Four talents honored by the Prix Gaïa

The 2020 edition, which was held on September 17^th at the MIH, honoured four personalities endowed with undisputed horological talent.

The unique Prix Gaïa honours the very best: those contributing to the reputation of watchmaking, its history, its technology or its industry. An institution of global renown, the Musée international d’horlogerie (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds – a city whose economic and social history is closely linked to watchmaking – awards this prize in recognition of the spiritual heirs of watchmaking culture embodied in the museum’s collections, and in the city itself.

This year, the Prix Gaïa jury, comprising figures active in the watchmaking field, nominated:

• Antoine Preziuso – winner in the Craftsmanship and Creation category – for his systematic approach to mechanical watchmaking in his exceptional creations, his perseverance in developing his brand and his dedication to sharing his passion.
• Denis Savoie – winner in the History and Research category – for his exceptional career as a theorist, historian and builder of sundials, combining the greatest scientific rigour with his outstanding work to popularise this area.
• Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei – winners in the Entrepreneurship category – for the pioneering role their company – Urwerk – has played in defining 21^st century watchmaking: bold, yet rigorous and humble, the product of ongoing dialogue and unwavering loyalty between the designer and watchmaker.
  
  

Craftsmanship and creation: Antoine Preziuso
Antoine Preziuso was born in Geneva in 1957. Passionate about watchmaking from his very earliest childhood, he studied in Geneva before joining the Geneva School of Watchmaking in 1974, where he trained as a watchmaker/repairer, and qualifying as a watchmaker practitioner. In 1978, he was hired by Patek Philippe to work in their horological complication workshops. In 1980, the auction house Antiquorum invited him to open the first specialist workshop offering antique watch restoration. This enabled him to hone his skills in antique watchmaking and in complicated movements. In 1981, he opened his own antique watchmaking workshop, where he was entrusted with rare pieces by the Geneva Museum of Watchmaking and by collectors. In 1989, Breguet commissioned him with the development and series production of wristwatches with a minute repeater and perpetual calendar.

The first watch bearing Antoine Preziuso’s signature appeared in 1986. Called the Siena, it was inspired by the clock tower in Siena, Italy. For the decoration, the watchmaker set himself the original challenge of cutting a dial out of Carrara marble. In 1991, he created a minute repeater with perpetual calendar, fitted with a patented system for winding the striking mechanism using the rotating bezel on the case. Alongside this, he helped develop complicated watches for a variety of leading brands. He made his début as an exhibitor at the Basel trade fair in 1996 on the stand run by the Académie des Horlogers Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI).

In 2002, he launched a collection of seven tourbillons with innovative exteriors, including the meteorite which would become one of the creator’s hallmarks. That same year, he took part in the Harry Winston Opus Program, creating the Opus Two. Targeting potential customers in the Middle East and Russia, Antoine Preziuso also made several ladies’ models. Over time, in addition to his boutique in Geneva (2004), he also opened boutiques in Kiev and Osaka (2007), and in Dubai (2010).

The company grew steadily, retaining complete independence and pursuing Antoine Preziuso’s core objectives: quality, innovation, originality and creativity. Since 2001, Antoine Preziuso has held an annual exhibition giving connoisseurs, watch lovers, customers and communications professionals the opportunity to visit the workshops where the timepieces are created and produced, as well as fostering dialogue with the brand’s watchmakers, engravers and setters.

Antoine Preziuso marked 25 years of independence with the creation of an iconic piece, protected by two patents: The TRI-Tourbillon.

The Tourbillon of Tourbillons – the fruit of three years of intensive work in collaboration with his son Florian – was presented at the Baselworld watch fair in 2015. This masterpiece received two awards at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève: the Innovation Prize and the Public Prize.

Antoine Preziuso’s work is built around three powerful values: respect for watchmaking traditions, mastery of grand complications and the constant pursuit of innovation, in technical aspects as well as in design. Antoine Preziuso Genève is a family business. Florian, who followed the same course of studies as his father, is currently very involved in all the company’s new creations. He is responsible for the R&D and production sides of the business. Laura, on the other hand, is a jeweller who balances her studies at the School of Applied Arts in Geneva with creating mechanical jewellery pieces, a unique interpretation in the world of fine jewellery. Finally, Antoine’s wife May completes this trio, her role being to manage the various aspects of the family business.

History and research: Denis Savoie
The son of a railwayman, Denis Savoie was born in 1965 and had a passion for astronomy and sundials from his adolescence. In 1981, following an astronomy camp in Céreste in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, he met three mentors who would each train him in their disciplines:

• Robert Sagot (1910-2006), a world authority on gnomonics, gave him an introduction to everything to do with sundials, their calculation, their history and their construction technique.
• Bruno Morando (1931-1995), an astronomer and Director of the Bureau des Longitudes, who encouraged him to pursue his studies more diligently.
• Alain Segonds (1942-2011), under whose direction he wrote his doctoral thesis at the Paris Observatory, focusing on ancient planetary theories and their validity.

