Presenting The 2024 Winners Of The Gaïa Prize
The 2024 edition of the Prix Gaïa pays tribute to watchmaking talents and once again confirms its international significance.
By Watchonista
Since 1993, this award has been presented in recognition of extraordinary careers in the field of watchmaking, as well as in art and culture. The Gaïa Prize award ceremony will be presided over by Carine Bachmann, Director of the Federal Office of Culture onon Thursday 19 September 2023 (18:00 CET) at the Musée international d'horlogerie (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds. On this occasion, the MIH will once again award the Horizon Gaïa Fellowship, intended for the next generation of researchers.
The unique Prix Gaïa honours the very best: those contributing to the reputation of watchmaking, its history, its technology or its industry. An institution of global renown, the Musée international d'horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds – a city whose economic and social history is closely linked to watchmaking – awards this prize in recognition of the spiritual heirs of watchmaking culture embodied in the museum's collections, and in the city itself.
For the 2024 edition of the Prix Gaïa, the jury has selected four winners across three categories to discover below.
Jean-Pierre Hagmann: Winner in the Craftsmanship - Creation Category
The Prix Gaïa jury is paying tribute the work of Jean-Pierre Hagmann which, over the course of his long career, has brought the manufacture of watch cases to the pinnacle of excellence, and honoured traditional methods. He has helped to cultivate crucial expertise in watchmaking, fostering a spirit of sharing and openness.
Caroline Rothauge: Winner in the History - Research Category
The Prix Gaïa jury is honouring Caroline Rothauge for her many foundational studies reviving the historiography of German time measurement with a cultural approach which brilliantly combines archive sources and material artefacts.
Jasmine Audemars: Winner in the Entrepreneurship Category
The Prix Gaïa jury recognises Jasmine Audemars for her efforts to ensure the constant and prodigious development of the family company, Audemars Piguet, allowing it to rise to the rank of multinational whilst retaining its independence and preserving its historic networks of suppliers.
Horizon Gaïa: Baptiste Tognet-Bruchet
Alongside the three categories used to honour leading figures in the watchmaking world, Horizon Gaïa, an incentive grant made possible thanks to the generosity of the Watch Academy Foundation, is being awarded to encourage new talent in the fields recognised by the Prix Gaïa: Craftsmanship - Creation, History - Research, and Entrepreneurship. The grant will finance all or part of an individual project.
The Horizon Gaïa grant has been awarded to Baptiste Tognet-Bruchet, a history student at the University of Neuchâtel. With his "Guide to electronic watch archives" project, he aims to provide researchers with a working tool that will encourage new approaches and perspectives on Swiss and international watchmaking history in the second half of the 20th century.
