Co-creation at Beaubleu

A major feature of Beaubleu is the concept of co-creation. What is it? Involving the brand's customers in the creation of a new model and an entire collection, whether permanent or limited edition.

At the beginning, the first collection of Beaubleu. When the brand was born in 2017, the public was there and welcomed the young Parisian Maison onto the watchmaking scene. Its round hands and its desire to break free from codes through the culture of leisure attracted attention. Founder Nicolas Ducoudert says he was very touched by the help he received during its launch and the support provided by its first customers. " From the start, there was a real exchange, a relationship that was established and that I wanted to continue in the long term ". If two monologues do not make a dialogue, Beaubleu wanted to continue to discuss with its loyal ambassadors and thank them for the trust they had shown in it from the beginning.

This mutual trust that has been established over time has led to the introduction of the concept of co-creation. Concretely, this consists of involving all owners of a Beaubleu watch in the development of a future collection, limited or permanent edition.

First of all, it is about understanding the major stages of creating a watch from a designer's point of view. " I first explain my creative intention, that is to say the concept that gave birth to the collection " says Nicolas. " Most often, it starts with an idea on the notion of time, or for example, for the recent "Seconde Française", to highlight the second, often forgotten and considered useless. Then I share a moodboard, a research board, so that everyone becomes aware that my inspirations can come from other worlds such as furniture, photography or even nature ." The second part consists of introducing each ambassador to the formal and technical research on the case, indexes and typography used on the dial of a model for example. Finally, the last step, the creative proposals. Beaubleu bares all and reveals its sketches through around twenty semi-realistic renderings, and not 3D simulations. " It requires projecting yourself! Because they are still drawings " Nicolas jokes. Each ambassador becomes a judge and then submits his or her choice, which allows the brand to establish a ranking and only retain the most popular models.

This modest approach is a real reflection on what happens at Beaubleu. It allows customers first of all to be made aware of the creative process of a watch, but also and above all to be truly involved and help Nicolas and his teams write the future of the brand. A winning move on both sides! Each ambassador is the guardian of the secrets of the creation of each collection and forever holds a piece of the history of Beaubleu with drawings of models that will never see the light of day as well as those that will come out several months later. For the Maison, it is also a valuable help and a kind of strategic advice. " It is thanks to our customers involved in co-creation that we decided to launch a permanent collection (the Ecce collection ). These same customers who also kindly told us that we should not forget to continue to release limited editions " explains Nicolas. The designer says he was literally stunned by the number of responses when he asked them whether they should embark on a permanent collection. “ We had over 2,000 responses! But beyond the number, we were truly moved by the long paragraphs written by our ambassadors, testifying to their desire to get involved with us .”

Co-creation at Beaubleu is a true and sincere story. It's not "fake" so if you're not yet part of this friendly team and you feel like it, you know what you have to do!