Since 2006, the Institut Horlogerie Cartier has organised a competition open to all third-year students at watch schools and training centres around Switzerland. This year, nearly 76 participants worked on the ‘development and realization of a system replacing the ratchet pawl’. As a reminder, the purpose of the pawl is to block––– the ratchet of the barrel wheel from turning in the unwinding direction in order to ensure that it turns only in the winding direction.




Arnaud Bérard 1st Price, Gion Komminoth 2nd Price


As Jean-Michel Piguet, Deputy Curator of the International Watch Museum in La Chaux-de-Fonds and President of the panel of judges, explains, “many students used the movement of the pawl to create animations, while others worked on the noise made by the click of the pawl, a rather rare approach in timekeeping.”
First place for the ‘absolute best work’ went to Arnaud Bérard, of the Ecole Technique in the Vallée de Joux. Arnaud has the advantage of coming from an auspicious background because he is also the son of the watchmaker Vincent BÉrard who certainly must have transmitted to his offspring his notions of philosophy and poetry. According to Piguet, Arnaud BÉrard’s realization “stood out from the others because not only did it function perfectly on a technical level but it was also highly original and a testimonial to consistent philosophical reflection.” Utilizing all animation possibilities offered by the movement of the pawl, the young Bérard created a small character whose face is represented by a disc, which is polished so that it reflects the face of the watch’s wearer. This gives the impression of a pneumatic drill pounding away at the earth represented at the centre of the ratchet—a way to remind people of their responsibilities towards the environment. While the prize rewarded originality, it also took into account the quality of the execution that, in this case, was judged to be at the highest level.




Tirza Wehren 3th Price, Quentin Choulat 4th Price


A high level of execution was also found in the very classic second prize that was awarded to Gion Komminoth, of Zeit Zentrum in Grenchen, who created a very original vertical click system that also represents a great mastery of architecture while respecting the maximum dimensions imposed by the rules of the competition.
Winners of the third, fourth and sixth prizes revisited in their own way the history of timekeeping and proposed systems using double pawls, such as those that exist in some high precision watches. All interpreted them however in very contemporary ways. Jean-Michel Piguet found these entries very gratifying since he sees in them a manner of continuing the traditions and collective memory of watchmaking.




Guillaume Bugnon 6th Price


Source: Europa Star August-September 2009 Magazine Issue