Raúl Pagès, winner of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize
On February 6th, 2024, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the first Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives awards ceremony was held amid the euphoria of journalists, major players of the watchmaking world, and horology enthusiasts. The star of the evening was Raúl Pagès who received the award for his Régulateur à détente RP1.
The prestigious Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives
The prestigious Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives gives free range to independent watchmakers to express their creativity and showcase their impressive skills. Drawn up by the Jean Arnault, Louis Vuitton Watchmaking Director, this wonderful initiative, which occurs once every two years, brought in more than 1,000 applications. The various submitted projects were closely examined by a special committee made up of watchmakers, artists, journalists, designers, and industry professionals. Candidates were assessed against five key criteria: Design & Aesthetics, Creativity & Audacity, Technical Innovation, Details & Finishings, and Complexity. After much deliberating, the projects of the five finalists were scrutinized by a jury also made up of five experts.
The final jury:
Michael Tay, The Hour Glass group MD,
Carole Forestier-Kasapi, Movement Director for TAG Heuer,
Auro Montanari, writer and watch collector,
Rexhep Rexhepi, independent watchmaker and founder of the Akrivia workshop,
Jiaxian Su, freelance journalist specialized in watchmaking and founder of SJX Watches.
The winner of this first edition of this award was Raúl Pagès, independent watchmaker, who was presented with a silver trophy shaped like the hairspring of a balance wheel, and which was customised by a master engraver. This trophy – a true work of art that was created in the Louis Vuitton’s workshops in Asnières, in the western suburbs of Paris – is housed in a Louis Vuitton Monogram trophy case, which bears a hand-painted black and white ‘V’ consisting of two stripes and will be at exhibited at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton.
Raúl Pagès was later given a smaller replica of the trophy to bring home. Since this award draws inspiration from the Nobel Prize, Pagès was granted €150,000 of financial support and a year-long mentorship program within the Louis Vuitton manufacture, an undeniable boost for his watchmaking projects. This unique opportunity enables independent watchmakers to enjoy the help of experts as well as some financial support, a genuine boon considering how expensive Research and Development, prototyping, and marketing are.
Here are the five finalists of the first edition of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives:
Petermann & Bédat, Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat, independent watchmakers since 2017
Simon Brette, Simon Brette, independent watchmaker since 2022.
John-Mikaël Flaux, John-Mikaël Flaux, independent watchmaker since 2018.
Andreas Strehler, Andreas Strehler & Enrico Santoni, independent watchmakers since1995.
Pagès, Raúl Pagès, independent wathmaker since 2012.
The prizewinning Régulateur à détente RP1 watch
Raúl Pagès is an expert in the art of restoring antique watches. After setting up his workshop near Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in 2012, he has consistently produced four timepieces every year. His latest watch, the Régulateur à détente RP1, which was released in 2022, is a manual-winding calibre equipped with a detent escapement, encased in steel.
The watch regulation system, created during the 18th century and which has become the holy grail of mechanical watches, ensures an impeccable precision in terms of timekeeping. Raúl Pagès’s new creation is a contemporary interpretation of this revolutionary mechanism. This entirely hand-crafted 38.5mm watch boasts a unique regulator display on the dial.
The hour hand, the minute hand, and the seconds hand are all on the same vertical axis but have their own respective discs. Inspired by the work of world-renowned architect Le Corbusier, Raúl Pagès pays tribute to him by picking his cerulean blue 59 for the dial, which elegantly contrasts with the sand-coloured minute’s disc.
This exceptional mechanical watch is adorned with the finest finishing touches: chamfering, polishing, satin finish, and cerclage finish. A real marvel both technically and aesthetically.
Technical details:
Display
Sandblasted, diamond and nickel-plated dial
Black nickel-plated minutes flange
Diamond-polished, circular-grained and rhodium plated hours flange
Seconds dial matt lacquered, cerulean blue 59
Hardened steel hands: chamfered, rounded-off and polished
Domed and polished fixing screws
Case
Material: 316L stainless steel
Polished bezel, top of lugs and back
Satin-finished case middle
Bevelled and polished lug screws
Dimensions: 38.5 mm x 10.2 mm (with sapphire crystal)
Between lugs: 19mm
Water resistance: 3 atm – 30m – 100 ft
Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating, bezel and case back
Movement
In-house movement with manual winding
Escapement: pivoted detent with anti-tripping system
Balance: variable inertia with four 18K gold weights
Dimensions: 33.6 mm x 5.6 mm
Power reserve: 47 hours
Number of jewels: 17
Number of components: 171
Balance frequency: 18,000 vibrations per hour / 2.5 Hz
Component materials: nickel silver and steel
Treatments: nickel plating and gold plating
Finishing: haute horlogerie, hand-made
Strap and buckle Supplied with two hand-stitched straps in black and beige leather with blue stitching, fitted with bars featuring a tool-free removal system.
316L stainless steel buckle with “Pagès” logo engraving
See also:
Read also: