Raúl Pagès RP1 Régulateur à détente wins the inaugural edition of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives
Louis Vuitton announced Raúl Pagès as the winner of the first edition of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives, a biennial award intended to recognize innovation, audacity and savoir-faire to promote and support independent watchmaking.
The award was presented on February 6th, 2024, during a ceremony and cocktail reception at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.
Based in a small village in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Raúl Pagès learned his trade as a restorer of watchmaking masterpieces before becoming an independent watchmaker in 2012. Today, he creates about four timepieces a year, crafting them entirely by hand, from design and development of the mechanism to manufacturing, assembly and finishes in his workshop in Les Brenets. We presented his first watch, the Soberly Onyx, in this 2016 article.
The winning timepiece, the RP1 Régulateur à détente, is a manual winding wristwatch in stainless steel with a unique construction, featuring a calibre fitted with pivoted detent escapement to guarantee a chronometric accuracy.
Extremely rare in today's world, Raúl Pagès has not only designed this escapement himself but also hand-made it. This movement is therefore doubly "in-house", since not only the ébauche made in house but also the regulating organ are made in-house.
The entire architecture of the calibre has been designed to house it in the best possible way and to give it maximum emphasis.
Technically, the detent escapement is said to be "free" because the balance is not subjected to any stress during its additional arc. The advantage of this system, compared to the traditional Swiss lever escapement, is that the escape wheel transmits its force directly to the balance wheel, giving it a much better mechanical efficiency.
The Régulateur à détente RP1 is equipped with a patented system that prevents the escape wheel from leaving the rest position when the watch is shaken. To this end, the detent is equipped with a beak, which cooperates with a third roller on the balance shaft. In the event of a shock, the beak of the detent rests on the roller and thus prevents the escapement from tripping. The low frequency (18,000 vibrations per hour) of the large 13.30 mm-diameter balance wheel enables every detail of the escapement's operation to be appreciated.
The great precision of the movement is matched by a regulator type display. An iconic dial of high-level chronometry, the regulator offers dedicated space for each of its hands: hours, minutes and seconds. Each indication thus has its own dial. The three hands follow their own rhythm to give an extremely precise time indication.
The minutes hand dominates and enlivens the centre of the dial, while the hours and seconds are located at 12 and 6 o’clock respectively – or rather at 60 and 30 minutes.
The case in 316L stainless steel reflects the refined and modern aesthetic of Soberly Onyx, Raúl Pagès' first timepiece, but with a reduced case diameter of 38.5 mm. Thickness is 10.2 mm, sapphire crystal included.
The biennial Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives was conceived to celebrate creative talent, savoir-faire, and innovation to inspire the future generations of watchmakers.
It is open to independent watch designers, artisans and entrepreneurs from all around the world. For its first edition, the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives drew nearly 1,000 submissions. The evaluations of the submitted creations were based on five essential criteria: Design & Aesthetics, Creativity & Audacity, Technical Innovation, Details & Finishings, and Complexity.
For this first edition, Raúl Pagès was awarded a spiral-shaped silver trophy inspired by the one found on a balance wheel, the essential component for precision in a timepiece.
The winner will receive a grant as well as one year of mentorship by a dedicated team of experts (watchmakers, engineers, craftsmen) at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton tailored to the needs of their project. pageswatches.com and louisvuitton.com
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