he Naissance d’une Montre project has always sought to demonstrate that the most demanding watchmaking skills can be transmitted, preserved and reinvented. With Naissance d’une Montre 4 – Le Carrousel, the Time Æon Foundation takes that mission a step further, unveiling not only an exceptional timepiece but also the birth of a new independent watchmaking house: Bonniksen.

Founded in 2026 in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Maximin Chapuis and Jason Chevrolat, Bonniksen emerges directly from the ambitious programme initiated by the Time Æon Foundation and supported by Greubel Forsey. Following Michel Boulanger’s entirely hand-crafted tourbillon (mentored by Philippe Dufour), the unique creation of Naissance d’une Montre 2 (Oscillon, Urwerk and Greubel Forsey), and the spectacular fusee-and-chain watch of Naissance d’une Montre 3 (Ferdinand Berthoud), this fourth chapter turns its attention to a mechanism that remains both fascinating and largely overlooked: the Carrousel.

This new venture also finds its legitimacy in the transmission of savoir-faire. A student of Michel Boulanger and a direct heir to the spirit that inspired the first Naissance d’une Montre project, Maximin Chapuis now pursues this vision alongside Jason Chevrolat, entrepreneur, collector and consultant active within the watch industry.

The story of the Carrousel

Bonniksen’s ambition is considerable. The brand aims to produce the first entirely hand-made Carrousel integrated into a wristwatch measuring less than 40 mm in diameter – an unprecedented technical challenge built upon more than 5,500 hours of historical and mechanical research.

The project draws on the legacy of Bahne Bonniksen, the Danish-born watchmaker who settled in England in the late 19^th century and whose name remains associated with one of the most original solutions ever devised to improve the precision of mechanical timekeepers.

Patented in 1892 under the name “Position Equalising Karrusel”, the Carrousel was designed to compensate for rate deviations caused by vertical positions. Like Breguet’s tourbillon, it places the regulating organ inside a rotating carriage in order to average out positional errors. Its architecture, however, differs fundamentally. Whereas the tourbillon relies on a fixed fourth wheel, the Carrousel employs a system of carried gears in which the seconds wheel itself remains mobile.

Renowned for its robustness and sophisticated kinematics, this distinctive construction enjoyed considerable success in chronometry competitions before gradually disappearing with the decline of the British watchmaking industry in the early 20th century. In the 21^st century, it notably reappeared at Blancpain, yet without experiencing the celebrated renaissance enjoyed by complications such as the tourbillon.

A 21^st-century vision of artisanal watchmaking

For Jason Chevrolat and Maximin Chapuis, the project is about far more than historical reconstruction. It is an attempt to revive a forgotten chapter of great English watchmaking while reinterpreting it through the lens of contemporary hand craftsmanship.

Inspired by historic names such as Dent, Charles Frodsham, Nicole Nielsen and Smith & Son, Bonniksen positions itself at the crossroads of British chronometric tradition and Swiss expertise in complicated watchmaking. This dual heritage underpins the brand’s ambition: to create a distinctly 21^st-century vision of artisanal watchmaking rooted in technical mastery, historical legitimacy and innovation.

The timepiece that will inaugurate the brand fully embodies this philosophy. Its inverted three-hand calibre will showcase a Carrousel completing one full rotation every 30 seconds, displayed within a striking architecture dominated by a large three-quarter bridge.

The off-centred hours and minutes positioned at 12 o’clock, reinterpreted pear-shaped hands, large central seconds hand and traditional finishing techniques – screwed gold chatons, six-spoke wheels and black-polished steel components – evoke the golden age of precision pocket watches while asserting a resolutely contemporary aesthetic. Twin domed crystals further enhance the visual depth of the movement and the theatrical presentation of its mechanisms.

The future of haute horlogerie may well depend on rediscovering such forgotten paths. Through Bonniksen, the Carrousel could finally reclaim the place it deserves in the history of mechanical precision.