With the “Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives”, the watch division of the French luxury house Louis Vuitton wants to promote and honor creative people in the watchmaking trade. The company wants to recognize “bold visions and independent thinking”. The prize is to be awarded every two years.
The award is organized by La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in Geneva, Switzerland, which has belonged to Maison Louis Vuitton since 2014. La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton operates as an independent manufacture and is managed by a team of master watchmakers.
“The watchmaking industry is not a dormant industry, it is not inaccessible. The young generations of watch lovers are passionate and want to see new innovations on the market. That’s why we created this initiative at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton,” said the award’s founder, Jean Arnault, Director of Watchmaking at Louis Vuitton. “It’s a philanthropic and independent initiative to promote innovation in of watchmaking and to reward the best ideas in the field of technical innovation and avant-garde, but also of traditional savoir-faire.”
The application phase will start in 2023
The prize is open to everyone: watchmakers, designers, entrepreneurs, university graduates and creative people from all over the world. To judge the entries, Louis Vuitton convened a committee of 50 industry experts who share a passion for innovation and creativity in watchmaking, including trade journalists, artisans, artists and collectors. Interested parties can register online on the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize website and submit their creative projects from early 2023 to late May 2023.
Twenty semi-finalists will be presented in September 2023, and in December 2023 the expert committee will select five finalists. The final will take place in Paris in January 2024.
The winner of the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize for Independent Creatives will receive a bursary and a one-year mentorship from La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton tailored to the needs of their creative project. A dedicated team will support the winner in a variety of areas including communications, copyright and legal aspects of the business, as well as marketing, industrial strategy and financial management of a brand.