Based in Neuchâtel, Raúl Pagès started his career as a watch restorer
The Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives was created to recognise outstanding creative talents and nurture future generations of watchmakers. For its inaugural edition, it named Raúl Pagès as the winner.
Working out of his workshop in a small village in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Pagès earned his diploma as a watch restorer in antique watchmaking before completing his education in watch complications at CIFOM in Le Locle. He worked for 15 years as a watch restorer, a stint that got him well-acquainted with horological masterpieces belonging to the most prestigious collections in the world.
He became an independent watchmaker in 2012, creating only four timepieces a year as he makes them entirely by hand.
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Pagès is recognised for his superlative work on the RP1 Régulateur à détente, an exceptional chronometer with a caliber fitted with a pivoted detent escapement. The construction of the escapement does not impose any stress on the balance and can transmit force from the escape wheel directly to the balance wheel, making it more efficient than the Swiss lever escapement.
The watch is characterised by its elegance and purity, with distinctive time displays: a central minute hand, and separate counters for the hours and the seconds.
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