by Brent Robillard
A French Second
For French designer Nicolas Ducoudert, founding Maison Beaubleu wasn’t a business plan—it was a personal pursuit. “At the very beginning, I didn’t set out to create a watch brand,” he admits. “Honestly, it was just the selfish pleasure of wanting to have my own watch.” But his experience designing everything from furniture to France’s high-speed TGV interiors, combined with early feedback from watch enthusiasts, changed his course. “People connected with the design—without a logo, without marketing. That gave me the confidence to build something around it.”
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Signature hands
Launched in Paris in 2017, Maison Beaubleu stands apart with its signature circular hands, which glide over the dial like planetary orbits. The effect is both poetic and contemplative, a far cry from traditional timekeeping tools. “Watches were originally practical,” says Ducoudert, “but we wanted to invite a more experimental way of viewing time.”
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The beautiful is always strange
At the core of Beaubleu’s vision is the idea that beauty lies in the unexpected. Ducoudert draws inspiration from Baudelaire’s famous line: “The beautiful is always strange.” He sees creativity not as a straight path, but as a series of artistic detours—“happy accidents” that twist perception and create something new. “It’s by going against what seems obvious that we end up twisting reality a bit,” he explains.
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The paradox of the second
Storytelling plays a subtle yet essential role in each collection. For the Seconde Française line, Ducoudert explored the paradox of the second: ever-present yet rarely noticed. “No one actually uses the second to manage their day,” he notes, “but it’s always there.” That idea inspired a central second hand that floats just above the dial, both elusive and essential.
Much of Beaubleu’s identity also comes from the circle itself—its hands, its themes, its philosophy. “The circle kept appearing in my design thesis on emptiness,” Ducoudert says. “It represents space, time, and the way we interpret both. Using it felt almost inevitable.”
With Beaubleu, Ducoudert hasn’t just launched a brand—he’s created a new way of seeing time: fluid, poetic, and always slightly askew.
Beaubleu–fluid, poetic, and always slightly askew
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About the author
Brent Robillard is a writer, educator, craftsman, and watch enthusiast. He is the author of four novels. You can follow him on Instagram.
This article was originally published in Volume 1, Number 2 of The Calibrated Wrist.
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