Raúl Pagès wins debut Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives

And the winner is Raúl Pagès. The Swiss-based watchmaker nabbed the inaugural Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives on Tuesday night with his novel approach to his métier.

Staged inside Vuitton’s Frank Gehry-designed art foundation on the edge of Paris’ Bois de Boulogne, the ceremony attracted all sorts of distinguished watchmakers and a slew of LVMH executives, led by chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault.
 
Pagès picked up prize money of €150,000 and the twisting solid silver trophy, contained logically in a Vuitton monogram print box.

Pagès developed the RP1 – Régulateur à Détente – a manual-winding wristwatch in stainless steel with a unique construction featuring an in-house caliber, and, overall, a new pop Brutalist air.
 
“I’d like to thank Louis Vuitton and Jean Arnault for this amazing prize. And I want to say to the four finalists I have the biggest admiration for your work. The lost important thing is that you are making dream a future generation of watchmakers,” explained an emotional Pagès, before telling his wife Nathalie how much he loved her.
 
He was one of five finalists that included Petermann Bédat, by Gaël Petermann and Florian Bédat, who have been independent watchmakers since 2017; and indie watchmaker Simon Brette, whose Chronometre Artisans watch blended neo-classicism and art nouveau touches. John-Mikaël Flaux, another independent watchmaker showed a truly remarkable L’Abeille Mécanique (mechanical bee) in silver and gold is truly surreal. With a one-of-a-kind figurative mechanism and a “stinger“ poetic hours indicator.
 
While Andreas Strehler and Enrico Santoni, dreamed up the “time object” Tischkalender Sympathique – a mechanical perpetual desk calendar in gilded brass set with lapis lazuli.
 
Given the competitive fire power, it was something of a surprise that Pagès understated RPI watch ended up winning.

“I made a bet with my team that we would receive 100 applicants, and I would have been very happy with that. In the end, there were over 1,000,” added Jean Arnault, director of watches at Louis Vuitton, who dreamed up the idea of the award.
 
The five unique individual timepieces were all on display inside the lobby of Gehry’s soaring structure.
 
Gehry was one of the many distinguished members of a semi-finalist jury of 45 members, which also included two designers – Kim Jones and Marc Newson.
 
The debut list of experts also contained master engraver Dick Steenman; enameller Anita Porchet; master watchmakers Philippe Dufour and Denis Flageollet; and Evelyne Genta. They whittled the 1,000 down to just 20, before a second smaller jury reduced that to five based on five criteria: design, creativity, innovation, craftsmanship and technical complexity. Given the eventual winner, technical complexity took first prize.
 
This year’s award was MCed by the noted watch editor and enthusiast Wei Koh, who drew cheers when calling Jean Arnault, “a once in a generation leader. On behalf of the entire watch industry, I want to say thank god you did not chose leather or fragrances of fashion, but watches. We love you.”
 
LVMH plans to stage the Prize on a biennial basis starting this year. Its long-term goal is to celebrate emerging talents. The competition is organized by La Fabrique du Temps – or Time Factory – Louis Vuitton, based in Switzerland.
 
Pagès will also enjoy a year’s tailored-made mentorship by La Fabrique du Temps. Covering advice from professionals in communications, copyright, corporate legal aspects, marketing, industrial strategy, and financial management. 
 
Jean is the fifth and youngest child of Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO of LVMH, controlling shareholder of the luxury behemoth and Europe’s richest man.