Inside Laventure: A Day with Clément Gaud and the Marine Type 3
Deep in the woods outside Geneva, down a winding road that gives little away, sits a modest timber cabin. From the outside, you’d never imagine that one of Switzerland’s most sought after independent watch brands quietly operates from within.
For most Laventure owners, collecting a new watch begins with a courier ringing the doorbell. For Mark, it began with an early morning flight to Switzerland.
Having secured one of the latest Marine Type 3 models, shipping it halfway across Europe somehow felt like the wrong way to begin the ownership experience. Laventure isn’t a brand that produces thousands of watches every year. In fact, founder Clément Gaud builds around 100 watches annually, making each one feel more like an individually crafted object than another limited edition release.
If there was ever a watch worth collecting in person, this was it. That decision transformed what could have been a simple collection into something far more memorable.
A Brand Built on Independence
Before discussing the Marine Type 3 itself, it’s worth understanding the man behind it.
Clément founded Laventure in 2017 after spending five years working in an industrial design agency, designing primarily within the watch industry. Despite gaining valuable experience, something was missing. “I realised I was too independent,” he says with a smile. “So I launched my own watch brand.” That independence has become Laventure’s defining characteristic.
While many young brands begin by following familiar formulas before gradually finding their identity, Laventure seemed to arrive fully formed. Every release has carried a recognisable personality. Chunky cases, oversized crowns, rich colours, generous lume and an unmistakable vintage influence have become signatures of the brand.
Yet Clément has never been interested in simply recreating old watches. Instead, each collection begins with an imagined adventure.
“Timepieces for Explorers” isn’t just a slogan printed on the website. It’s the philosophy that drives every new project. Each watch explores a different theme, drawing inspiration from equipment, places and experiences that fascinate him personally.
Rather than chasing market trends, Laventure follows its own path. Perhaps that’s why collectors have responded so enthusiastically.
Hidden in Plain Sight
Arriving at Clément’s workshop immediately reinforces everything the brand represents. The timber cabin is tucked away amongst the trees, almost hidden from view. It serves as both home and workshop, blurring the line between personal space and creative studio.
It feels exactly right. Independent watchmaking often carries an air of romance, but this isn’t manufactured authenticity. It’s simply where Clément chooses to live and work. Stepping inside is like walking into the mind of a designer.
Vintage diving helmets share shelf space with old underwater cameras. Scale models of Aston Martins and classic Land Rovers sit alongside books, sketches and countless objects collected over the years. Nothing appears carefully staged for visitors. Every item feels as though it has earned its place.
It’s impossible not to notice the recurring themes. Adventure, Engineering, Exploration, Mechanical objects built with purpose.
Spend just a few minutes looking around and it becomes obvious where Laventure finds its inspiration.
More Than a Workshop
Before the conversation turned to watches, Clément disappeared briefly into the kitchen. Moments later he returned carrying coffee. Not just any coffee, according to Mark, but one of the best he’d had in a long time. It set the tone for the afternoon.
Rather than launching straight into specifications and marketing messages, the conversation wandered naturally between design, travel, cars and the creative process. There were no rehearsed presentations or carefully managed demonstrations. It felt less like visiting a watch company and more like spending time with someone genuinely passionate about creating beautiful objects.
That’s one of the real pleasures of independent watchmaking.
When dealing with major luxury brands, there are often layers of people between the customer and the person responsible for designing the watch. Product managers, marketing departments and regional representatives all play their part.
With Laventure, there is none of that. Every design decision comes directly from Clément. Every collection reflects his interests. Every watch tells a story that begins with his imagination. Meeting him makes that immediately obvious.
The Man Behind the Brand
Spending time with Clément, one thing quickly becomes apparent. He’s not trying to build the next Rolex or Omega. He isn’t chasing production numbers or trying to release six new references every year. He’d rather spend months refining a single detail than rushing a watch to market. That obsessive approach explains why Laventure produces only around 100 watches annually. It’s a pace that wouldn’t make sense to a large company, but for Clément it’s essential. Every watch has to feel like a Laventure before it ever reaches a customer’s wrist.
