Cartier - Joux Valley feted
Revue FH - 4 June 2009
«Produce and present a system to replace the pawl on the 6497-1» movement was the theme chosen for the 2009 Cartier Institute of Watchmaking competition in which six schools of watchmaking, ten watch industry apprenticeship centres and six private workshops took part.
In total, 78 works were considered by the jury, which consisted of Jean-Michel Piguet, assistant curator of the Museum of Watchmaking in La Chaux-de-Fonds (MIH), Andre Evrard, painter, Yves Piller, clockmaker, Roberto Prieto, head of training at Ulysse Nardin in Le Locle, and Antoine Simonin, an expert in horology. The jury judged entries according to the originality of the design, the quality of execution, the functional aspects of the system replacing the pawl, operation of the movement and cleanliness.
The award ceremony was held on 9 May this year at the MIH. Presided over by Jean-Daniel Pasche, president of the FH, and Jean-Kley Tullii, Director of the Cartier manufactory, it rewarded the work of Arnaud Berard (see centre page photo), a student at the Joux Valley Technical College, who won a week's stay in New York.
The six other young men and women ranked from second to seventh place received a Cartier watch. They were, in order, Gian Komminoth (Zeit Zentrum, Granges), Tirza Wehren (Zeit Zentrum, Granges), Quentin Choulat (Ecole des metiers techniques, Porrentruy), Elisa Kunze (Lange Uhren, Glashutte), Guillaume Bugnon (CIFOM, Le Locle) and Sulivan Barbezat (Cartier Manufactory, La Chaux-de-Fonds). Meanwhile the prize traditionally awarded for originality, which also earned its winner a Cartier watch, went to Valentin Mader (Patek Philippe, Plan-les-Ouates), whose work can be admired at the bottom of the previous page. All participants also received a Cartier book. The aim of the competition, incidentally, is to convey passion for a job well done and to keep abreast of technological developments.