Fashion & Leather Goods · February 12, 2024 Raùl Pagès wins first edition Louis Vuitton Watch Prize For Independent Creatives

Louis Vuitton is pleased to announce that Raùl Pagès has been named the winner of the first edition of Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives.The award was presented on February 6, 2024 at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris during a ceremony attended by leading watchmaking experts and enthusiasts from around the world.

Launched by Jean Arnault, Louis Vuitton's Director of Watches, the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives celebrates excellence and exceptional savoir-faire in watchmaking. Supported by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton, the Maison's watch manufacture, this initiative recognizes remarkable independent watchmakers who challenge the present and push the limits of time in the world of haute horlogerie.

This first edition of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives received nearly 1,000 submissions. The creations were evaluated by an international committee of watch experts, comprising retailers, collectors, specialized journalists, artists, artisans, designers and other watch enthusiasts. Candidates were assessed against five key criteria: Design & Aesthetics, Creativity & Audacity, Technical Innovation, Details & Finishings, and Complexity.

The five finalists were then judged by a jury of five members of the Committee of experts, elected by their peers. Led by Jury President Michael Tay, group managing director of The Hour Glass, the panel included Carole Forestier-Kasapi, movements director at Tag Heuer; pre-eminent collector and author, Auro Montanari; Rexhep Rexhepi, independent Watchmaker and founder of Atelier Akrivia; and Jiaxian Su, an independent specialized watch journalist and founder of SJX Watches.

Raùl Pagès,the winner of the first edition, received a magnificent silver trophy inspired by the spiral shape of the balance wheel, an essential component that ensures the precision of a timepiece. The trophy rises gracefully in tribute to the ascension of independent watchmaking. The trophy was engraved with the winner's name by a master engraver from La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton and presented in a Monogram canvas Louis Vuitton trophy trunk that was handcrafted in the Maison's historic ateliers in Asnières.

As winner of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize, Raùl Pagèswill also receive a grant and a one-year mentorship by a team of experts (watchmakers, engineers and artisans) at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton to help bring their watchmaking projects to fruition.