Last week, the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI) announced the winners of the 2016 F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition. Three students of watchmaking, all based outside of Switzerland, were invited to join the ACHI in Basel to witness the world's largest watch fair.
Anton Sukhanov from Russia, Anna-Rose Kirk from the UK, and Tristan Ledard, from France, were each presented with a CHF 3,000 check from Horotec for the skill and technique displayed in recent watchmaking and clockmaking projects entered into the Young Talent Competition. Independents watchmakers from the AHCI, including Philippe Dufour, Kari Voutilainen, and Vianney Halter, joined them in small ceremony, held inside the Congress Center, a stone's throw away from the mayhem of Baselworld.
The ceremony was opened by Marc Jenni, an executive member of the AHCI, who acknowledged the diversity of this year's class. According to Jenni, the AHCI received applications from a record nine different countries, garnering interest all the way from India.
His comments were backed by François-Paul Journe. The French watchmaker, now based in Geneva, has always been vocal about the lack of opportunity abroad. While access to watchmaking education is now more readily available around the world than in Journe's youth, there is no doubt that Switzerland continues to offer the best chance for a professional career.
Where are they now?
Winners of the 2015 edition of the F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition, Pontus Köhler and Sebastian Schlette are a team of Swedish students from the country’s only school, the Urmakarskolan IHU. We kept in touch after meeting this time last year, and I caught up with them recently to find out what the past 12 months have been like for them.
During the second year of their three-year curriculum, Köhler and Schlette spent two weeks in Geneva interning with F.P. Journe. The experience was part of last year’s prize, and was just as valuable as the financial reward it came with, they say.
"I learned about working in a manufacture,” said Schlette. The pair worked on various stations, with experts in decoration and finishing, and were involved in the production of the manufacture’s regulators.
And after spending a short amount of time in Switzerland, they both conceded the pull the country exerts on young talent. Moving to Switzerland is crucial, said Köhler, "especially if you want to work with some of the world's most highly regarded watch manufacturers.”
However, Schlette is a little more optimistic about the opportunities back home. “I still think that there is good opportunities for watchmakers in Sweden when it comes to after sales service,” he said.
‘This competition is a perfect way to be seen and recognized by manufacturers and other watchmakers, which is a great way to connect and share ideas.”
More from the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants and the competition here.
For more information on F.P. Journe, go here.
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