Tourbillon Barrette-Miroir, with
production steps at right.
ENTER AKRIVIA
This is where one of the surprising big hits of Baselworld 2018 comes into view:
the new Rexhep Rexhepi Chronometre Contemporain from the Akrivia atelier
in Geneva.
It was a shockwave for many of these same collectors, being such a depar-
ture from the established and modern aesthetics of the Akrivia atelier like the
fantastic AK-06 (above) presented last year.
So it was like a small digital explosion took place amongst this group of co-
gnoscenti when this watch hit the social media. All of this is a very good reason
for an in-depth look at Akrivia and its founder Rexhep Rexhepi.
THE WATCHMAKER
Rexhep was born in 1980 in a very small, agrarian village called Zheger, situ-
ated on the Karadak River in Kosovo, not far from the Macedonian border.
During his childhood, his father had moved to Switzerland in connection with
work, and it was only several years later that Rexhep, and later his brother,
Xherdet, would join their father in Geneva.
Attending school in Lully, a suburb of Geneva, he quickly learned to
speak French fluently and acclimatized to his new environment with ease.
The fact that nearly every neighbor in their area worked in some capacity
with watches, as well as the close proximity of several watch manufacturers
furthered Rexhep’s childhood awareness about watchmaking, and ignited his
urge to become a watchmaker. He applied to study at Patek Philippe, and after
an entrance test, started to attend the watchmaking school there when he was
only fourteen years old.
After completing his studies, he continued on at Patek Philippe, this time
as an employee for two years, later working at B&B Concept when he was
twenty years old. Within a period of 1½ years he was leading a group of fifteen
120 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | SUMMER 2018
watchmakers in the complications department there. After three years at B&B
Concept, he went to work at F.P. Journe’s atelier, where he worked on various
watches from Journe’s Chronometre Souverain to his Resonance caliber.
IN GENEVA
It was in 2012, a few years after I first met him, that he had taken the step to
create his own atelier under the name Akrivia, (inspired by the Greek word for
precision). His goal was – and still is – to unite all the classical traditions of the
Geneva watchmaking tradition, with a contemporary design approach to case,
dial, hands and movement layout.
For me, among several choices of Akrivia’s timepieces, the tourbillon Bar-
ette Miroir, as well as the non-tourbillon AK-06, which makes the complication
of a power reserve indicating movement a veritable feast for the eye, are two
exemplary timepieces that codify Akrivia’s approach.
In an interview years back, Rexhep mentioned to me what hard work it was
starting an atelier. He found that many collectors didn’t really see the amount
of work required to make watches the way he wanted. It meant he needed to
constantly explain the differences between industry standard, computer-driv-
en and executed finishes that at first glance look perfectly fine to most people,
and the same finishing work done by hand.
When collectors visited his atelier, they saw traditionally executed hand
anglage done in several steps taking weeks and weeks of effort, and they slowly
began to comprehend the work involved. The tourbillons that Rexhep produced
at Akrivia were already expensive, and this kind of effort was quite costly to
produce. Slowly however, the hard work paid off, the acceptance of collector’s to
the fledgling workshop got firmly established. This fact, together with sales of
Akrivia’s haute horlogerie timepieces, allowed Rexhep to relocate his workshop
to a magnificent location in the heart of Geneva’s old town in December 2017.