A Different Direction
As attention finally turned towards the Marine Type 3 resting on the table, Clément admitted something that might surprise existing Laventure collectors. “This collection took me out of my comfort zone because it is very different from my previous ones.” He’s right.
Although unmistakably a Laventure, the Marine Type 3 feels like a significant evolution for the brand. Previous collections leaned heavily into vintage sports watches, borrowing cues from classic dive watches and military tool watches without ever becoming direct homages. The Marine Type 3 charts an entirely different course.
Rather than looking to diving watches for inspiration, Clément turned his attention to marine chronometers and navigation instruments from the 1980s. More specifically, quartz and Megaquartz navigation clocks produced by brands such as Omega and Patek Philippe. It’s an obscure source of inspiration.
Most collectors probably wouldn’t make the connection immediately. Yet once Clément explains the concept, every aspect of the watch begins to make sense. “I wanted to recreate the feeling of a very small, extremely precise chronometer inside a much larger instrument.”
That single sentence explains almost everything. The oversized bezel, the compact dial, the unusually small hands, even the overall proportions.
Rather than designing around what collectors have come to expect, Clément designed around the feeling he wanted the watch to create. The result is something genuinely distinctive.
First Impressions
The Marine Type 3 is one of those rare watches that photographs struggle to capture accurately. When the first images were released, opinion was divided. Some loved the bold proportions, others questioned the unusually small dial opening and broad engraved bezel.
Seeing the watch in person changes that perception almost immediately. At 38mm across, it sounds relatively compact, yet it carries considerably more wrist presence than the numbers suggest. The broad bezel dominates the front of the watch, giving it the appearance of a precision instrument rather than a conventional dive watch.
It’s undeniably unusual. But unusual isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In an era where so many sports watches seem to borrow from the same handful of design templates, the Marine Type 3 feels refreshingly original. It isn’t trying to resemble anything else.
Instead, it asks the wearer to understand the thinking behind it. Once that happens, the proportions no longer feel strange. They feel inevitable.
If the Marine Type 3 is different in concept, it’s equally different in execution. This isn’t simply another titanium sports watch. Every element has been considered through the lens of Clément’s original idea, creating a watch that feels cohesive rather than a collection of interesting specifications. That’s perhaps its greatest strength.
Proportions with a Purpose
One of the first things Clément spoke about was proportion. Most watch designers instinctively try to maximise dial size. Larger dials generally improve legibility and create a greater visual impact on the wrist. The Marine Type 3 does the opposite.
“I wanted to recreate the sensation of a very small, highly precise chronometer inside a larger instrument,” Clément explained. That decision resulted in what he describes as “disconcerting proportions.” It’s an accurate description.
The broad bezel immediately commands attention, while the dial sits recessed beneath the tall crystal, almost like the instrument panel that inspired it. Large Arabic numerals occupy the outer edge, with separate tracks for the hours, minutes and seconds creating a layout that initially appears busy but quickly reveals itself to be remarkably intuitive.
Clément deliberately separated each layer of information to improve readability. “The dial is small, and the hands are small too, so I worked on large graduations and separated every piece of information.”
It works. Rather than trying to absorb everything at once, your eye instinctively finds exactly what it’s needs. It’s a subtle design trick that becomes more apparent the longer the watch is worn.
The case deserves particular attention. Rather than using the more common Grade 5 titanium, Laventure opted for Grade 23, a medical-grade alloy more often associated with surgical implants and aerospace applications.
It offers greater purity and improved toughness while retaining the lightweight qualities titanium is known for. Numbers on a specification sheet rarely tell the whole story though. What stands out most is the finish.
Instead of brushing or bead blasting the surface, Clément chose a stonewashed treatment that immediately gives the watch character. It feels almost broken in from day one, softening the industrial appearance without losing any of its tool watch credentials.
It also makes perfect sense for a watch designed to be worn. Minor marks simply disappear into the finish rather than standing out. This is a watch that actively encourages use rather than cautious ownership.
