Winners of the Gaïa prize 2016

On 20 September, the International Museum of Watchmaking (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds, through its creator Régis Huguenin-Dumittan, paid tribute to the winners of the Gaïa Prize for 2016. For over twenty-three years, this international distinction has rewarded exceptional careers dedicated to the watch industry, its art and culture. Mauro Dell'Ambrogio, Secretary of State for Training, Research and Innovation, took part in the ceremony.

Unique in its genre, the Gaïa Prize is presented to the best of the best. Internationally acclaimed, the MIH signifies through this prize its recognition of the spiritual heirs to the watchmaking culture which imbues the museum’s collections.

Craftsmanship and creation: Vianney Halter
With his retro-futuristic creations, Vianney Halter can be considered the vanguard of a new era in watch design and display.

Vianney Halter was born in the suburbs of Paris in 1963. He studied at the watchmaking school in Paris, whilst working in the workshop of watchmaker Philippe Baille. He received his diploma in 1980 and then spent several years restoring antique clocks, pocket watches and wristwatches. In 1989, he moved to Sainte-Croix, where he joined forces with François-Paul Journe and Denis Flageollet to form THA (Techniques horlogères appliquées). They developed complications and prototypes for several prestigious brands, including Breguet, Cartier, and Franck Muller.

In 1994, Vianney Halter set up his own company, which he named La manufacture Janvier after one of greatest talents in the history of watchmaking, Antide Janvier (1751-1835). He initially focused on restoration, developing prototypes for a number of brands (Harry Winston, Breguet, Audemars Piguet) and special commissions for private customers.

The first creation released under his name, the Antiqua wristwatch with perpetual calendar, was unveiled at Basel in 1998 as part of the Académie horlogère des créateurs indépendants (AHCI). The Antiqua watch can be perceived as a "relic of the future". Vianney Halter then started to develop a collection which now includes a dozen models, each produced in tiny quantities. To date, fewer than 500 pieces bear the Vianney Halter signature. Amongst his creations, the Trio Grande Date and, more recently, the Deep Space Tourbillon have been most widely recognised and praised.

One of life's mavericks, Vianney Halter takes his inspiration from science fiction literature, the novels of Jules Verne, scientific instruments and the vintage cars he collects. He sees watchmaking as a means of expression; his watches mix the historic with futuristic elements, creating a cross-pollination that Halter has called "Past Future". Passionate about instrument panel counters and measuring instruments, Vianney Halter is clearly one of the first in the category of "independent" watchmakers, characterised by their own highly personal style. He is also considered to be amongst the vanguards of a new era which, by the year 2000, had led to the creation of designs and displays never before seen in the world of watchmaking.

History and research: Roger Smith
Roger Smith's research mainly focusses on the watchmaking world of 18th-century London and his work is characterised by his in-depth research on Anglo-Swiss exchanges and his expert knowledge of timepieces.

After reading History at King's College London and International Relations at the London School of Economics, Roger Smith followed an unconventional career as a historian. He went on to research the world of the manufacture and sale of luxury goods in the Age of Enlightenment, focussing on watchmaking and the transfer of technical knowledge. He conducted in-depth research in the Anglo-Swiss watchmaking firm Vulliamy of London, active in the second half of the 18^th century; at the same time, he worked on a major study of entrepreneur James Cox (1723-1800) and his competitors in the trade in clocks and watches from Europe to Asia. Focussing his research on the frequent exchanges of ideas and migration of craftsmen between Switzerland and England, Roger Smith's work has made a remarkable contribution to our understanding of the Pan-European context which characterised the manufacture of timepieces in that era. His work is thus an essential reference for any specialist in the history of 18^th-century watchmaking; in recognition of this, in spring 2013, the University of Neuchâtel invited him as a guest speaker to give a series of lectures entitled "Manufacturers and Merchants: making and exporting clocks and other luxury goods in the 18^th century".

Roger Smith's research artfully combines his expert knowledge of the archival sources and his exceptional technical and aesthetic watchmaking expertise. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London since 2006, this dual approach has led to his collaboration with many prestigious museums in London (the Victoria and Albert Museum; the British Museum; the Science Museum), and with auction houses, acting as an expert and adviser. Notably, he participated in the exhibition "SingSong: Treasures from the Forbidden City" at the Museum Speelklok, Utrecht in 2010-2011.

Roger Smith has recently finished co-editing a publication entitled "The Life and Travels of James Upjohn" (the London clockmaker who lived from 1722-1795).

Spirit of Enterprise: Giovanni Busca and Pascal Rochat
Giovanni Busca, an independent consultant, was Professor and Director of the Neuchâtel Observatory from 1988-2001; Pascal Rochat is founder and CEO of the Neuchâtel-based company, SpectraTime.

The two award winners specialise in the field of atomic clocks and are particularly renowned for applying their expertise in an industrial context. Thanks to their passion and skills, Europe has become technologically independent in the field of satellite positioning and navigation: the clocks manufactured by SpectraTime are the core technology featured on the Galileo navigation system satellites (European GPS).

Giovanni Busca
Giovanni Busca has a background in academia but is also passionate about industry; the Neuchâtel Observatory has enjoyed remarkable growth thanks to his entrepreneurial spirit and his vision. His success as a researcher at the Observatory also enabled him to realise one of his dreams in founding a spin-off company in 1995.