Alongside his research, Denis Savoie joined the Palais de la Découverte – Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie – the famous science museum in Paris founded in 1937 by Jean Perrin. There, he went on to develop his career as a science historian, later becoming Director of the Planetarium (1993-1999), Head of the Astronomy & Astrophysics Department (1999-2013), and Director for Scientific Mediation and Education (2013-2018). Today, he works as a scientific adviser and oversees the History of Science at Universcience; he is also a research associate at the Paris Observatory in the Space-Time Reference Systems (SYRTE) department.

While at the Observatory, as part of the History of Astronomy team, he helped to write the “calculation” and “Copernican astronomy” sections of the three-volume critical edition of De revolutionibus by Copernicus, published in 2015. This unique compendium of 2,700 pages, begun in 1973, was the fruit of 40 years’ work involving numerous skills (e.g. philology, history, astronomy).

Denis Savoie succeeded his mentor, Robert Sagot, as Chairman of the Sundial Commission of the French Astronomical Society from 1990 to 2009, and he restored and built many sundials in France and abroad. Thanks to his commitment to preserving this historical heritage, several Arab-Islamic sundials were saved from certain destruction in Egypt.

An accredited member of the International Academy of the History of Science, he has published a number of works and reference articles on the theory of sundials, their history, and the measurement of time. Alongside articles or works which are highly technical, he writes in a way which is widely accessible, allowing a great number of people to discover all the richness and subtleties that lie behind sundials, nocturlabes and astrolabes. In recognition of his efforts to promote knowledge sharing, he was awarded the Jean Perrin Prize from the French Physics Society in 2012, and his major contributions to gnomonics were recognised by the French Academy of Sciences in 2017.

Spirit of Enterprise: Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei
The son and grandson of watchmakers, Felix Baumgartner was born in Schaffhausen in 1975. He learnt about clocks and the history of watchmaking from his father, who had some 50 years’ experience in his home workshop. Felix Baumgartner gained his first experience of the watchmaking world at his father’s work-bench, where the latter restored clocks for collectors. It was a natural step for him to enrol at the Solothurn watchmaking school in 1992. In 1995, having obtained his diploma, he set himself up as an independent watchmaker in Geneva. He developed different complications for prestigious watch brands, as an anonymous watchmaker. The same year, he met Martin Frei in Zurich. In 1998, Felix Baumgartner was accepted into the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI).

Martin Frei was born in Winterthur in 1966 to an engineer father, and an art teacher mother. In 1987, he received his diploma in Graphic Design from the School of Visual Arts in Zurich, before graduating from the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 1989. The following year, he studied film and cinema at the FHNW Academy of Art and Design in Lucerne. In 1994, he founded the artists group known as U.S.A. (United Swiss Artists) in Lucerne.

Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei met in Zurich in 1995. Together, they talked for many hours about a new type of contemporary watchmaking. Prior to this, Martin Frei had already designed the first Urwerk creations, the UR-101 and UR-102, even though the brand was only officially established
in 1997.

In 2007, Urwerk filed a patent for the “satellite” complication. With a team of 15 employees, the company currently produces around 150 watches a year. It develops pieces that have a unique aesthetic and are technically complex.

Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei have received the prestigious Special Jury Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève on two occasions, once in 2014 and then in 2019.

Urwerk is a symbol of iconoclasm and innovation in the world of modern watchmaking. Through their company, Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei have popularised an innovative style of watches, igniting a movement of independent watchmakers with a passion for new and futuristic designs, who breathe fresh life into a market that is often bogged down in traditional watchmaking designs unchanged after decades.

Horizon Gaïa grant
Aimed at encouraging the next generation of watchmakers in the fields of interest of the Prix Gaïa, the Horizon Gaïa scholarship, made possible thanks to the benevolence of the Watch Academy Foundation, funds individual projects in part or in full.

The Horizon Gaïa grant has been awarded to Zoé Snijders, who is taking her Master’s in Conservation-Restoration for technical, scientific and watchmaking instruments at the Haute Ecole Arc in Neuchâtel. Her knowledge means she will be able to understand a mechanism as complex as the Delvart astronomical clock, an object that combines science with belief, history and watchmaking expertise, and which entered the MIH collections in 2015. Zoé Snijders will study the origin, symbolism and operation of the clock, with the aim of raising its profile amongst the museum’s visitors.

September 24, 2020