How a Newcomer Swiss Watchmaker Makes Sci-Fi-Level Wristwear
Vanguart is quietly reshaping what time looks like on your wrist. With case shapes that feel pulled from the set of a Denis Villeneuve sci-fi epic, its horological objects have the appearance of something straight from the future.
Founded in 2017, the brand officially launched in 2021 with the jaw-dropping CHF 320,000 debut known as the Black Hole Tourbillon.
The watch was wild: A sculptural case, flying tourbillon, and concentric, sloping hour rings that literally pull your gaze into the center like the gravitational well of, well, a black hole.
If you’ve ever watched Interstellar, you get the vibe. The tourbillon — elevated, off-center, and floating — is the gravitational core. Around it, three 3D rings show the hours, minutes, and seconds, all warped in toward the center like time is collapsing in on itself. Only eight were made.
It was quite the entrance. Vanguart didn’t tiptoe into Swiss watchmaking’s notoriously slow space.
But don’t let the sci-fi looks fool you, this is serious horology. The movement, case, and strap system are all engineered to an obsessive level, with comfort and functionality to match the spectacle.
Vanguart’s team includes veterans from APRP and Girard-Perregaux, so it’s not just surface flash. It's the kind of high-complication indie watchmaking you'd expect from names like Richard Mille or Greubel Forsey but with its own distinct, design-forward POV.
“Yes, I love the sci-fi world,” Co-Creative Director Thierry Fischer tells Highsnobiety. “But I’m also passionate about cars, furniture, and industrial design. The idea was never just to make something that looks new — but to bring together everything I love in one fluent design.”
Fischer’s journey to high horology is almost mythic. Vanguart’s initial designs all started as his university thesis and, only a few years after graduating, they were on the wrists of names like Michael B. Jordan and James Harden. And it hasn’t slowed down since, Vanguart’s newer releases prove it’s just getting started.
I got a hands-on look at the Vanguart Orb, the brand’s more streamlined model (relatively speaking), and it wears like a dream with its curved case, skeletonized movement, and clever rotor system powered by a floating diamond counterweight.
Then came something even more special: A sneak peek at the Black Hole 25. This one builds on the OG Tourbillon with engraved details that resemble stars, subtly reworking the dial to add cosmic depth.
It takes what I like about the Black Hole and refines it just enough for the overarching design thesis to feel even more realized, leaning more heavily into the space-time themes.
Fischer assures me that they are just getting started with some more exciting things in the pipeline, which include a few more additions to the Vangaurt universe. Wherever they go next, it’s going to be wild. And they are worth watching.
