Louis Vuitton Watch Prize Unveils Inaugural Finalists
A bee automaton and handmade calibers are among projects competing for the 150,000-euro purse and year of mentoring.
PARIS — After whittling down more than 700 entries and selecting 20 semifinalists in September, the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives on Monday will reveal the five finalists of its inaugural edition.
Moving to the final stage are Andreas Strehler and Enrico Santoni, with a mechanical perpetual desk calendar that comes with a pocket watch; John-Mikaël Flaux, who imagined a silver-and-gold mechanical bee automaton that gives the hour thanks to its stinger; Simon Brette, presenting an in-house caliber and complex mechanisms in “Chronometre Artisans”; Raúl Pagès, who created and crafted an ultra-rare, pivoted detent escapement for his wristwatch entry, and Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat, whose Petermann Bédat “Chronographe rattrapante” watch also won the prize for best chronograph at the 2023 edition of the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève.
Congratulating those shortlisted, Louis Vuitton director of watches Jean Arnault said that in their hands, “the horizon for independent watchmaking is looking very bright indeed.”
“The Louis Vuitton Watch Prize exists because we believe that the future belongs to the dreamers and rulebreakers who meet the highest standards of craftsmanship,” he continued.
With interest in high watchmaking growing ever stronger at all levels of expertise, the luxury brand's watchmaking division stated it had “sensed [its] role was to help a new generation emerge and celebrate our shared values of imagination and excellence in craftsmanship.”
The biennial watch prize will come with a 150,000-euro purse and one-year mentorship from La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton and is the brainchild of Arnault, himself a watch enthusiast of more than a decade who saw the rise of independent watchmaking.
But before determining the winner of the inaugural edition, to be revealed on Feb. 6 at a ceremony in Paris, there was another decision to be made by the 45-strong committee that included Kim Jones and Frank Gehry: choosing the five members of the final jury.
Michael Tay, group managing director of Asia-based multibrand luxury watch retailer The Hour Glass, will serve as president for this edition.
Also in the jury are award-winning Carole Forestier-Kasapi, movements director of LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Tag Heuer; prominent watch collector, expert and writer Auro Montanari; Singapore-based journalist Jiaxian Su, founder of digital media
Sjx Watches, and watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi, founder of Atelier Akrivia.
Atelier Akrivia, established in 2012, was the first watchmaker to collaborate with Louis Vuitton's watchmaking division for a limitededition of 10 timepieces, marking the first time the French house has cosigned a watch.
Proceeds from the sale of the resulting “LVRR-01 Chronographe à sonnerie” watch have been earmarked to finance the watch prize and mentorship program.