F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition 2019-2020

Horological Culture • 17 Aug 2020

F.P. Journe Young Talent Competition 2019-2020


Since 2015, the Young Talent Competition has assisted in the discovery of the next generation of talented young watchmaking apprentices, and aims to support them in their route to independence by identifying and celebrating their accomplishments. Organised with support from Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) and The Hour Glass, the Young Talent Competition is part of a concerted effort perpetuate and support the art of haute horology and the appreciation of horological craftsmanship. Winners of the 2018 have already made promising inroads in the field of independent watchmaking, with Rémy Cools recently debuting his Tourbillon Souscription and Théo Auffret introducing the Souscription series Tourbillon à Paris.

2019 – Tyler John Davies

The 2019 jury of the Young Talent Competition was composed of key personalities from the international horological scene: Philippe Dufour, Giulio Papi, Andreas Strehler, Marc Jenni, Pascal Ravessoud, Michael Tay, Elizabeth Doerr and François-Paul Journe. Their selection criteria was based on technical achievement, the search for complexity and a sense of design and aesthetics. Tyler received a diploma and a CHF 10,000 grant from The Hour Glass, which was for the purchase of watchmaking tools and equipment.

Tyler, 27-year-old graduate from the School of Jewellery of Birmingham University, took the prize in 2019 with his clock titled “Equilibrium”. The clock, said Tyler “needed to be both functional and scientific, whilst remaining to be creative and artistic”.

Made of American black walnut and measuring 585 x 200 x 200 mm, Tyler’s clock features a brass dial and houses an 8-day weight driven movement with deadbeat escapement and an Invar pendulum rod with a temperature compensation tube. The case was prototyped using CAD and CNC machinery, then finished and joined by hand in American black walnut. As for the choice of escapement: “I had lots of experience making the recoil escapement and I wanted to challenge myself so I opted for the deadbeat. I knew the deadbeat was more critical and less forgiving, it also required some tooling to be made, which did help guarantee its success”, said Tyler.

Circumventing the prohibitively high cost to find an engraver to decorate the chapter ring, Tyler designed the dial in CAD before engraving it himself using a gravograph. The dial was then roughly cut out and mounted to a face-plate on a lathe with large swing. The work was strapped up to ensure it didn’t rip out when turning the outer and inner diameter, after this the dial feet were riveted in place and then finally the dial was waxed and silvered.

2020 

The 2020 Edition of the Young Talent Competition will be awarded on Friday the 28th of August – alongside the “20 Years of The Chronometre A Resonance” Exhibition at F.P. Journe’s manufacture in Geneva, which runs from the 28th of August until the 4th of September.

Tags: f.p. journe


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