The young watchmaker is showing its maturity with its sophomore release, presenting two new ranges that are cooked up using mostly French ingredients.

Olivier Jonquet had the idea to create a new French watchmaking company in 2013. One year later, he was up and running thanks to a crowdfunding campaign. For such a new player in the world of watches, the result was a success.

The first line was called the Elie, a vintage chic timepiece which was developed in a limited edition series. The first production run was limited, in part, because the watches used a stockpile of never before used French vintage movements – “new old stock”, or NOS, as they’re called.

Two years later, the brand is back more mature and ready to expand.

They have just launched two new standard watch ranges - the Carosse and the Captain - which borrow from the successes of the Elie. That means both have the familiar stainless steel cushion-shape case, and are inspired by the styling of the 1930s. The new watches are also slightly reworked and a bit more contemporary in size, measuring in at 43.5mm x 43.5mm, compared to 38mm x 38mm before.

Olivier Jonquet still likes to keep his operations as local as possible. He selects components primarily made by French craftsmen or small enterprises. That business model limits production to about 200 timepieces for each range. But it also ensures that their watches will not be seen on everyone’s wrists.

In terms of the movement, the French brand had to look across the border – each of their watches relies on the Swiss-made manual winding ETA 6498-1 movement.

You can get your hands on these retro chic watches for under 2,000 Euros, backed by a two-year guarantee. If you wait too long and miss out, worry not, because the brand also plans to launch special editions in parallel to the standard Carosse and Captain models.