The long read
How independent watchmaking conquered the auction room. A Dial & Crown Web Story.
9 May 2026, Geneva
CHF 3M
A stainless steel wristwatch by Rexhep Rexhepi, 39, sold at Phillips in Geneva, a record for the maker.
CHF 4.9M
In the same sale, a two-tone F.P. Journe Chronometre a Resonance, Souscription No. 18, made CHF 4,875,500.
The beginning, 1985
Vincent Calabrese and Svend Andersen founded the Academie Horlogere des Createurs Independants, the AHCI, giving scattered independent watchmakers a collective identity for the first time.
For decades the independents were the industry’s conscience and its margin: admired by connoisseurs, ignored by the market.
The precedent
Francois-Paul Journe established his manufacture in 1999, the first independent to prove the model could scale without diluting.
His twin-balance Chronometre a Resonance gave collectors a technical story no marketing department could have invented.
The new generation
Rexhepi’s workshops now handle case-making, enamelling and dial-making internally. Production is measured in dozens per year.
Photograph: Rexhep Rexhepi
No complications needed
Rexhepi’s AK-06, the watch that made CHF 3 million in steel, is time-only, with a 100-hour power reserve. No tourbillon, no chiming mechanism. Craftsmanship and scarcity are enough.
Dial & Crown
The independents were not a sideshow at Geneva’s May 2026 auction week. They were the structural story.
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