André Martinez Miniaturist

Born in 1957 at Barcelona in Spain, André Martinez was three and a half years old when he emigrated to the little town of Le Locle in Switzerland with his parents and elder brother. After completing his schooling here, he went on to train for four years at the Art School in La Chaux-de-Fonds from which he graduated in 1978 with a jeweller’s diploma.

From a love of his region, because he still lives in Le Locle, he preferred to make practical use of his knowledge in the watchmaking branch. Employed for eight years by a local supplier, André Martinez went on to create his own designs: prototypes of complicated watches and pocket watches for luxury watchmaking brands such as Patek Philippe.

In 1985, the talented young Martinez, aged 28, was commissioned by the director of an important dial manufacturing company in La Chaux-de-Fonds, to set up a jewellery department. From the manufacture of the first jewelled dial to responsibility for ten employees in the department, André Martinez qualified as an apprenticeship master in jewellery making and rose to the challenge.
In charge of the development of a range of dial making techniques, in the space of barely five years André Martinez positioned the business as the leader among the finest Swiss manufacturers of jewelled dials.

The passion for design which inspired André Martinez from childhood, and the desire for independence, encouraged him to decide on a career change.

On the strength of the experience gained in making prestige dials, André Martinez opened his own miniaturist’s studio in Le Locle in 1996.

In 2002, his meeting with CORUM was to mark the beginning of a fruitful cooperation uniting their passion and creativity. In 2002, André Martinez developed a new technique for relief engraving on mother-of-pearl, on which he took out a world patent in 2003.

Since that time, André Martinez creates watch dials with handpainted portraits, animals and art reproductions for CORUM.