Louis Vuitton Announces Finalists For Its Inaugural 2024 Prize

December 18, 2023

A year after announcing the creation of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives, LV has announced five finalists for the inaugural edition, to be presented in Paris on February 6, 2024. According to Louis Vuitton, its first Watch Prize drew nearly 1,000 submissions. From these, 20 semi-finalists were pre-selected and presented to a committee of 45 watch enthusiasts. Now, five finalists have been chosen, who will present their timepieces to a five-member jury to select a winner.? Louis Vuitton announced the biennial prize in November 2022, designed to celebrate "the creative talent and audacity of the independent watchmaking industry, to support and encourage artisans and entrepreneurs, and accompany future generations." The winner will receive a one-year mentorship from LV's La Fabrique du Temps and a financial prize. ?The five finalists are: Petermann Bdat, Simon Brette, John-Mika?l Flaux, Andreas Strehler, and Ral Pags. Here are the timepieces from these independent watchmakers that earned them their selections: Petermann Bdat: Chronographe Rattrapante Earlier this year, Watchmakers Ga?l Petermann and Florian Bdat introduced their Chronographe Rattrapante, a modern split-seconds monopusher chronograph that pays fitting tribute to the pocket watches that continue to inspire the young watchmakers. The Reference 2941 already has a GPHG award under its belt (and less importantly, a mention as one of our favorite complicated watches of 2023). Read more about Petermann Bdat here.? Simon Brette: Chronometre Artisans Simon Brette took the watch world by storm this year by introducing his Chronometre Artisans. Louis Vuitton calls it a "neo-classical expression of watchmaking" because of the high-end finishing exhibited in the Chronometre Artisans' in-house caliber that exposes the balance wheel and gear train. More than just his watchmaking achievement, Brette says he's most proud of the way his work has brought together the work of French and Swiss artisans. Read more about Simon Brette here.? John-Mika?l Flaux: L'Abeille Mchanique John-Mika?l Flaux's L'Abeille Mchanique (mechanical bee) is a unique piece of mechanical art featuring Flaux's AB-01 movement. The manual wind caliber fits inside the bee's body, and the bee rotates thanks to its mechanism. It rotates on its own base, with the stinger serving as the hour indicator. It's an impressive piece of mechanical art that Flaux also explains has a deeper meaning related to maintaining harmony between humans and nature.? Andreas Strehler: Tischkalender Sympathique Andreas Strehler's first creation under his own name is more time object than watch, but that's what makes it so fitting for the long-time independent watchmaker. The Tischkalender Sympathique is a table clock with a pocket watch. Equipped with a perpetual calendar, the table clock displays the date, weekday, month, and year. The pocket watch can be detached from the table clock and store the count of days elapsed since leaving the table clock, up to 3 weeks. Then, when placing the pocket watch back in the table clock, the perpetual calendar will mechanically synchronize with the pocket watch, changing the day, date, month, and year if needed. All that, and it's set in gilded brass with lapis lazuli.? Ral Pags: RP1 Rgulateur Dtente The RP1 Rgulateur Dtente features watchmaker Ral Pags' first in-house caliber and brings a detent escapement to the wristwatch. The detent escapement has long been associated with precision timekeeping, dating to the days of marine chronometers. But, since it's so susceptive to shocks, it's always had limited applications in the wristwatch. But Pags took on this challenge, and over three years, developed his own manual wind caliber with an innovative safety roller cam to protect the escapement from impact. Pages said that his years spent restoring masterpieces of mechanical timekeeping, some using the detent escapement, inspired his work. For more on the Pags RP1, click here.? Along with the five finalists, five jury members for the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize were nominated to chose the winner on February 6. The jury members are: Carol Forestier-Ksapai, movements director at TAG Heuer? Auro Montanari, watch collector and writer Rexhep Rexhepi, indpendent watchmaker and founder of Akrivia Jiaxian Su, journalist and founder of SJX Watches Michael Tay, managing director of The Hour Glass, who will also serve as the president of the jury Shop this story Louis Vuitton is part of the LVMH Watch Group. Although LVMH Luxury Ventures is a minority investor in Hodinkee, we maintain complete editorial independence.