⁣⁢The legacy of a family house, measuring time for nearly 80 years⁤⁣

Herbelin’s story is rooted in the curious gaze of a young man from Charquemont, a village in the Haut-Doubs region, where mountains brush against the Swiss border. In the 1930s, against his parents’ wishes, Michel Herbelin secretly began mastering the meticulous art of watchmaking under his uncle’s tutelage. He honed his skills in the region’s many workshops, earning a reputation for rigor and precision.

But after World War II, faced with an industry that sacrificed quality for productivity, Michel was indignant. He refused to compromise. In 1947, in his modest apartment, Michel created his first watches. He named them "Impec," as in "impeccable"—a true declaration of principle. With the help of his wife Jeanne, a schoolteacher, he designed, drew, assembled, and regulated his pieces himself. Each dial was drawn to scale, each movement meticulously adjusted.

His suppliers, chosen in France and Switzerland, reflected his exacting standards, where only quality mattered. Quickly recognized as a precision regulator, he joined the Société Française de Chronométrie. He initially sold locally, then throughout France, crisscrossing the country piloting his own small twin-engine aircraft.

Michel Herbelin was more than a watchmaker. An accomplished sportsman, he would race down ski slopes with sports legends like Charles Bozon. But it was the sea that truly captivated him: the Giens peninsula, Porquerolles, sailing… He found escape and freedom there, spending his retirement aboard his boat, Ulysse IV, until his passing in 2012 at the age of 91.

In the 1970s, two of his children, Jean-Claude and Pierre-Michel, joined the adventure. Jean-Claude developed the watch designs and opened the brand to international markets, achieving notable success in the United States, Scandinavian countries, and South Africa. Pierre-Michel, meanwhile, guided the Maison through the quartz crisis by mastering this new technology and developing slimmer, more modern, often feminine models. "Watch jewelry" became a cornerstone of the Michel Herbelin collection.