
Alexandre Hazemann Is A Watchmaker Worth Watching
The 23-year-old winner of last year’s F.P.Journe Young Talent Competition represents the future of horology.
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“The pace was very fast—about 15 hours a day, seven days a week, with a series of sleepless nights in the workshop of the great watchmaker Emmanuel Bouchet, who was extremely kind to open his doors for the end of the project… We pushed it to the limit with daily schedules and 6am briefings.”
The work paid off. After eight months and more than 1,000 hours huddled over a workbench, 23-year-old Alexandre Hazemann was named last year’s F.P.Journe Young Talent Competition winner, his elegant AH.02 Signature striking watch impressing a judging panel that included legendary watchmakers Philippe Dufour, Andreas Strehler, Giulio Papi, Marc Jenni and François-Paul Journe himself.

Established in 2015, the Young Talent Competition aims to help budding watchmaking students achieve their dreams of becoming independent watchmakers. Sponsored by F.P.Journe and retail group The Hour Glass, winners of the award receive a diploma and a grant of CHF 20,000 (approx. $33,800), which they can use to purchase watchmaking equipment or finance a horological venture.
“We wanted to make a finished, decorated project—a watch that could be sold on the market,” says Hazemann, then a seventh-year student at France’s Lycée Edgar Faure technological school, who worked on his AH.02 Signature with fellow student Victor Monnin (who constructed an equally distinctive striking watch of his own).
Hazemann’s timepiece, which features a stainless steel case and custom-made bracelet and sapphire crystal caseback, took a base calibre from La Joux-Perret and modified it so that a jumping hour was linked directly to the striking hammer. Rather than conceal the chiming and jumping mechanisms behind a face, Hazemann displayed the structures dial-side up. All bevelling, plating, sandblasting, engraving, brushing, varnishing and polishing was then completed by hand.
“My friend Victor and I have decided to turn this adventure into a professional project,” says Hazemann. “One day we will create our independent workshop to produce striking watches.”
Alexandre Hazemann. Remember the name.
Follow Alexandre Hazemann on Instagram here.
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