Young Gun

Founder of AkriviA, Rexhep Rexhepi, shows why he is Swiss horology’s bright new hope

- Alvin Wong

Partway through our interview with Rexhep Rexhepi (pronounced ‘Ra-jep Ra-jep-pi’), the 30-year-old Kosovo-born, Geneva-based master watchmaker struggles to describe what ultimately completes his timepieces.

Passion? Skill? Attention to detail? “It is all that but that’s not the word,” he says, searching for the elusive adjective. Feel? “Yes!” he concurs. “Feel. That is what sets my watches apart.”

Since Rexhepi launched his brand AkriviA five years ago, watch collectors and critics have been quick to hail him as the next big thing in haute horlogerie. And for good reason, too.

Rexhepi’s backstory shows him up as a watchmaking prodigy. He started his apprenticeship at Patek Philippe at 14 years old, subsequently cutting his teeth at high-end movement manufacturer BNB Concept and with the much-respected Francois-Paul Journe, before starting AkriviA – a meteoric journey that took him just 10 years.

And then there are the watches. AkriviA proclaimed its ambition in no uncertain terms when it debuted with a Tourbillon Monopusher Chronograph. Since that opening salvo, it has marched out a slew of top-drawer complications, the watches’ unfussy monikers belying their technical excellence: Tourbillon Hour Minute, Tourbillon Regulator, Tourbillon Chiming Hour, and Tourbillon Barrette-Mirror. The latest offering is the AK-06, a visually arresting open-faced timepiece featuring a new in-house movement with stop seconds and reset functions, and 100 hours of power reserve.