REXHEP REXHEPI
Rexhep Rexhepi moved to Switzerland from Kosovo at twelve, began an apprenticeship at Patek Philippe at fifteen, passed through BNB Concept and F. P. Journe, and founded his own workshop, Akrivia, in 2012 at twenty-five. He now works from a house in Geneva’s old town, producing a few dozen watches a year under both the Akrivia name and his own. His Chronomètre Contemporain series is widely regarded as among the finest hand-finished work being made today.
The Chronomètre Contemporain
Presented in 2018, the Chronomètre Contemporain pairs a deliberately classical dial — enamel or sector, minimal text — with a movement finished to an exacting hand standard, including black-polished steel and hand-bevelled bridges. It was recognised at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève that year, and later editions added a deadbeat seconds and reworked the construction.
A Workshop, Not a Brand
Rexhepi has kept the operation deliberately small, sharing his Geneva building with other craftspeople rather than scaling production. The economics are unusual: demand vastly exceeds supply, and he has repeatedly declined to expand output. That restraint has made him a defining figure of the current independent generation.