Raúl Pagès wins inaugural edition of 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 – the prestigious biennial award that recognises innovation, audacity, and savoir-faire to promote and support independent watchmaking. The award was presented on February 6, 2024, during a ceremony and reception attended by many of the world’s leading watchmaking experts and enthusiasts 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. His winning design, 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.