Giovanni Busca was born in Italy in 1939. After high school, he studied Physics at the University of Turin, where he obtained his PhD in Physics in 1964. Continuing his research activities, he then followed an academic career at the Laval University in Quebec, Canada, from 1970 to 1977, where he specialised in the field of atomic clocks. From 1977 to 1978, he worked on the hydrogen maser at the National Bureau of Standards in Boulder (Colorado, USA), and at Oscilloquartz SA in Neuchâtel. He continued his research at Oscilloquartz SA, filing several patents, and became Director of Research in Frequency Standards (GEF) at Asulab SA; there he developed the first generation of terrestrial hydrogen masers which would be used worldwide in radio astronomy. He also pioneered R&D into clocks using rubidium and caesium under state-funded research contracts.

In 1988, he was appointed Director of the Neuchâtel Observatory and later became Associate Professor of the University of Neuchâtel. Giovanni Busca conducted intensive research, publishing over a hundred scientific articles and filing seven patents. His team gradually grew from 12 to 30 people; thanks to financing sourced 60% from contracts outside the Canton, Giovanni Busca has made a major contribution to R&D in atomic frequency standards: miniature rubidium clocks for terrestrial and space applications, high-performance active hydrogen masers for use in radio astronomy and passive hydrogen masers for terrestrial and space applications (Galileo).

These three fields have been successfully applied in industry. The first of these fields led to the founding of a spin-off company in 1995 called TNT-Temex Neuchâtel Time (subsequently renamed SpectraTime) which employed two staff members from the Observatory (including Pascal Rochat, then Deputy Technical Director). SpectraTime later worked on the industrial development of the other two fields.

Following his retirement in 2001, Giovanni Busca founded his own company, Kytime Sàrl, through which he offered consultancy services on time and frequency until 2014. He received the Marcel Ecabert Award from the European Frequency and Time Forum (EFTF) in 2011, and the Time Lord Award from the International Timing and Synchronisation Forum (ITSF) in 2012.

Even though his research was highly specialised, Giovanni Busca was always driven throughout his career to develop industrial applications for his work. In this confidential but prestigious field of work - the ultra-precise measurement of time - he successfully earned Switzerland an enviable position of influence.

Pascal Rochat
Pascal Rochat was born in 1957. He studied in Lausanne and Yverdon and became an electrical engineer in 1978. He then joined the Institute of Microtechnology at the University of Neuchâtel as a researcher; in 1979, he began working for Oscilloquartz SA where he spent nearly a decade developing various electronic devices for high-precision chronometry. In 1989, he began working for Scientific Development Inc. in the United States and Switzerland, focussing on developing vehicle geo-location systems. In 1991, he was appointed Head of Electronic Development, then Deputy Technical Director at the Neuchâtel Observatory, heading the "miniature rubidium clock" project.

In 1995, Pascal Rochat left his post as Deputy Technical Director of the Observatory to pursue a career in industry. He became CEO of one of the Observatory's spin-off companies - TNT-Temex Neuchâtel Time - subsequently renamed SpectraTime. Initially set up to industrialise the Observatory's miniature rubidium clock, the company expanded rapidly to industrialise and market several other products developed by the Observatory, including passive and active hydrogen masers for space, in particular. Pascal Rochat thus became the driving force behind the industrial development of the two types of clock currently integrated into Galileo navigation satellites.

Having started out with just one employee in 1995, Pascal Rochat successfully grew his business to a 70-strong team. He put Europe on the world map in terms of industrial atomic clocks, hitherto the preserve of the USA.

From 2006, he also ran the company T4Science, set up to produce and distribute the active hydrogen masers previously manufactured at the Observatory.

Pascal Rochat is known for finding cost-effective solutions to complex problems. His inventive and rigorous approach has a very successful track record. His company was the only one capable of providing the European Space Agency with the two types of clock it needed to equip the 30 satellites in the Galileo system. SpectraTime and T4Science currently produce some 4,000 atomic clocks a year for worldwide export. In addition to supplying the atomic clocks for the European Galileo system, SpectraTime has also supplied similar navigation systems in India and China. Around one hundred SpectraTime atomic clocks have travelled through space to date.

SpectraTime's success lies in its rare combination of universally recognised skills, creativity, rigour and leadership. A humble and people-oriented manager, Pascal Rochat inspires the respect of his employees by his example.

The jury
This year, the jury comprised three members of the MIH management: Régis Huguenin-Dumittan, Curator and Chairman of the Jury, Rossella Baldi, Assistant Curator, and Jean-Michel Piguet, another Assistant Curator. Drawn from various circles with a bearing on watchmaking, the other jury members were: Henry-John Belmont, watchmaking consultant; Patrick Dubois from the Dubois Laboratory; Estelle Fallet, Chief Curator of the Geneva Museum of Art and History; Stephen Forsey, Chairman of Greubel Forsey; Joël Grandjean, journalist and editor-in-chief of Watchonista.com; Jean-Pascal Lüthi, Deputy Director of the Secretariat of State for Training, Research and Innovation; Morghan Mootoosamy, Curator of the Museum of Watchmaking in Le Locle, Château des Monts; Nicolas Rossé, an economic journalist with Swiss Radio and Television; Nathalie Tissot, professor of intellectual property at Neuchâtel University; Sylvain Varone, Head of the watch industry sector at the Inter-regional Training Centre for the Neuchâtel Mountain Region; and Janine Vuilleumier, Head of the Information Service at the FH and Editor-in-Chief of the FH Review.

September 29, 2016