The Kosovo-born horloger chats about the future of his brand Akrivia and being one of the leading faces in independent watchmaking.

Our first introduction to your work was the Chronom&egrave;tre Contemporain back in 2018 &mdash; we imagine it&rsquo;s the same for many others. How important is this first impression to you? I&rsquo;ve always tried to do something different, ever since I first started Akrivia. The Chronom&egrave;tre Contemporain represents my <a href="https://www.hommessingapore.com/watches/a-lange-soehne-way-of-watchmaking" target="_blank" rel="noopener">classical watchmaking</a> education at <a href="https://www.hommessingapore.com/watches/patek-philippe-cubitus-interview-thierry-stern-munich" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Patek Philippe</a>. It&rsquo;s something that has never left me, just waiting for the right moment to be brought to life. People really started paying attention after this watch; it was a <a href="https://www.hommessingapore.com/living/everything-you-need-to-know-samsung-galaxy-s25-ultra-android-phone-tech-review" target="_blank" rel="noopener">game-changer</a>.

Do you think you&rsquo;ve found your signature style with the Chronom&egrave;tre Contemporain? I don&rsquo;t think so, because for me it represents just one chapter of the brand. Unfortunately, in watchmaking you still have to follow certain codes, which isn&rsquo;t ideal if you want to be truly disruptive. That&rsquo;s what I tried to do with the first Akrivia line: a strong case that&rsquo;s almost brutalist, with very minimalist dials. It was tough at first because nobody cared, which was frustrating. But now, with people being more receptive to the classical Chronom&egrave;tre Contemporain, it slowly opens the door to the rest of our world.
Where does that leave the main Akrivia collection? To be frank, we&rsquo;ve ceased the main Akrivia line. We now produce watches under my own name, and we&rsquo;ll keep exploring something contemporary and disruptive for the future. I&rsquo;m 38 today, it doesn&rsquo;t make sense for me to keep making the same watch I made 13 years ago. You want to evolve, you want to explore.
Which is why you&rsquo;re building up your workshop, bringing dial and strap production in-house. Exactly. I want the freedom to create, at the level of quality I want, and to explore new techniques. So now we&rsquo;re doing dials, cases, components, and all the engineering in-house at our workshops in Geneva&rsquo;s Old Town. Straps too &mdash; all stitched by hand, which is a m&eacute;tier I really appreciate. Also, one of my proudest recent achievement is welcoming our very first apprentice. I finished my apprenticeship in 2005, and to be able to give back 20 years later, I find that to be quite beautiful.

Independent watchmakers have become quite fashionable in recent years. How does it feel to be one of the leading faces? Honestly, it&rsquo;s strange to be in that position. I&rsquo;m still not completely comfortable with it, because I&rsquo;m relatively young with so much left to do. Of course, I&rsquo;m super happy if we inspire people, but I prefer to forget all that and focus on the work.
You were only 25 when you founded Akrivia in 2012. Looking back, would you still have wanted to start that young? Even though I&rsquo;d worked seven years after my apprenticeship and had experience, at 25 you know nothing. It was a different time back then; I don&rsquo;t know if I was lucky or not, but it was great for me because I could focus on watches and nothing else. Then again, I was shouting out my work to the world and nobody cared. Today, with social media it&rsquo;s a completely different game. Still, I wouldn&rsquo;t change anything. Our persistence during those early years made us who we are today, and collectors can see that we&rsquo;re genuinely passionate about building something meaningful.
What would you say is your greatest strength as a watchmaker? Never giving up. And being adaptable. I was so excited when I first started, and then after the first year when nobody cared, I felt pretty down. But I told myself to be patient, enjoy the work, and keep bringing novelties &mdash; take an honest approach, basically. I was confident it would work out eventually, and sure enough, it did. Today I&rsquo;m happy that I can finally live the passion, because when you&rsquo;re passionate you can push the limits while still respecting the past.

Who is Rexhep Rexhepi | A Short Film by The Hour Glass

Is there a dream watch you hope to build one day? They are all my dream watches. This passion [for watchmaking] is the engine that drives me, although I&rsquo;m not sure if that&rsquo;s always a good thing. A watchmaker I met warned me to be mindful of my health because it will be affected. But I&rsquo;m happy and motivated, and I just want to create something people will remember.
And finally, what is your favourite complication? I still love the chronograph, because you can play with it. You can see, understand and control the functions &mdash; really feel it in your hands. But truth be told, I just want to explore all complications, especially anything new and crazy.

"They are all my dream watches. This passion [for watchmaking] is the engine that drives me."

Catching Up with Indie Watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi

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