Brian Ng, reporting for The Financial Times, pays a visit to the acclaimed Lycée Edgar Faure school of watchmaking in France and follows up with the graduates who have avoided "being absorbed into the machinery of the Swiss giants."

None expresses the desire to reach the size of FP Journe, let alone Patek Philippe or Rolex: their grand ambition is to make the best watches and clocks they can, from start to finish, under their own name. In so doing, they are preserving the traditional methods of horology in the modern world.