Lavigne Dress Watch

The first time you fasten the Meylan Sentier, the rose gold tank case sits flat against the wrist the way the design was drawn more than 100 years ago. The white guilloché dial catches the light at an angle, and the blue Breguet hands sweep clean across the Roman numerals. The crocodile-embossed strap is firm at first, then softens to your wrist by the second week. Glance down in a meeting and the blue cabochon crown winks back. After 6 months it has become the watch you reach for without thinking. It reads as yours now.

You stopped buying fashion-brand quartz watches after the third one quit in a drawer. You looked at the luxury maisons and walked away, because you were paying for a name on the dial, not a better watch. The Meylan Sentier is for the buyer who wants genuine Swiss tank craftsmanship and refined provenance, the watch you wear every day and one day hand to your grandson.

Built around a precision Swiss movement and a polished rose gold rectangular tank case. White guilloché center dial, black Roman numerals, blue Breguet-style hands, a crown set with a blue cabochon, finished with a crocodile-embossed genuine leather strap. Engine-turned and blued by the Jura's independent finishing workshops. Refined Swiss provenance you wear every single day.

Henri Meylan, 71, has spent his life around watchmaking in Besançon, France, just across the border from the Jura. He is the man who tracked down the independent finishing workshops of Le Sentier, in Switzerland's Vallée de Joux, where engine-turned dials and blued hands have been made for the grand maisons for more than 200 years. Rather than let a boutique stamp its logo and triple the price, Henri put his own name where the maison's would go and sells the watch direct. If the Meylan Sentier does not feel meaningfully finer than any fashion-brand watch within 30 days, Henri refunds every penny. Not customer service. Henri.