Maison Manufacture RALF TECH
A fiercely independent Franco-Swiss brand created in 1998 by Frank HUYGHE, based in Paris and in Lajoux, in the Jura region in Switzerland, RALF TECH is an exclusive brand proposing a collection of great quality, sporting a powerful design, with innovative movements recognised for their intrinsic quality, exceptional durability and reliability.
Irreverent and bold, RALF TECH is the manufacturer of choice of countless military elite forces in the world, not to mention professional divers and international athletes. RALF TECH timepieces are renowned the world over for their legendary reliability, exceptional robustness and proven resistance to the most extreme conditions
Irreverent and bold, RALF TECH is the manufacturer of choice of countless military elite forces in the world, not to mention professional divers and international athletes. RALF TECH timepieces are renowned the world over for their legendary reliability, exceptional robustness and proven resistance to the most extreme conditions
ORIGINS
Propriano, Corsica. July 5, 2005. Pascal Bernabé is an explorer: deep-water wrecks, submersed caves, deep-sea forests, a world of silence... Only last month, another diver established the world record for unassisted diving in the Red sea at minus three hundred twenty eight metres. Today, in the open sea off shore from the island, Pascal Bernabé is ready to push the boundaries again; the objective is three hundred and thirty metres. Twelve metres more, a giant’s leap. The ascent alone lasts more than nine hours, from stop to stop in the dark and lonely deep of the ocean. One of his lamps implodes, the two depth computers also fail. Only one tool left to calculate decompression stops: his watch, a RALF TECH timepiece expressly designed by Frank Huyghe for this world record breaking endeavour which will shape the history of horlogerie conquering the same depths as the diver. Three hundred and thirty meters, the goal is reached for the man and his watch. The WR1 deserves the name that its creator envisaged: World Record 1. A watchmaker's watch? Not in the least, a tool from a Professional diving equipment manufacturer. No other watch has ever equalled the WR1 performance since the historic record was set by RALF TECH on July 5, 2005. |
In 1996, the professional diver Frank Huyghe created RALF TECH. The name was chosen specifically to indicate the link to the “Technological” prowess of the brand, also to link it to the specific materials and techniques (“Tek”) needed by pro divers to go to greater depths compared to recreational diving.
In the catalogue: fins, masks, snorkels, suits, pressure regulators, tanks, but also technical bags and accessories driven by a spirit of competition and betterment.
Following the same guiding passion, Frank Huyghe designed and developed in 2003 the first watch capable of withstand the enormous pressure of great depths to accompany Pascal Bernabé during his successful attempt to break the world record for unassisted diving on 5th July 2005, this was the RALF TECH WR1. At the end of the same year, a limited edition of five hundred timepieces were produced to celebrated such great feat and distributed via several specialised scuba diving magazines.
In 2006 the world of horlogerie discovered the brand that at the first attempt shattered the world record for unassisted diving. No watchmaker has ever brought their timepieces to such great depths in real conditions; no maker of professional diving equipment had ever climbed so high in the hushed lounges of the watchmaking medium.
In 2008, on the trail of the enormous success generated by the WR1 in the world of scuba diving and among watch collectors, RALF TECH abandons all other acitivies and focuses exclusively on watchmaking with the ambitious objective to design, develop, produce and distribute garde-temps with a strong character at the same time capable, accurate, and reliable. Operators of military elite special forces around the globe, skippers of the Vendée Globe, racers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all of them cooperate today alongside the watchmakers of the Maison to develop RALF TECH timepieces and contribute to their constant improvement.
In the catalogue: fins, masks, snorkels, suits, pressure regulators, tanks, but also technical bags and accessories driven by a spirit of competition and betterment.
Following the same guiding passion, Frank Huyghe designed and developed in 2003 the first watch capable of withstand the enormous pressure of great depths to accompany Pascal Bernabé during his successful attempt to break the world record for unassisted diving on 5th July 2005, this was the RALF TECH WR1. At the end of the same year, a limited edition of five hundred timepieces were produced to celebrated such great feat and distributed via several specialised scuba diving magazines.
In 2006 the world of horlogerie discovered the brand that at the first attempt shattered the world record for unassisted diving. No watchmaker has ever brought their timepieces to such great depths in real conditions; no maker of professional diving equipment had ever climbed so high in the hushed lounges of the watchmaking medium.
