Rexhep Rexhepi for Only Watch 2023

Few watchmakers have garnered as much attention in recent years as Rexhep Rexhepi. The young Geneva-based watchmaker is producing a host of exciting watches as Akrivia, as well as under his own name.

Prior to this morning, Rexhepi had produced two watches under the Rexhep Rexhepi name, the Chronomètre Contemporain I and the Chronomètre Contemporain II. These classically styled dress watches have certainly caught the eye of collectors.

And they have backed up their interest with their wallets, Akrivias have been selling on the secondary market in the neighborhood of half a million dollars, and a Chronomètre Contemporain I sold at Phillip’s earlier this year for just shy of a seven-figure total.

That there is this much interest and excitement surrounding such a young watchmaker is certainly exciting, and I would expect a correspondingly excited result come November.

As for the watch itself, suffice to say — it’s good. Very good. Drawing inspiration from mid-century anti-magnetic scientists’ watches, the Chronomètre Antimagnétique is a hugely compelling update on the equivalent watches from the 50s and 60s as produced by brands like Patek Philippe and Jaeger-LeCoultre. The Chronomètre Antimagnétique’s wonderfully balanced sector dial design balances classic inspiration with the recognizable layout of other pieces produced under the Rexhep Rexhepi name in an evocative celebration of those early scientific pieces.

Despite the vintage inspiration, the Chronomètre Antimagnétique is thoroughly modern and, in keeping with Rexhepi’s other work, a technical delight. The zero-reset function allows a level of precision in setting the watch that mid-century scientists would surely have appreciated.

While this function is present in the Chronomètre Contemporain I and II, there are a number of small but significant improvements that offer an exciting look at what’s to come in the Rexhep Rexhepi lineup.

The Chronomètre Antimagnétique is also, as its name would imply, resistant to magnetism. Much of this anti-magnetic resistance comes from a Faraday cage integrated into the stainless steel case of the watch, which was produced by Jean-Pierre Hagmann.

The steel case features a removable caseback which, when in place on the watch, seals the Faraday cage and, when removed, offers up a view of the stunningly finished movement through a sapphire display caseback. It’s a neat compromise and a nice callback to the construction of older watches, which often had both an external and inner caseback.

While this is not technically the first Rexhep Rexhepi produced in stainless steel (a prototype Chronomètre Contemporain I comes to mind), it is the first model meant for public consumption to have been built in the metal. Overall, Rexhepi has offered up a fantastic piece, and one I will look forward to seeing when the Only Watch collection comes to New York in a few weeks’ time.

Only Watch 2023 will take place in Geneva on November 5, 2023. A World Tour showing the watches will kick off in Los Angeles on September 6, 2023, and conclude in Geneva on November 5, 2023. You can check viewing dates here. Read Jack and my takes on the best of Only Watch 2023 here and here.