Kauri Wooden Watches – Notes

Kauri is the brain-child of Geneva-born watchmaker and cabinetmaker Samuel Gillioz.
- Aimed at breaking the stereotype of wooden watches as “kitschy” or low-end objects.
- Targets collectors who already own pieces from the “big Manufactures” and seek true mechanical originality.
Early fascination with wood
- Family holidays spent in Fribourg watching an uncle carve raw wood statuettes with only a knife.
- Quote: “It fascinated me.”
Personal woodworking history
- Has worked with wood for $12$ years.
- Bought a 1949 lathe and a 1973 milling machine while still in watchmaking school.

Training & Early Career
- Entered Geneva Watchmaking School in $2008$ .
- Won Richard Mille’s prize for best first-year student at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève ( $2009$ ), receiving his first mechanical watch.
- Joined Vacheron Constantin’s elite department Les Cabinotiers in $2014$ – the workshop famous for the “world’s most complicated watch.”
Key student project
- Integrated an alarm complication into a training watch, catching Vacheron Constantin’s attention before graduation.
Decision to become independent
- At age $30$ (year $2018$ ), felt advancement prospects were limited.
- “Now or never” moment: left stable job, no children, ready for risk.
- First step: sabbatical trip to New Zealand with his partner → discovery of kauri wood.

Kauri trees are more than $(30000)$ years old.
- Preserved in acidic swamps, later carbon-dated in the USA before resale.
Revelation → inspired first Kauri watch model (pre-Covid, $2019$ official launch).

Kauri (namesake of the brand) – fossilized, ancient.
Brazilian violet wood – extremely dense, striking grain contrasts.
Macassar ebony – classic luxury hardwood.
Amaranth (purpleheart) – vivid coloration.
Briar burl
- Mediterranean origin, ball-shaped growth between root and trunk.
- Dense, stable, “flame” grain; also used by Saint-Claude pipe makers.
Compressed Swiss walnut
- Sourced from a Zurich start-up; EPFL-developed process heats and compresses the wood to $5 \times$ its original thickness for higher density.
Sustainability & legality
- Every species backed by a CITES certificate (legal, sustainable, traceable).
- Utilises only off-cuts; some clients supply wood from their own gardens → “second life” philosophy.

Wood’s behavior differs sharply from metal:
- Subject to expansion; requires readjustment after each machining step.
Case finishing sequence
- $12$ distinct operations per facet.
- Total working time per case: $4$ – $6$ days.
Gillioz applies metallurgical knowledge to “tame” wood; perfect balance took $7$ years to master.

Goal: high-end horology on a “human scale.”
Interim solution: external movement
- Chose Soprod (fully Swiss production) while capital is built for in-house calibre.
- Only non-Swiss component = sapphire crystal.
Future objective: manufacture his own movement to move further up-market and keep more work in-house.

No outside investors – maintains full creative control and independence.
Understands staged growth: accepts temporary compromises (outsourced movement) to secure long-term vision.
Emphasizes hands-on craftsmanship and limited production rather than mass scaling.

Up-cycling & material storytelling: each watch conveys history (fossilized kauri, backyard tree sentimental value, etc.).
Blends cabinetmaking artistry with haute horlogerie engineering → challenges preconceived value hierarchies (wood vs. metal).
Environmental responsibility reinforced by traceability (CITES) and by using off-cuts.

Pages list unrelated Le Temps articles (Middle-East conflicts, Top Chef, Swatch production site, Donald Trump, etc.).
- Included to acknowledge transcript completeness; not connected to Kauri story.
“Most Read” & “Editor’s Choice” sections showcase typical newspaper sidebars, demonstrating media context but no direct relevance.

Continues Swiss tradition of independent, artisanal watchmaking reminiscent of early cabinotiers.
Illustrates crossover of watchmaking with other crafts (cabinetmaking, pipe making).
Demonstrates rising consumer desire for provenance, sustainability, and narrative in luxury goods.