Naissance d’une Montre 4 – Le Carrousel marks the quiet but decisive debut of Bonniksen, a new independent house founded in 2026 in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Maximin Chapuis and Jason Chevrolat, under the aegis of the Time Aeon Foundation with the support of Greubel Forsey. Their aim is precise and rather brave: the first hand-crafted Carrousel in a wristwatch under 40 mm, brought back from obscurity through years of historical and technical study.
The project follows the strict line set by the Naissance d’une Montre programme, created to preserve hand methods before they vanish. After the handmade tourbillon led by Michel Boulanger, the unique piece by Dominique Buser and Cyrano Devanthey, and the chain and fusee wristwatch completed with Chronometrie Ferdinand Berthoud, chapter four hands the tools to Chapuis, a pupil of Boulanger, and to Chevrolat, entrepreneur and collector, to found a workshop built on craft, not slogans.
Bonniksen looks back to the golden age of English chronometry, with research exceeding 5,500 hours and the blessing of Bahne Bonniksen’s descendants. Their compass is the original Carrousel: a revolving cage carrying escapement and balance, driven by its own train, with no fixed wheel on the main plate. It averages positional errors like a tourbillon yet differs in architecture, using a carried seconds wheel whose relative speeds must be computed with care – the spirit behind the house’s ± emblem.
The choice is not nostalgic. The Carrousel’s strength is robustness and mechanical honesty: no fixed wheel, no risk of set-up or butting, every element pivoting true. It is a practical chronometric solution from Coventry’s workshops, now translated to the wrist and finished to modern haute horlogerie standards.
The watch itself is an inverted three-hand calibre with a three-quarter plate and two domed crystals for depth. Hours and minutes sit off-centre at twelve on a chapter ring, traced by modernised English pear hands. A large central seconds recalls scientific pocket watches, reading on a peripheral track to balance the architecture. A subtle aperture reveals the fully pivoted Carrousel turning in 30 seconds, while the central seconds completes 60. The opposed directions of the trains create a quiet mechanical ballet that serves precision as much as theatre.
Details obey strict codes: screwed chatons, a mainspring barrel boss, six-spoke wheels, a maker’s mark, and black polish where it matters. Materials and finishes honour English roots while speaking fluent Swiss. If all goes to plan, Naissance d’une Montre 4 will open Bonniksen’s collection and return a neglected idea to living practice. Not a revival for headlines, but a clear statement of intent: science, craft, and time well spent.
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