Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Naissance d’une Montre 4 “Le Carrousel” Project and the Birth of Bonniksen
A new chapter in the preservation of hand-made horology, and a new brand to write it.
Few initiatives in modern watchmaking genuinely place craft above product. The Time Æon Foundation is one that looks to safeguard and transmit traditional handmade techniques at the highest level. Its Naissance d’une Montre series has become the best expression of its mission, not just watches, but workshops of knowledge, where historical methods are relearned, applied, and passed on.
The first chapter, unveiled in 2012, saw Michel Boulanger, a teacher of watchmaking at the Diderot vocational school in Paris, create a tourbillon watch entirely by hand, under the guidance of Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey and Philippe Dufour. It proved that 19th-century methods could still be executed to contemporary standards. The second piece in the series (2019) expanded the collaboration, conceived and created by Greubel Forsey, Urwerk, Cyrano Devanthey and Dominique Buser of Oscillon. The exceptional third (2025), developed with Ferdinand Berthoud, culminated in a fully hand-crafted fusée-and-chain chronometer, involving dozens of artisans and thousands of hours of work.
Now the time has come for the Naissance d’une Montre 4, Le Carrousel. This project continues the Foundation’s mission, but also introduces a new independent watchmaking house: Bonniksen, founded in 2026 in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Maximin Chapuis, restorer and prototype watchmaker, student of Michel Boulanger, and Jason Chevrolat, who brings an entrepreneurial spirit, both in their 30s. Their brand is named after the Danish horologist Bahne Bonniksen (1859 – 1935), who settled in England and later suggested forming the British Watch & Clock Makers’ Guild (1906), still functioning today.
As the name suggests, the watch will feature a carrousel. Invented in the late 19th century (patented in 1892) by Danish horologist Bahne Bonniksen (1859-1935), this rotating regulating system was conceived as an alternative to Breguet’s tourbillon to average positional errors in vertical positions. Unlike the tourbillon, the carrousel is a “carried-wheel” system, driven independently from the going train, without a fixed fourth wheel anchored to the mainplate. Images below of an original Karrusel watch movement by Bahne Bonniksen (images from @SwissWatchGang).
Despite its historical relevance and success in observatory trials, the carrousel gradually disappeared during the 20th century, to be brought back in the 21st. Reviving it today using traditional tools is a challenge. Chapuis and Chevrolat have spent more than 5,500 hours researching, reconstructing, and adapting the mechanism, with input from Bonniksen’s descendants and a deep dive into English chronometer traditions.
All this preparation will result in a fully hand-made carrousel movement integrated into a wristwatch under 40mm, and the inverted design will bring the mechanism to the front. A three-quarter plate will anchor the design, with the time display offset at 12 o’clock, a large central seconds hand and a peripheral track. The carrousel will rotate once every 30 seconds, visually and mechanically interacting with the central seconds hand.
Once complete, the Naissance d’une Montre 4 will most certainly represent continuity, extending a line of projects dedicated not to innovation, but to the preservation of knowledge. With Bonniksen, that knowledge now finds a new, independent home. More details at timeaeon.org.
