all the same size
and shape – vintage-inspired and discreetly small – and
their Japanese-made dials filled with textured materials
or miniature pictures. ‘Here is Jacques Chirac jumping
the barrier at the Metro,’ says Mercier of one watch
face. ‘This is Nakano Takeko, a female samurai from
the Edo period. Clyde Barrow at 15. And an S&M
picture from the Paris-based Biederer brothers.’ The
collection almost feels like a cabinet of curiosities,
something he takes pride in: ‘I’m inspired by anyone
who dares to be different.’
His background in art history shows through: the
son of an auctioneer, Mercier worked for five years
in the contemporary art market before deciding to take
his career in a different direction. ‘I used to hunt for
rare watches on eBay that I took to artisans to repair,’
he says, showing a piece from his personal collection,
from the 1968 Nixon campaign, with a picture of the
presidential couple inside the dial. As he learned more
about watchmaking, he summoned the courage to
start his brand. ‘It’s been an exercise in trial and error,
especially since I work with materials that are not
supposed to be put inside a watch. Laps is pretty much
a research lab.’ One that produces wonderfullysurprising limited editions and one-off pieces, such
as a watch with a dial made out of charcoal rescued
from the Titanic wreckage, or the model with a 1970s
painting of two cosmonaut chihuahuas.
Mercier clearly has a soft spot for all things kitsch,
and a sense of humour. ‘What I enjoy most is
subverting the rules of traditional watchmaking.
The day a Chinese lady stopped by to take off her
€300,000 Van Cleef & Arpels to wear the €120
cosmonaut chihuahua watch with a bubblegum-pink
nylon and perlon strap, I knew I had made it.’
For Mercier, it’s not about the price, but about
crafting something brand new, ‘an accessory that is
unisex, that can be hidden or shown, and passed from
generation to generation’. He works with an assistant,
and a freelance collaborator who helps assemble each
piece. ‘Some models, considering the time they take,
are seriously unprofitable,’ he tells me while showing
how he presses cigar leaves to reduce their thickness
to a minimum so they will fit in the dials. The process
is similar with python and crocodile skins, and wood.
‘I use African sapele wood, which reflects the light
almost like silk, and an oak that is 2,600 years old.’
Materials that seem even more complicated to source
than the rare photographs, but totally worthwhile.
‘I get a kick out of thinking about what happened
around that oak tree before it was felled. Maybe there
were druids hanging out under it?’ With Mercier, the
word ‘timepiece’ takes on a whole new meaning. ‘It’s
about being transported in time, space and within your
own imagination every time you gaze at your watch.’ ∂
Limited-edition watches, from €120, by Laps, laps.frCLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT,
ANTONIN MERCIER, LAPS
FOUNDER; A BESPOKE WATCH
BEING ASSEMBLED ESPECIALLY
FOR WALLPAPER*, FEATURING
PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRIGITTE
NIEDERMAIR FROM OUR
SEPTEMBER 2014 ISSUE (W*186);
LAPS’ ENTIRE COLLECTION
IS ON DISPLAY IN THE PARIS
ATELIER, SHARING SHELF
SPACE WITH A SURREALIST
PHOTOGRAPH AND SOME OF
MERCIER’S FLEA-MARKET FINDS,
SUCH AS AN EMPIRE STATE
BUILDING THERMOMETER AND
AN INDIAN GANESH SCULPTUREHAPPY HOUR
Parisian watchmaker Laps is dialling up the fun factor
PHOTOGRAPHY: OSMA HARVILAHTI WRITER: MARTA REPRESA096 ∑