A Living Surface
An idea born from a watchmaking dream
For its tenth anniversary, Sartory-Billard unveils the SB10.
A watch born from the SB08 project presented in 2024. This concept watch explored an extreme architecture, combining multiple sapphire elements, advanced complications, and a radical vision of time display: a large aperture for the hours, a fluid reading of the minutes, and a central surface entirely freed from the traditional dial.
Its development involved a level of complexity and demands that did not align with the balance we were aiming for.
And yet, its core idea endured: to offer a clear, almost poetic reading of time, grounded in material.
“I couldn’t give up what made the soul of the SB08,” explains Armand Billard. “That large, highly legible hour display, the fluid minute reading, and above all, that open surface, a true blank canvas for creativity.”
The SB10 is that idea made possible, not a simplification but a distillation, true to the Sartory-Billard philosophy. As the brand’s first complication, it marks a significant milestone. A vision once tied to a million-euro project, now made accessible.
250th Anniversary
Created as a limited edition to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, the SB10 250th Anniversary celebrates the story behind one of the nation's most enduring symbols: the Statue of Liberty. Rather than reproducing the monument itself, this edition draws inspiration from the material that made it possible. American copper, whose surface slowly transforms through exposure to oxygen, moisture and time, gradually develops the distinctive blue-green patina recognised around the world. It is this natural evolution, rather than simply the final colour, that became the starting point of the project.
The same idea guided every stage of its creation. American copper is individually CNC-engraved in the United States by Ron Elkins, creating a bespoke pattern inspired by the American flag moving in the wind and carved in deep relief. The copper is then hand-patinated in Scotland by Chris Alexander, better known as The Dial Artist, using techniques that accelerate the same natural oxidation that would normally take decades. Finally, the watch is assembled in France by Armand Billard, bringing together three craftsmen from three countries connected by a shared chapter of history.
Unlike a traditional dial protected beneath a crystal, the SB10's cabochon remains fully exposed. Every engraved groove and every nuance of the patina can be explored with the fingertips. The guilloché is not simply there to catch the light, but to be felt, while the patina gives the copper a surface that changes not only in appearance, but also in character. This is a watch designed to be touched.
Touch is not only part of the experience. It becomes part of its evolution. Over time, repeated contact gradually wears the protective lacquer, allowing the copper beneath to continue its natural evolution. Like the Statue of Liberty itself, every watch will slowly develop its own character.
No two watches will age in exactly the same way.
Each one leaves our workshop with the same American copper, the same CNC-engraved pattern and the same hand-applied patina. From that moment on, however, every watch begins to tell a different story, shaped by its owner.
