Here’s What I Learned About Rexhep Rexhepi While Visiting the Akrivia Atelier
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Catching sight of the hottest independent watchmaker in Switzerland at work in his Geneva atelier is easier than you might think. Simply walk up the hill into the city’s Old Town, past the Italian hot spot Osteria della Bottega, stop beneath the shingle marking the home of Akrivia and peer inside. Unlike most watchmaking workshops, which tend to be hidden behind closed doors in the industrial part of town, the open-kitchen-style atelier is easily visible from the cobblestone street through large windows that allow passersby—horological pilgrims or curious tourists—to admire founder Rexhep Rexhepi doing what he does best.
I learned this last month, on the day I arrived in Geneva to judge the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. It was a Thursday, and I had just one item on my agenda: a visit to Akrivia to meet Rexhepi, the Kosovo-born watchmaking wunderkind who has earned comparisons to Philippe Dufour and François-Paul Journe—not only for his horological talent but also for the seven-figure prices collectors are willing to pay for his timepieces.
I’d made arrangements with the Akrivia PR team weeks in advance and was told Rexhepi would only have 15 minutes to chat with me. When I arrived at the atelier, which is located at the base of a stately residential building, I realized why. Rexhepi was flying to Dubai the following day and would be gone through the following Wednesday, meaning he’d miss the GPHG ceremony on Nov. 13 (his collaborative timepiece with Louis Vuitton, the LVRR-01 Chronographe à Sonnerie, was nominated, but, alas, did not win that night).
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“I don’t travel that much,” Rexhep told me as he, Alex Ballmer (Akrivia’s head of customer relations), and I sat in a well-appointed reception area located above the watchmaking workshop. “For me, it’s always difficult to leave. I have to do my job.”
The 37-year-old Rexhepi is renowned for the workmanship that goes into his entirely handmade timepieces (the main reason he makes fewer than 50 watches per year). Since founding Akrivia in 2013, he’s built a reputation as both a meticulous craftsman and an astute businessman. In an impressive show of vertical integration, he now oversees four spaces on the picturesque street: the watchmaking workshop that also houses his administrative offices; a case-making atelier located across the street whose star employee is none other than Jean-Pierre Hagmann, the artisanal casemaker awarded the special jury prize at this year’s GPHG for his contributions to the Swiss watch industry; a strap-making workshop where artisans devote an entire day to making a single strap from a menu of leathers that includes everything from calfskin to stingray; and a brand-new space up the hill dedicated to enamel and engraving.
Over-subscribed does not begin to describe the demand for Rexhepi’s highly coveted wristwatches. A few days after my visit, at Phillips’s Geneva auction XX, a 2021 Akrivia chronograph tourbillon sold for $1,237,431, setting a record for one of Rexhepi’s creations. Despite being sought after by the world’s most discerning collectors, Rexhepi exudes humility. During our brief time together, I was struck by his perfectionism and work ethic. It’s clear that he prizes his time at the bench above all. “I think collectors are more happy because like this, they can eventually have more watches than having discussion with me,” he said.
Rexhepi is a devoted student of watchmaking history — the books, magazines, catalogs, and monographs that line the shelves and bookcases of his atelier offer the first clue. Some of the titles on display: The Fusee Lever Watch by Dr. Robert Kemp, Watch-Making in England, 1760-1820, and Hands of Time by Rebecca Struthers. He’s also generous about the timepieces he loves, like F.P. Journe’s Resonance (“It’s very romantic”) and Patek Philippe’s Tourbillon 5101P, a watch he’s admired since he was a 16-year-old apprentice at Patek (“The first time I got a tourbillon in my hand was the 5101 platinum,” he said. “And this watch really made me realize that it doesn’t matter what happened in my life. I want to have this kind of emotion when I will do my own watches”).
The Akrivia atelier is arranged in a symmetrical layout that mirrors the harmony and proportion of Rexhepi’s movements. It houses a treasure trove of vintage watchmaking machines and handmade tools that harken back to the 18th, 19th, and 20th century heyday of pre-industrialized Swiss watchmaking.
Rexhepi was weaned on traditional horology from an early age. When his father, a businessman based primarily in Switzerland, visited Kosovo, the young Rexhepi was quick to notice his timepiece. “He always had this watch—I was impressed by it,” Rexhepi said, switching to the second person to recall the wonder he felt when he caught sight of it. “You don’t see him, so you’re quite shy, but you want to see what he wears. I always took this watch, and I was hearing the tick-tock. And it stayed in your mind. The moment that I came to Switzerland, I realized very quickly that this is a country of watches. And I said, ‘This is what I want to do.’ You realize that you can go learn something, and you can build a watch with this learning. It’s fantastic, right?”
Today, Rexhepi is himself a father. He and his longtime partner, Annabelle Roques, Akrivia’s chief operating officer, are parents to a 4-year-old daughter and a son who turns 2 this month. I asked him whether he’d already begun to make watches for his children, but by then, 20 minutes into our 15-minute allotment, his attention had already been seized by his buzzing phone and last-minute to-dos before his trip to Dubai. “Actually, I don’t travel that much at all,” he said again, by way of apology. “It’s this moment. I don’t know what’s happened. It’s exploding.”
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