We find ourselves straddling the beautiful abyss of classical modernity. At the helm of this journey we are on is the Swiss luxury watch and clockmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre. The brand, founded in 1833, was predicated on a drive to engineer a shared creative future. True to founder Antoine LeCoultre’s original artistic vision, the horological Maison has been cultivating their Made of Makers series as of late, bringing together artisans across disciplines to produce transgressive work in the name of cultural innovation. The most recent addition to Made of Makers is Nicolas Bonneville, a diehard nose from Le Mans, France. Bonneville was given the task of crafting signature fragrances for the watch brand and to establish a sensual olfactory identity that seeks to cement the longevity of the Swiss Maison.

Bonneville, whose life is dedicated to the pursuit of perfumery and all things scent related, first discovered his love for fragrance when visiting Grasse, the perfume capital of the world, at 12 years old. Afterwards, nothing was the same. For Made of Makers, Bonneville created three unique scents, all of which receive inspiration from specific Jaeger-LeCoultre watches. The scents include:

THE TIMELESS STORIES is leathery, and is inspired by the cultural universe of the Reverso, a legend born from the challenge to create a wristwatch that could withstand the rigors of polo matches.

THE CELESTIAL ODYSSEY is ambery, and pays tribute to the three measures of time that have always fascinated watchmakers–the moon, the sun and the stars–through a perfect balance of three noble ingredients.

THE PRECISION PIONEER is woody, and has a character with an oriental influence, and it embodies Jaeger-LeCoultre’s perpetual quest for chronometric accuracy.

It is apt to note that Jaeger-LeCoultre’s particular olfactory foray by way of the Made of Makers program isn’t about selling perfume, but instead about creating a deeper and even more recognizable identity beyond time pieces—all the while giving an opportunity to a deserving craftsman and artist to shine in their passion, just like Bonneville. Jaeger-LeCoultre CMO Matthieu Le Voyer shares that the candidacy process for Made of Makers is not about selecting people who are already “famous,” but rather a heartfelt search to find diamonds in the rough, or people that have dedicated their lives to their particular craft, and who can have a spotlight shed upon them for their strong and unique contribution to their particular field.

Each year, new works commissioned through Made of Makers animate the exhibitions that Jaeger-LeCoultre stages around the world, amplifying the chosen theme and creating new opportunities for audiences to engage and to become part of the wider conversation about art, craft, and design. The classical aspect recognizes the watch brand’s long-standing history dating back to 1833, and its stalwart vision looking forward.

FLAUNT sat down exclusively with Nicolas Bonneville and Jaeger-LeCoultre CMO, Matthieu Le Voyer to discuss this highly anticipated new venture in their Made of Makers series. 

Nicolas Bonneville on sourcing materials for this collection of fragrances: 

My background starts in Grasse, which is the cradle of perfumery. I started there when I was about 12 years old, and I was very passionate about natural and raw materials. I try to travel as often as possible and see the crops and see the raw materials [that I use for fragrances]. I visit places like India and Italy or the South of France, because, similarly to Jaeger-LeCoultre, as a watchmaker, you need to know all your raw material in detail in order to know what you can do with them to create the unexpected, and to push the boundaries of knowledge around the whole process. So, for these fragrances, I worked to be in and around the crops and fields to exchange information with the producer and to smell the raw material, particularly at different times of the day, because a flower smells different in the morning than in the evening and it’s a way for me to catch something original.

Nicolas Bonneville on the opportunity and responsibility to establish the olfactory identity for Jaeger-LeCoultre:

I am very proud. And from the beginning, I thought that since [Jaeger-LeCoultre] is such an iconic brand with a strong legacy, I can’t do anything common. I need something with a strong signature but with the right balance between tradition and modernity. So we organized a visit for me at the manufacturer, as a source of inspiration for me and a deeper opportunity for me to understand the brand last fall. I tried to understand and dive into the DNA of the brand and I started to work in accord with that.

Nicolas Bonneville on marrying practicality and poetry while creating a fragrance:

It’s as if you learn a new language. There is no olfactive education anywhere, yet it is the most primitive sense—we have used it forever. For instance, with scent you know if there is danger or not. And olfactive memory is so powerful, you can smell something and you can be reminded of your grandmother’s cake. In that way, I think it is key for a brand like Jaeger-LeCoultre to have an olfactive identity, because it creates a stronger link with the product and with the customers, and it creates a memory. 

Nicolas Bonneville on how this opportunity with Jaeger- LeCoultre expands the horizon of his career:

It’s a beautiful highlight and opportunity to speak about my knowledge and my background in a different way. It’s less commercial and not a quest of creating a blockbuster in perfumery, it’s more about the pure emotion and pure savoir-faire of perfumery.

Matthieu Le Voyer on the future evolution of Made of Makers: 

The purpose of Made of Makers is to put the Jaeger-LeCoultre lens on any kind of art. We are always exploring other territories of art, like gastronomy and culinary worlds, painting, now the world of smell and fragrance. We have tapped into all five senses, and though there are still some industries that raise interest in our eyes—without telling you too much—you can imagine we would like to look into industries like tech, fashion, sculpting, and photography.We are continuously identifying new interpretations of the classical arts.The end game is to transcend the product and ultimately offer the true Jaeger-LeCoultre art of living, meaning: what is it today to adapt a timeless, sophisticated, and refined point of view, but still sometimes be a bit disruptive? This is a challenge for us because we would like to remain classic, but as I was explaining, classic doesn’t necessarily mean stuck in the past. 

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Written by Augustus Britton