Reservoir
Founded in Paris in 2015 by former banker François Moreau — the name Reservoir means 'fuel tank' in French, and the logo echoes the shape stamped onto wartime jerricans. The core philosophy: inspired by the precision instruments of vintage automobiles, military aircraft, and submarines. Every watch in every collection uses the same patented signature triple-complication display module (97–124 parts): a retrograde minute at 240° (evoking an RPM tachometer or altimeter), a jumping digital hour (evoking a mileage counter), and a power reserve indicator below (a literal fuel gauge). Designed in Paris; Swiss-made with ETA 2824-2 base and Reservoir's proprietary module assembled in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Seven collections span the three source universes. Automotive: Supercharged (Smiths gauges of vintage Jaguars), Longbridge (1960s Mini speedometer — GPHG 2018 Challenge shortlisted), GT Tour, Monza (Autodromo Nazionale Monza). Aviation: Air Cushion (aeronautical instruments), Scope (radar screens). Nautical: Hydrosphere (dive watch, 300m, bronze). Collaborations include naturalist photographer Greg Lecoeur (Hydrosphere LE), Jean Todt, and others. Price entry point from ~€4,000 — remarkable value for a genuine Swiss-made watch with three proprietary complications. GPHG nominated 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021.
The brand's movement architecture has matured through several generations without ever abandoning the founding triad of retrograde minute, jumping hour, and power reserve. The original module, built on an ETA 2824 with Télos, had to be engineered with a security mechanism tolerating anti-clockwise crown action to manage the mechanical stress of an instantaneous jumping hour. A bi-retrograde Sonomaster chronograph followed on a La Joux-Perret base, and for Only Watch the pair developed a full tourbillon, again with Télos — Moreau's third distinct in-house movement. The latest step is the 2026 Mark II series, which moves the brand from dial-driven design to fully architectural: integrated-bracelet GT Tour, Kanister, and Airfight Jet references in sharply faceted 41mm steel, powered by the new RSV-240 calibre — a La Joux-Perret G100 base topped by a 113-component module delivering 56 hours of reserve — priced at €7,200 and available from June 2026. Collaborations have ranged well beyond watchmaking circles: a licensed Popeye edition with Label Noir, a partnership with Revolution, and a striking bracelet braided from rooster feathers by Parisian plumassier Maxime Leroy of Atelier M.Marceau, whose regular clients include Chanel and Jean Paul Gaultier. Two decades after leaving international banking to chase a childhood fascination with dashboard gauges and depth meters, Moreau has built one of the more technically credible cases that a genuinely proprietary complication doesn't require six figures to reach the wrist.