Alexis Fruhauff of Paris took top honors in the 2025 F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition.
Alexis Fruhauff, a watchmaker in Paris, has won the 2025 edition of the F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition, an annual contest organized by the brand to discover the next generation of watchmakers.
While a wristwatch took the 2024 prize, the jury this year selected Mr. Fruhauff’s 19th-century-inspired clock, named Pendule à seconde (in English, Pendulum Clock with Seconds).
Mr. Fruhauff, now 29, started working on the clock in 2022, his final year in the watchmaking program at Lycée Diderot in Paris. In addition to designing all its elements, he crafted the tools needed for its production. The timepiece, including its cherry wood case, was completed in February while he was an intern for the French clockmaker Jean-Baptiste Viot, who allowed him to use the studio’s machines for the project.
Michael Tay, the group managing director of the luxury watch retailer the Hour Glass, which supports the contest, praised the clock in an email: “For devotees of 18th- and 19th-century time keeping, Alexis Fruhauff’s work evokes a sentimental yearning for horology’s golden era. The Pendule à seconde exudes an exceptional hand built quality.”
The prize was 50,000 Swiss francs (about $60,500), intended to finance the purchase of watchmaking tools or a new horological project.
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