Akhor has moved quickly from newcomer to name worth watching in Geneva’s independent scene.
With the Nour La Lumière, the brand adds a day/night display to its floating dial architecture, turning a technical construction into a miniature desert landscape.
It’s a watch that leans into emotion without stepping away from serious movement work, hand-finishing and certification.
At a glance
- Akhor’s Nour La Lumière introduces a third rotating disc to the brand’s floating dial architecture.
- The hand-finished dial depicts Saharan dunes, a sun, moon, stars and a hand-painted dromedary rider.
- The watch is limited to 10 pieces in 18k red gold and 10 pieces in platinum, with pricing to be confirmed.
A desert scene built on three discs
Akhor’s visual identity centres on a suspended dial construction, where much of the hour and minute hands sit concealed beneath a raised central disc.
The Nour La Lumière develops that idea with a third disc placed beneath the hands, completing one rotation every 24 hours.
As it turns, the display shifts between daylight, marked by a gold or platinum sun, and night, shown with a moonlit sky scattered with stars.
The name takes its cue from the Arabic word “nour”, meaning light, and the watch’s imagery connects directly to founder Anissa Bader’s North African heritage.
The dial scene is more than decorative theatre.
The dunes, sun, moon and stars are engraved by hand in bas relief, while the lone dromedary and rider are painted by hand, giving the composition a quiet narrative quality.
Only the tips of the hour and minute hands emerge from beneath the central plate, with luminescent inserts helping them read against the peripheral chapter ring.
Branding is kept almost invisible, appearing only on the counterweight of the central seconds hand.
The AK10 calibre gains a poetic complication
The Nour La Lumière uses Akhor’s proprietary AK10 manual-winding calibre, produced with Geneva micromechanics specialist Clamax.
The movement was conceived to accept added complications, but the third disc still required recalculations in energy transmission and mass distribution.
It runs at 4Hz and offers a 60-hour power reserve, with hacking seconds for more precise setting.
Finishing is suitably elaborate, with anglage, fan-shaped Geneva stripes and Akhor’s cushion-shaped screws.
The watch carries Poinçon de Genève and COSC chronometer certification, along with the Chronometer Certificate of the Observatoire Chronométrique de Genève for the finished watch.
Gem-set cases and limited production
The cushion-shaped case measures 40mm across and 12.5mm thick, making it slightly larger than Akhor’s time-only editions.
It comes in either 18k red gold or platinum, both with a polished bezel set with 120 baguette-cut diamonds totalling 4.85 carats.
Satin-brushed surfaces, polished accents and a hobnail-knurled crown give the case a mix of jewellery presence and tactile watchmaking detail.
The watch is water-resistant to 30 metres and uses sapphire crystal front and back, with anti-reflective coating on the dial side.
Each version is worn on a hand-stitched blue alligator strap with a matching red gold or platinum folding clasp set with diamonds.
An Arabic inscription is engraved on the caseback, reinforcing the cultural thread that runs through the watch.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Akhor |
|---|---|
| Model | Nour La Lumière |
| Case size | 40mm diameter x 12.5mm thickness |
| Case material | 18k red gold or platinum |
| Bezel | 120 baguette-cut diamonds, 4.85 carats |
| Dial | Three-disc construction with hand-engraved dunes, sun, moon and stars, plus hand-painted rider and dromedary |
| Display | Hours, minutes, central seconds and day/night indicator |
| Movement | Proprietary Akhor AK10 manual-winding calibre |
| Movement size | 31.3mm diameter x 3.9mm thickness |
| Frequency | 28,800vph, 4Hz |
| Power reserve | 60 hours |
| Components | 126 components, 12 jewels |
| Certifications | Poinçon de Genève, COSC and Observatoire Chronométrique de Genève |
| Water resistance | 30 metres |
| Strap | 20mm x 18mm hand-stitched blue alligator leather |
| Clasp | Diamond-set folding clasp in red gold or platinum |
| Production | 10 pieces in each metal |
| Price | To be confirmed |
The Nour La Lumière is aimed squarely at collectors who want independent watchmaking with craft, intimacy and a point of view.
Its appeal lies in how confidently it treats complication as storytelling, rather than adding mechanics for their own sake.
