Founder of Atelier Voss — a one-man workshop in Le Locle, Switzerland, building fully bespoke mechanical watches from raw movement to hand-finished case, one commission at a time.
Focus areas
My grandfather repaired clocks for a living, never watches — too fussy, he said. I took his tools anyway, and spent a decade learning exactly which parts of "fussy" he was right about.
A movement isn't finished when it keeps time. It's finished when the bridges are anglé by hand, the screw heads are polished flat, and every part left ugly by the factory has been quietly made honest.
We sketch the brief together — complication, case metal, dial language — before a single part is ordered.
A base caliber is selected and stripped down to the mainplate, ready for modification or a full rebuild.
The case is machined and hand-finished in-house, fitted to the movement rather than the other way around.
Every jewel, wheel, and spring is set by hand, then regulated across positions until it holds to spec.
Bridges get anglage and Geneva stripes; screw heads are black-polished under the loupe, one at a time.
The finished piece is cased, timed for a final week on the wrist, and delivered with its full build record.
Keep scrolling — each component settles into place, then flattens into the movement you'd actually wear.
Stores the energy that powers the entire movement — up to 70 hours on a full wind.
The house's signature build — a hand-wound caliber finished to the same standard as pieces ten times the price, because it's the one I wear.
A travel commission for a client who crosses four time zones a week — a second hour hand you can set without stopping the first.
Tracks the date and month through every 30- and 31-day change with a single corrector — no correction needed until March.
A column-wheel chronograph built the slow way — cam-actuated switching was faster to make and I couldn't live with that shortcut.
The most complicated build to leave the bench — a perpetual calendar accurate until 2100, with a moonphase off by one day per 122 years.
The first watch I ever finished, kept on the shelf above the bench and not for sale — everything since has been trying to out-build it.
Left a maison bench to build under my own name — every commission designed, sourced, and finished in one small workshop.
Assisted a senior watchmaker on complicated pieces, learning the house's approach to anglage and in-house calendar modules.
Formal training in movement theory, precision timing, and traditional hand-finishing techniques at a Swiss watchmaking institute.
Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants
2022
Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève
2021
Hodinkee Feature
2020
WOSTEP, Neuchâtel
2011
I asked for a simple time-only watch. Elias talked me out of it, and the GMT he built instead is the only watch I've worn every day for three years.
Most independents chase complications for the story. Elias chases the finishing — I've had his pieces under a loupe next to six-figure watches and his anglage wins.
He restored my grandfather's pocket watch and refused to modernize a single part of it. It runs better now than it likely ever did new.
Bespoke builds, restorations, or a spot on the waitlist — send a note and I'll reply within a day.