In 2008, on the trail of the enormous success generated by the WR1 in the world of scuba diving and among watch collectors, RALF TECH abandons all other acitivies and focuses exclusively on watchmaking with the ambitious objective to design, develop, produce and distribute garde-temps with a strong character at the same time capable, accurate, and reliable. Operators of military elite special forces around the globe, skippers of the Vendée Globe, racers of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, all of them cooperate today alongside the watchmakers of the Maison to develop RALF TECH timepieces and contribute to their constant improvement.
SAILING
Mastering time in the extreme conditions of the oceanic depths pushes naturally RALF TECH towards the surface of the sea and the world of sailing. The brand’s first foray in the world of offshore regattas was in 2012 when RALF TECH became the official timekeeper of the legendary Vendée Globe. François Gabart, the winner, crossed the finish line with his RALF TECH timepiece firmly on his wrist, so did the majority of the other skippers. In 2013 RALF TECH again is Official Timekeeper for another famous offshore sailing race, the Transat JacquesVabre. In 2016, it is the turn of the Transat Anglaise to demand the brand to manage the timing of the event. The winner of the IMOCA category (monohulls of 60 feet) Armel Le Cléac’h wears a RALF TECH; the skipper continued the work with the brand until he became an official ambassador and went on to wear a RALF TECH timepiece in each of the races he competed since, including the latest edition of the Vendée Globe (2016-2017) which saw him crossing the finishing line first. |
RACING
RALF TECH starts getting involved with motor sports in 2011 participating to the Monte Carlo Rally and to the World Series 3.5 by Renault.
In 2013 and 2014 the Maison becomes Official Timekeeper of the Trophée Andros, the first event completely dedicated to electric racing cars.
Since 2014 RALF TECH is partner of the Alpine official racing team and shares with the team the double title of European Champion and World Champion. The young prodigy driver Nelson Panciatici is one of the ambassadors for RALF TECH in the world of car racing.
RALF TECH starts getting involved with motor sports in 2011 participating to the Monte Carlo Rally and to the World Series 3.5 by Renault.
In 2013 and 2014 the Maison becomes Official Timekeeper of the Trophée Andros, the first event completely dedicated to electric racing cars.
Since 2014 RALF TECH is partner of the Alpine official racing team and shares with the team the double title of European Champion and World Champion. The young prodigy driver Nelson Panciatici is one of the ambassadors for RALF TECH in the world of car racing.
SPECIAL FORCES
The harsh environments of the oceanic depths which engendered the very first RALF TECH timepiece foreshadowed the extreme uses that its successors would encounter in the operational military theatres both on land and on sea. Even before even conceiving its first watches, RALF TECH already equipped with diving equipment the French Marine Nationale and its combat divers who found the brand’s equipment extremely reliable and ideally suited to the extreme demands and challenges of their missions. In 2010, during one of their missions in Afghanistan, the men of the Command Hubert elite force tested one of the RALF TECH timepieces which they had designed to address specific requirements of the mission. The WRX Hybrid was born. In a mountainous environment, with extreme thermal variations and in a particularly violent environment, the timepiece proved its solidity, readability, reliability and especially its perfect resistance to the ingress of water, sand and dust The WRX has since been adopted by the majority of the French Military Special Forces and their commanding staff, also by the elite units of the French Gendarmerie Nationale and Police. Switzerland, Great Britain, United States, among others, also equipped some of their special forces with RALF TECH timepieces. |
THE CREATOR
Passionate about horlogerie since infancy, Frank Huyghe is a former professional diver. He is one of those rare individuals who has developed in extreme environments, at ease under the ice in the far north or at minus 100 metres and beyond under water, or even at 4000 metres above sea level up in the waters of the lake Titicaca. His first job pushed him to incessantly go beyond his limits and it is in the same spirit that he created RALF TECH in 1996: 11 patents have since been filed for as many advances on technical equipment to make waters safer for whose who explore them. Following a meeting with the diver Pascal Bernabé in 2003, Frank Huyghe gradually reoriented his work towards watchmaking until he devoted himself exclusively to it from 2008 onwards. He dreams and designs all the RALF TECH models, characterized by an absolute need for quality and an audacious technical prowess, the timepieces reaffirm constantly their strong identity with an original and powerful design without belonging to any established school of thought or already written story. The four cardinal pillars of the Maison are authenticity, innovation, experience and independence. |