ALTO
ART ON WRIST
ALTO, art on wrist
A newcomer to the watchmaking world, ALTO stands out with its radical approach. ALTO pushes back the limits of creativity and technicality in pieces where art and time come together to create a unique experience: wearing a genuine work of art on one’s wrist.
ART 01
With its first model, ART 01, ALTO lays the foundation for a contemporary project that stands in stark contrast to a polished and standardised watchmaking industry. A project that respects yet challenges the codes of an age-old art.
With its form inspired by the wedge design of 1970s concept cars, the ART 01 is arguably to watchmaking what brutalism is to architecture. It plays with light through its facets while its shape squares the polyhedron.
The ART 01 shows that it is possible to interweave extreme and antinomic elements into a coherent whole. ALTO’s radical design philosophy is translated into a sleek, ergonomic, and elegant watch.
The ART 01 also reflects ALTO’s concept of time. Time moves forward and marches on – no one can resist it. Yet ALTO has again chosen to display its disruptive vision and break away from the established order. The ART 01 subtly reverses the traditional march of time, with a seconds hand that turns backwards. A countdown. A contradiction. A counterpoint to established conventions. That is for you to decide. Whatever the case,
The ART 01 marks the beginning of ALTO’s watchmaking adventure. An artistic adventure without limits.
Reinventing watchmaking through art
ALTO, an acronym for “Art and Limited Time Objects”, takes a radical approach to watchmaking in which art and time merge to create a unique experience.
ALTO invites a bold exploration of the passage of time through the prism of creativity.
ALTO believes in the profound interconnection between art and time, asserting that art has the unique power to capture, reflect and even transform the perception of time.
ALTO is pushing back the boundaries of traditional watchmaking and ushering in a new era with its first creation, the ART 01.
THE SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL
The ART 01 stands out with its unique sapphire crystal. It combines a curved and facetted outer surface with a hemispherical inner surface. A technical feat never before achieved in watchmaking.
THE CASE
Crafted from grade 5 titanium, the case of ART 01 is both strong and lightweight. Its distinctive shape, in continuity with the sapphire crystal, required three years of development and over 20 machining steps. The brushed, satin, and polished finishes are entirely hand-crafted.
THE DIAL
THE MOVEMENT
The ART 01 houses the A01 calibre, an automatic micro-rotor movement conceived and designed exclusively for ALTO. Drawn up by designer Barth Nussbaumer and developed by the Cercle des Horlogers in La Chaux-de-Fonds, this movement combines performance and elegance, with an unprecedented architecture that can be admired through the caseback. The different materials used, the fully customised decorations and the “traits tirés” surfaces on several components give the A01 calibre its distinctive character and unique design. Another special feature is the seconds hand, which turns counter-clockwise and powers the hour and minute hands, which turn in the traditional clockwise direction.
Price on request
The creative entourage
THIBAUD GUITTARD
As the founder of the brand, Thibaud Guittard embodies the passion that drives ALTO. With a background in watch marketing, he founded ALTO with the ambition of reinventing watchmaking by placing art at the heart of his company. Inspired by design, cars, music, and cinema, Thibaud assembled a talented team to turn his vision into reality.
MATHIEU CÉSAR
Writer, director, and photographer, Mathieu César took the reins of ALTO’s artistic direction in order to give it a deep and unique creative meaning. With a film, a musical composition, and a series of photographs, he has given ALTO a cross-disciplinary and holistic approach that goes far beyond ART 01. Mathieu is taking part in a creative and artistic adventure designed to show that ALTO is in tune with the times.
BARTH NUSSBAUMER
The independent designer Bart Nussbaumer drew up the ART 01. He was the only one who understood Thibaud’s disruptive vision and his whole new approach. The ART 01 posed a real technical and aesthetic challenge for the designer as the constraints are ubiquitous in this piece: the curved, bevelled, and hemispherical crystal, its sharp and angular edges; the emerald cut of the case, its finesse; the cut-aways in the dial, the aperture of the movement.
LE CERCLE DES HORLOGERS
YORGO TLOUPAS
A protean artist, Yorgo Tloupas is at the heart of ALTO’s creative endeavour. Using the distinctive shape of the ART 01 as a starting point, he defined the brand’s entire visual and graphic identity, as well as its logo. A very raw identity and that adheres to a level of standardisation beyond common norms in order to give the watch all the space it deserves.