Meet #YourTakeOnTheRoyalOak Winner: Sidoine Lescauville

For as long as he can remember, Sidoine Lescauville has had a deep interest in watchmaking. The 20-year-old industrial design student caught the watch bug quite early in his childhood and has been nurturing this dream to work with a watch brand someday. “Every time I saw a watch in a store, I wanted it on my wrist. Even though I never really wore watches, I would beg my parents to buy me one. The day I was given my great grandfather's Omega chronograph, I knew I wanted to start collecting. But collecting wasn’t even my main goal, my goal is to work in the watch industry,” he says.

Inspired by the works of Phillipe Starck, Virgil Abloh and Hajime Sorayama, Lescauville wants to make watches that people would wear everyday and not hide away in lockers. For our global design competition, he presented the ‘Royal Oak Sunbather’ – an all-white timepiece with a dynamic dial that would change color throughout the day. “I wanted to design an AP meant to be worn and not stored away. I asked myself a couple of questions. Can I make an AP people would want to wear under the light and not in a dark room for a movie premiere? Can I make an AP that will captivate everyone’s attention not only for being an AP?” he says.

After a good day of brainstorming, Lescauville made six different designs for the competition including the winning design of the ‘Sunbather’. “This watch will be all white inside a room but as soon as it catches light – UV rays to be precise – the dial will light up with multiple colors and come to life. I love ceramic watches, which is why I chose it as the main material for my design. I wanted the dial to be the center of attention, so I chose to only put a date complication there,” says Lescauville, who personally loves all the perpetual calendar watches from Audemars Piguet.

While submitting his designs, Lescauville believed they were good enough to win but as he started going through all the ‘crazy designs’ submitted by other participants, he wasn’t as sure of making the cut. “I just wanted it so badly! I’m really happy and thankful for this win. This means so much more to me than you might think! This is my passport to the watch industry. I can’t wait to meet all the people at Audemars Piguet and learn as much as possible about my dream job,” he says.

Over the next five years, Lescauville hopes the watchmaking industry will be more sustainable and innovative with design. “I hope to see established watch brands create new designs and silhouettes to keep up with the new school of watchmakers. I also wish to see upcoming brands introducing ingenious designs and fresh marketing strategies,” he says.

Watch the video to get to know Sidoine: