Raúl Pagès Wins the First-Ever Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives
Regarded for his technically challenging RP1 – Régulateur à détente timepiece.
Louis Vuitton has announced Raúl Pagès as the winner of its inaugural Watch Prize for Independent Creatives.
An independent watchmaker since 2012, Pagès comes from Neuchâtel in Switzerland and honed his watchmaking skills through his experience working as a restorer. For the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize, Pagès pitted against other notable independent watchmakers. He came out triumphant out of the five finalists, which comprised Simon Brette, John-Mikaël Flaux, Petermann Bédat and Andreas Strehler.
Coming out triumphant, Pagès winning timepiece is the RP1 – Régulateur à détente. Arriving in a stainless steel build, the manually-wound reference features a caliber fitted with a pivoted detent escapement — an exceptionally difficult mechanism to craft in terms of technicality. Geared with great precision, the watch face presents a regulator-type display where the hour, minutes, and seconds are all separated, each dominating a designated dial of its own.
As the winner, Pagès is awarded a cash prize of €150,000 EUR alongside a one-year mentorship at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton. He was also given a specially handcrafted silver trophy, which boasted a spiral-like silhouette that’s reminiscent of the kind found on balance wheels. The trophy comes encased in an LV monogram trunk, which was created and assembled by hand in the Louis Vuitton atelier in Asnières, France.
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