There are some independent watchmakers that go, relatively speaking, a little under the radar; and for no apparent reason. One such example is Ludovic Ballouard, the mastermind behind the charmingly unique Upside Down watch, which displays only the correct hour, the right way up. Having found his feet assembling Lemania chronographs, he quickly climbed through the ranks of F.P. Journe’s atelier before starting his eponymous brand. We sat down with Ludovic to talk airplanes, watchmaking and starting his own business. 

 

So Ludovic, where are you from exactly?

I’m from Brittany in France, I grew up on my family’s farm there.

 

An animal farm?

Yes…

 

What kinds of animals?

[Makes oinking sound].

 

[Laughs] Right… what was it like growing up in that sort of an environment?

As a child, it’s an absolutely genius place to grow up, but as you get older, it becomes more difficult, because as you mature and want to see the world, it’s a difficult environment to leave; the farm life wasn’t really for me as a career.

 

Was there an expectation from the family for you to continue the business?

No, not at all. My family totally understood that running the farm was just not going to be something that I would want to do. They had expected me to break from that way of life, see the world and get a career in something else.

 

And did you have specific ambitions to travel?

Yes, absolutely, I wanted to discover the world. I wanted to see different cultures and people, experien