In a world obsessed with speed and scale, true mastery still belongs to those who dare to slow down and obsess over every detail. That belief sits at the heart of the LVMH Watch Prize, an initiative that continues to champion independent creators who challenge convention, embrace risk, and redefine what modern watchmaking can be.
As the prize enters its second edition, Louis Vuitton has unveiled the five finalists competing for the coveted title and with it, a €150,000 grant and a year-long mentorship with La Fabrique du Temps. The winner will be announced on March 24, but each finalist already represents a powerful statement: innovation is alive, intimate, and deeply human.
According to Jean Arnault, these creators aren’t merely refining tradition they are “pushing the very boundaries of what is possible.” From over 20 global semi-finalists, judged across design, creativity, innovation, craftsmanship, and technical complexity, these five emerged as the boldest voices of a new horological generation.
🌸 Beauties of Nature Daizoh Makihara Watchcraft Japan
A poetic meditation on time, Daizoh Makihara’s Beauties of Nature is a rare fusion of Japanese artistry and mechanical ingenuity. The watch features a mesmerising petal mechanism that opens and closes over dual time displays, guided by an in-house hand-wound calibre and a perpetual moon phase accurate to one day in 122 years.
Encased in white gold and crowned with an Edo Kiriko cut-glass dial inspired by cherry blossoms, Makihara’s creation is not just a timekeeper it’s a moving artwork that bridges centuries of Japanese craftsmanship with modern horology.
♾️ Möbius Fam Al Hut by Xinyan Dai
Bold, architectural, and unapologetically futuristic, the Möbius wristwatch by Xinyan Dai challenges traditional watch design at every turn. Its compact bi-axis tourbillon housed within a Möbius-shaped cage rotates endlessly, symbolising infinity and reinvention.
Replacing a conventional dial are double retrograde displays paired with a jumping hour mechanism, a mechanical feat that demands over 200 hours of meticulous handcrafting. For Dai, Möbius is more than a watch it’s proof that heritage and the future can coexist within the same movement.
🔔 School Watch Victor Monnin & Alexandre Hazemann
Born from friendship and shared discipline, the School Watch pays homage to the Morteau watchmaking school where its creators first met. Powered by the fully in-house HM01 calibre, the watch combines two rarely paired complications: a passing strike and an instantaneous jumping hour.
Every chime and movement reflects the duo’s belief in “true complications” mechanisms that exist not to impress, but to elevate the emotional experience of time.
⚙️ CIC 39mm Racing Green Bernhard Lederer
Bernhard Lederer’s CIC 39mm Racing Green stands as a technical manifesto decades in the making. Featuring the world’s first fully functional dual detent escapement in a wristwatch, the timepiece delivers constant force via twin remontoirs and dual gear trains.
With a COSC-certified movement produced almost entirely in-house, Lederer’s creation is a reminder that progress in watchmaking isn’t about shortcuts it’s about relentless pursuit of precision.
⏰ Fading Hours Quiet Club by Norifumi Seki
Minimalist in appearance yet radical in engineering, Fading Hours reimagines the mechanical alarm watch. Its vertically mounted hammer strikes the dial itself a first-of-its-kind innovation while a mono-pusher controls all alarm functions with elegant simplicity.
Crafted in Tokyo and housed in titanium, the watch reflects Quiet Club’s philosophy: timepieces should serve real human needs while celebrating mechanical beauty.
🏆 More Than a Prize, A Statement
Judged by a panel that includes industry icons and independent legends, the LVMH Watch Prize is more than a competition it’s a declaration. A declaration that independent creators still shape the future. That patience, imagination, and courage matter. And that the most powerful revolutions in luxury often begin quietly, at a watchmaker’s bench.