The white Marine Type 3 introduces one of the watch’s cleverest features. The entire dial is constructed from solid Super-LumiNova. Rather than applying luminous paint to individual markers, the dial itself becomes the luminous surface. The effect is spectacular in low light. Yet during the day, it remains understated and surprisingly restrained. It’s another example of Clément solving a practical problem through design.
With a relatively small dial aperture, maximising contrast and legibility became essential. The fully luminous dial achieves exactly that without appearing gimmicky. Combined with the oversized seconds hand, itself a deliberate nod to the watch’s chronometer status, the Marine Type 3 becomes one of the most legible watches Laventure has produced.
Why Plexiglass?
Perhaps no single feature has generated more discussion than the crystal. At a time when sapphire has become the accepted standard, Laventure has deliberately gone in another direction. The Marine Type 3 uses plexiglass. For some buyers, that decision may initially seem difficult to justify.
After all, sapphire is harder, more scratch resistant and has become synonymous with premium watchmaking. Clément sees it differently. “Plexiglass is more resistant to impacts,” he explained. “If the watch falls, the crystal won’t shatter. It flexes and absorbs the shock instead.” It’s an interesting argument.
While plexiglass will inevitably pick up scratches through daily wear, those marks become part of the watch’s story. Many can be polished away in minutes, while everyday contact with clothing naturally softens lighter marks over time. More importantly, plexiglass changes the character of the watch.
The tall chimney-shaped crystal creates warmth that sapphire simply can’t replicate. Light bends differently, reflections become softer, the dial appears deeper. It’s difficult to appreciate until seeing the watch in person, but once noticed, it’s impossible to ignore.
As Clément put it with a grin, “Once you’ve experienced plexiglass, you understand.” Mark left Geneva understanding exactly what he meant.
Built Like a Proper Tool Watch
For all its design-led thinking, the Marine Type 3 remains every inch a tool watch. The movement is COSC certified, reinforcing the chronometer theme that inspired the project in the first place. Surrounding it is a soft iron inner cage providing anti-magnetic protection, another nod to the marine instruments that needed to remain accurate in challenging environments.
Water resistance is rated at 300 metres. Again, these aren’t features included simply to satisfy enthusiasts comparing specifications online. Each one contributes to the story Clément wanted to tell. This isn’t a dive watch pretending to be a marine chronometer. It’s a modern wristwatch imagining what those precision instruments might look like today.
Numbers rarely tell the full story. at 38mm, the Marine Type 3 sounds modest. On the wrist, it has considerably more presence than expected. Much of that comes from the expansive bezel, but the lightweight titanium construction prevents it from ever feeling cumbersome. It’s an incredibly comfortable watch.
The slim profile allows it to slip beneath a cuff with ease, while the broad case creates reassuring stability on the wrist. The stonewashed finish also deserves another mention here. Where polished titanium often feels slightly clinical, Laventure’s finish gives the watch warmth and texture.
It feels like something designed to accompany years of adventures rather than spending most of its life in a watch box. That’s perhaps the greatest compliment any tool watch can receive. It encourages you to wear it.
More Than the Sum of Its Parts
Looking purely at the specification sheet, it’s easy to question the Marine Type 3. There are plenty of watches at this price point offering in-house movements, ceramic bezels or sapphire crystals. But reducing Laventure to a list of specifications misses the point entirely.
Independent watchmaking has never been about chasing value on paper. It’s about ideas. It’s about buying something created because one person believed in it enough to bring it to life.
The Marine Type 3 embodies that philosophy. Every unusual decision, every unconventional proportion, every material choice. They all exist because Clément wanted them there, not because market research suggested they should.
That’s increasingly rare., and increasingly refreshing.
The Marine Type 3 is an excellent watch. But after spending an afternoon in Clément’s workshop, surrounded by the objects that inspire him and hearing the passion behind every design decision, it became obvious that Laventure isn’t really selling watches. It’s inviting collectors into Clément’s world. Mark arrived in Geneva to collect a watch. He left with something far more valuable: an understanding of why independent watchmaking continues to matter.