Since 2015, the Young Talent Competition allows discovering the next generation of most talented young watchmakers in the world, supports them in their route to independence by identifying their achievements and putting them under the spotlight. F.P.Journe organises the Young Talent Competition with the support of The Hour Glass, luxury watch retailer in the Asia Pacific region. Both Maisons aim to perpetuate and support the art of haute horology and cultivate the appreciation of extensive horological craftsmanship.
The selection criteria are based on technical achievement, the search for complexity in their realisation, the quality of craftsmanship as well as their sense of aesthetics. Applicants must have independently designed and created a timepiece and/or technical construction. The 2025 Young Talent Competition winner receives a diploma and a CHF 50,000.- grant from The Hour Glass and F.P.Journe, which will allow him to purchase watchmaking tools or finance an horological project.
Alexis Fruhauff, 29, a graduate of Lycée Diderot in Paris (France), won the 2025 edition with his creation Pendule à Seconde. He received his award from Michael Tay - Managing Director of The Hour Glass - and François-Paul Journe during a reception at the Manufacture in the presence of jury members and previous winners, who came to support him and share their experiences.
Conceived from a blank page and entirely handmade, Alexis Fruhauff’s Pendule à Seconde combines both traditional and modern techniques. It features a pivoted detent escapement with lost beat, an adjustable pendulum, and an architecture inspired by the work of watchmakers Antide Janvier and Paul Garnier. The case, crafted from solid cherrywood, pays tribute to 18th-century French clockmaking.
The jury of the Young Talent Competition is composed of key personalities from the international horological scene: Philippe Dufour, Andreas Strehler, Giulio Papi, Marc Jenni, Michael Tay, Elizabeth Doerr and François-Paul Journe.
Alexis Fruhauff
Pendule à Seconde
29 years old - Paris - France
Graduate of Lycée Diderot, Paris, France - June 2022
Introduction_
This project was born in 2022 during my final year of DNMADe (National Diploma of Arts and Design Crafts) at the Paris watchmaking school, where I discovered high-quality masterworks made by students in the late 19th century. After graduating, I refined and enhanced the project by incorporating inspiration from the work of French watchmaker Antide Janvier, whose atypical and distinctive creations I particularly admire.
Design and Crafting_
The Pendule à Seconde was conceived from a blank page: no component was reused from a previous project, and even the tools themselves were entirely designed and manufactured to create the various parts. The work extended over a three-year period, in parallel with my training.
The regulator was built in a traditional way, mixing modern and classical techniques: hand-filing, turning on a Schaublin 102 and an 8 mm watchmaker's lathe, milling on an Aciera F3, and machining on a Hauser 2BA jig borer. All components are removable, making maintenance, transmission, or later decoration easier.
Horological Architecture_
The movement, suspended on a bracket, operates with a pivoted detent escapement with lost beat, inspired by the work of French watchmaker Paul Garnier, combining teeth and pins. Only the right pallet delivers the impulse; an opposing pallet ensures safety. The pins are machined from a modern alloy, Hardiall®, which is self-lubricating, lightweight, and highly wear-resistant.
The balance wheel, mounted on an Invar stem, is removable. It features a system of screw-in lenses and a fine-pitch dead point adjustment, allowing for extremely precise regulation.
Power is supplied by two symmetrical barrels with Maltese Cross stopworks, echoing the philosophy of Breguet’s marine chronometers, avoiding the fusee-and-chain mechanism and delivering constant force required for a detent escapement. Each barrel includes a screwed cover with isostatic repositioning, an external hook, and hardened steel shafts, ensuring perfect concentricity and controlled wear.
The gear train was entirely hand-crafted. The pinions are cut, hardened, blued, polished with boxwood, then turned "between centers" to guarantee concentricity. Lateral oil sinks and choked conical pivots help retain oil. The wheels, screwed to the arbors, are oversized like in school calibres, enabling future repairs or decorative finishes.
The ratchets and click springs were slightly redesigned for greater comfort during unwinding, while preserving the "school" spirit. Their surfaces are softened and undersides hollowed out to prevent plate abrasion.
Case and Dial_
Two options were explored for the case: one in gilded bronze, and one in solid cherrywood, which was ultimately chosen. Inspired by the clock cases crafted by cabinetmaker Jean-Ferdinand Schwerdfeger for Antide Janvier, it was designed after graduation with the help of Stéphane Girardot – a Parisian antique dealer specialising in historic horology – to respect the proper proportions of late 18th-century French clockmaking. The whole case can be disassembled into three parts (base, frame, hood) and includes a secret door.
The dial, hand-engraved and silvered brass, is mounted via an invisible fixing system - a genuine technical challenge. It is accompanied by a hand-engraved amplitude measurement plate for the balance wheel, allowing precise visualisation of the pendulum’s motion.
Technical Specifications_
Dimensions: 55 × 32 × 23 cm
Weight: approx. 7 kg
Escapement: pivoted detent with lost beat, steel and Hardiall® pallets
Balance wheel: Invar stem, screw-in lenses, fine metric thread adjustment
Barrels: double Maltese Cross barrels, screwed covers, hardened steel shafts
Pinions: boxwood polishing, blued, hand-cut and finished
Wheels: oversized thickness, screwed
Ratchets and clicks: redesigned, hollowed, hand-machined
Case: solid cherrywood, disassemblable, secret door
Dial: hand-engraved silvered brass, invisible mounting
Finishing: traditional hand-finishing, Schaublin 102, Aciera F3, Hauser 2BA
