Version watches: history, models and owner reviews

Version Watches, founded in 2024, is a French watch house born in Paris and led by Cybèle Vigneron, Carla Lanfranchini and Lucas Portugaels; it speaks to enthusiasts of Swiss Made automatic watches who are looking for a contemporary, architectural and creative piece, conceived as a design object as much as a mechanical timekeeper.

Paris, contemporary design and Swiss Made watchmaking

Version Watches enters watchmaking with the approach of a young independent house, coming more from design and creative entrepreneurship than from an old watchmaking heritage. Its identity rests on a simple idea: offering an automatic watch manufactured and assembled in Switzerland, but designed with a French sensibility turned toward architecture, furniture, light and volumes. The brand aims to open a creative window onto watchmaking, giving an accessible watch a bolder visual presence than that of a classical three-hand model.

This approach can be seen in the first V01 - LCC collection, which favours partially openworked dials, material contrasts, transparency effects and a highly readable graphic construction. Version Watches does not seek to multiply complications or claim an invented history: it builds its message around design, object coherence, limited series and clearly identified Swiss production. For a buyer, the interest therefore comes less from old heritage than from an assumed contemporary proposition, positioned between designer watch, architectural object and everyday automatic watch.

V01 - LCC: a first collection in three colours

The V01 - LCC collection is the foundation of Version Watches. It comes in three coloured interpretations, each limited to one hundred pieces, for a full series of three hundred examples. The watches share a 316L stainless steel case measuring thirty-eight millimeters, an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, an openworked Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement, a stated power reserve of around forty-one hours and a transparent caseback revealing the movement. The choice between the models is mainly a matter of visual atmosphere: clear light, rosy softness or a darker tension.

• Version Watches V01 - LCC Éclat — Version with matte white partially openworked dial, conceived around light, clarity and contemporary elegance that is easy to wear.
• Version Watches V01 - LCC Rosée — Softer and warmer version, with a peach or rosy tone that reinforces the design dimension and the less conventional side of the collection.
• Version Watches V01 - LCC Tempête — Deep blue and steel version, more contrasted and more graphic, selected at the 2025 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in the Challenge category.

These three models show a desire not to reduce the first collection to a simple dial variation. Each colour changes the perception of the watch: Éclat emphasizes brightness, Rosée softness, and Tempête a more assertive presence. The thirty-eight-millimeter format preserves a certain versatility, while still leaving enough dial space to express the construction. The watch therefore remains relatively accessible in use, while claiming real visual personality.

Dial architecture, openworked Sellita and limited series

The V01 - LCC rests on an interesting tension between reliable mechanics and creative clothing. The Sellita SW200-1 movement is a coherent choice for a young brand: it is a known Swiss automatic base, serviceable and suited to an everyday watch. Version Watches does not present it as an exceptional complication, but as a serious foundation serving a more personal design. Perceived value lies in the balance between proven Swiss movement, openworked dial and an architectural approach to design.

The partially open dial gives the watch unusual depth in this price range. Without falling into full skeletonization that can sometimes be hard to read, the collection reveals mechanical elements and plays with voids, solids, textures and reflections. The presence of interchangeable straps also reinforces the idea of a modular watch, able to evolve according to context, outfit or mood. The limitation to one hundred examples per colour adds a collectible dimension, without turning the watch into an inaccessible or purely speculative object.

Pricing, distribution and buyer profile

Version Watches sits in the accessible premium area for a Swiss Made automatic watch from a young independent house. The observed public price for the V01 - LCC is around one thousand four hundred ninety-five euros, with distribution mainly through direct sales, pre-orders, specialist retailers and a presence at watch events or selections. The target audience brings together buyers drawn to design, independence, limited series and a French alternative to more classical automatic watches.

This positioning can appeal to a first-time buyer of a mechanical watch who wants to avoid overly standardized propositions, but also to a collector who already owns several watches and is looking for a fresher, more graphic piece connected to the French independent scene. Prudence means remembering that the brand is very young: its history, service, market value and catalogue depth are still under construction. On the other hand, its identity is already clear: Version Watches claims Parisian creation, Swiss execution and strong aesthetic ambition, with a concentrated but coherent first collection.

Conclusion

Version Watches is for those who want a contemporary automatic watch, designed with real graphic intent and produced as a limited series. The V01 - LCC collection will especially suit lovers of design, architecture, openworked dials and recent French watch brands that embrace Swiss manufacturing. The choice between the three versions should be made according to the personality desired: brighter, softer or more contrasted. Since the brand is still young, it is especially useful to compare the aesthetic promise with real wrist use, legibility and everyday comfort.

Before deciding, rely on Dialicious customer reviews to compare the brand message with owner experience.

(Updated June 2026)