The Cartier Prize for Watchmaking Talents of Tomorrow Honors Six Young Apprentices and Will Include Jewelry from 2027

It was in the prestigious setting of the Maison des Métiers d’Art in La Chaux-de-Fonds—a venue Cartier established in 2014 to support the artistic crafts applied to the watch industry—that the brand celebrated the 28th edition of its “Cartier Prize for Watchmaking Talents of Tomorrow” yesterday, June 24.

In front of a jury composed of Pascale Lepeu (Director of the Cartier Collection), Pascal Ravessoud (Vice President of the FHH), Kari Voutilainen (independent watchmaker), and Roy Davidoff (collectible watch specialist), six young apprentices currently in training (three in their 3^rd and 4^th years of the watch industry program and three ES-level technicians in microtechnology in their 1^st or 2^nd years) were honored before an audience of members of the press and the winners’ loved ones.

Hailing from France, Belgium, and Switzerland, they were recognized for creations that were as technically daring as they were conceptually inventive.

This year, the candidates were invited to work with a Cartier pendulum movement on the theme “Shifting the Balance: Reading and Understanding Time Differently.” After an initial selection based on their applications, twelve finalists were given eighty hours—spread over three months—to bring their projects to life with the support of a mentor. The result: twelve unique pieces, each embodying a poetic or mechanical vision of time reimagined.

At the awards ceremony, the winners of the two categories—Aymeric Peters (IATA, Namur, Belgium) for the watch industry category and Arthur Choquet (Lycée Jean Jaurès, Rennes, France) for the technical category—shared their inspirations and creative journeys throughout the three months of work. They highlighted the wealth of experience they gained working alongside their mentors, as well as the challenge of having to collaborate with various trades that were often far removed from their usual fields of study. While some had to cast resin to create a design element, others had to work with glass, ceramics, or enamel. All of them spoke of the tenacity they demonstrated in finalizing their creative proposals on time, a process often fraught with obstacles.

The jury members unanimously highlighted the exceptionally high quality of the work. Deeply inspired by the theme “Shifting the Balance: Reading and Understanding Time Differently,” the candidates all expressed, through their creations, this need to slow down time in an era where digital acceleration leaves little room for it. As proof, Aymeric Peters, with his clock named Silence Choisi, created a mechanism that suspends time until a key comes to awaken it—a mechanism inspired by the split-seconds chronograph mechanism.

A major announcement was made during the ceremony: starting with the 29th edition—for which the call for entries will be launched in the fall of 2026—the award will, for the first time, be extended to the jewelry designers of tomorrow. This expansion reflects Cartier’s dual mission as a leading house in the watch industry and in jewelry, and promises to further broaden the pool of creators it has been supporting for over thirty years. Candidates from Switzerland, France, and Italy will be invited to participate.

The Cartier Prize for Talents of the Watch Industry and Jewelry thus reaffirms its founding mission: to discover, train, and pass on knowledge.

Watch industry Apprentice Category:

First Prize goes to Aymeric Peters (IATA, Namur, Belgium) for Silence Choisi, a table clock that suspends time until a key comes to awaken it.

Second prize (tied) is shared between Layla Sluysmans (IATA, Namur, Belgium) for Nymphéa, a water lily made of resin and ebony whose petals open every two hours to reveal an enamel dial, and Edouard Nicod (Lycée Edgar Faure, Morteau, France) for La Dualité des Opposés.

Technicians Category:

First Prize was awarded to Arthur Choquet (Lycée Jean Jaurès, Rennes, France) for Un Instant, a piece featuring Haussmann-style architecture that pays homage to Paris as the historic cradle of Cartier’s craftsmanship.

Second prizex goes to Adam Deroche (Lycée Diderot, Paris, France) for Médusée, a table clock with soft, flowing contours in which the numerals—rather than the hands, frozen at 10:10—move.

Third prize was awarded to Adrien Stefenelli (Lycée Jean Jaurès, Rennes, France) for Echo, a timepiece without hands or a dial that signals the passage of time with a chime evoking a drop of water.