Under the chairmanship of Aurel Bacs, an expert in watchmaking and watch collecting, who recently penned his first article as a new contributor for Worldtempus, the jury will face the challenge of picking the winners in each of the twelve categories of the competition, including for the new prizes of best chronograph, tourbillon, calendar watch, chiming watch, mechanical exception, ladies’ mechanical watch and watches with a retail price of under 8,000 Swiss francs.
Watch brands need to make their submissions by 23 June and here are the people that they will need to win over with their arguments:
Chairman : Aurel Bacs, expert in watchmaking and watch collecting / Switzerland
Members:
Carlos Alonso, publisher and editor-in-chief of Tiempo de Relojes and director of the Salon Internacional Alta Relojeria (SIAR) / Mexico
Jean-Philippe Arm, editor-in-chief of Watch Around / Switzerland
René Beyer, co-owner and CEO of Beyer Chronometrie SA and the Zurich Watch and Clock Museum / Switzerland
Benjamin Clymer, blogger, founder and editor-in-chief of Hodinkee / USA
Zhixiang Ding, publisher and editor-in-chief of Chronos China / China
Elizabeth Doerr, specialist freelance watch journalist / Germany
Philippe Dufour, watchmaker and conceptor / Switzerland
Moritz Elsaesser, CW21 watchmaker/repairer, president of Mainly Watches, collector / USA
Dominique Fléchon, historian and expert for the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie / Switzerland-France
Nick Foulkes, historian, author and writer on luxury, in particular for the Financial Times / United Kingdom
John Goldberger, watch collector, author and publisher of books on collector’s watches / Italy
Nazanin Lankarani, freelance journalist, writer on art, in particular for the International New York Times / France-Iran
Sean Li, collector, editor-in-chief of Revolution Hong Kong and watchmaking editorial director of Tatler Asia / China
Takeshi Matsuyama, author, watch historian and writer for Men’s EX / Japan
John Mayer, singer, guitarist, producer and collector / USA
Paola Pujia, editor-in-chief of Orologi-Le Misure del Tempo / Italy
William Rohr, collector, director of TimeZone.com, watch expert for Bonhams Auctioneers / USA
Abdul Hamied Seddiqi, vice-president of Ahmed Seddiqi & Sons / Dubai
Claude Sfeir, collector, gemmologist, jeweller / Lebanon
Antoine Simonin, watchmaker, teacher, former director of Wostep / Switzerland
Michael Tay, director of The Hour Glass Limited / Singapore
Patrick Wehrli, watchmaking expert, Passion for Watchmaking / Switerzland
Jean-Michel Wilmotte, architect and town planner / France
Michele Sofisti, CEO of Girard-Perregaux, the winner of the Golden Hand in 2013, which is out of competition in 2014. As a reminder, the winner of the Golden Hand at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix is automatically out of competition for the following edition and its founder or manager is invited to sit on the jury for one year.