Tad Kozh Wants to Give Young Watchmakers a Real Start

Tad Kozh isn’t built around the usual limited-edition playbook.

Founded by Alix and Baudouin van Es, the initiative uses collaborative watches to fund a broader ecosystem for young independent watchmakers, with artisans given unusual freedom over the creative work.

Its first project, made with Genus and enameller Mathieu Soufache, shows how the idea works in practice.

At a glance

• Tad Kozh has launched as a platform pairing independent watch brands with master artisans while funding support for young watchmakers.
• The first collaboration is a five-piece Genus project using Cloisonné enamel across complex dial elements.
• Baudouin van Es says proceeds support a competition that provides winners with tooling, mentorship and access to collectors.

A platform built around artisanship

Van Es describes Tad Kozh as a reversal of the conventional brand-and-artisan relationship.

Rather than hiring a craftsperson to execute a fixed brief, Tad Kozh asks the watchmaker to present its identity and mechanical language, then allows the artisan to respond with full creative freedom.

That distinction matters, because métiers d’art are often treated as decoration rather than authorship.

Here, the craftsperson is positioned as a creative equal, while the watch becomes a vehicle for both horological expression and funding future talent.

The name carries a personal weight.

In Breton, Tad Kozh means grandfather, and Van Es has said it was the nickname of his own grandfather, whose home in the French countryside shaped his early connection to craft.

His grandmother was an artisan framer, and he recalls spending time in her workshop learning about framing and cutting glass.

That family context gives the project a sharper focus than another charitable edition or collector novelty.

It’s less about nostalgia than about creating a practical bridge between inherited craft culture and the commercial realities of contemporary independent watchmaking.

The Genus collaboration and a difficult enamel challenge

The inaugural Tad Kozh collaboration was developed with Genus after Van Es approached the manufacture with the idea of using Cloisonné enamel, a craft it had not previously applied in this way.

The Genus display, with its open architecture and animated reading system, offered a broad and unconventional surface for enamel work.

Mathieu Soufache, an enameller based near Lausanne, was brought into the project after an earlier candidate was unable to continue.

What began as enamel work on two crescent forms grew more ambitious once the creative and technical teams began testing what the architecture could carry.

The project expanded to include three indicator arrows, then developed further when the glass box sapphire crystal made the sides of the hour indicators visible.

That meant the Cloisonné enamel had to be considered not only across the top surfaces, but also along the flanks of the markers.

Van Es credits Genus co-founder Sébastien Billières with embracing the engineering challenge rather than simplifying the concept.

Billières’s background includes early work with Urwerk alongside Felix Baumgartner, a detail that helps explain the appetite for mechanically expressive watchmaking at the edge of conventional construction.

The result is a five-piece subscription series.

Van Es has said the first piece was sold to a New York collector who had also acquired the unique Genus piece at Only Watch, and that three of the five pieces have already been committed.

Collectors are also brought into direct communication with the enameller and the manufacture during production.

That level of access is part of the Tad Kozh proposition, turning acquisition into a closer encounter with the people making the watch rather than a sealed transaction at the end of the process.

The young watchmaker programme

The money raised through these collaborations supports the Tad Kozh new talent competition.

For the inaugural edition, Van Es says 16 applications were received and six finalists were invited to Geneva for bench evaluations, finishing assessments and movement assembly.

The programme is built around a useful truth that the watch world doesn’t always say plainly.

Technical ability alone doesn’t guarantee the survival of an independent brand.

To address that, the jury combines watchmaking expertise with commercial experience.

Names involved include Luc Monnet and Eric Fisher on the technical side, alongside Alexander Ghotbi, Roy Davidoff and Guillaume Têtu for business and market perspective.

Candidates are expected to answer questions about brand identity, competitors and long-term viability.

That may sound prosaic next to hand-finishing and movement architecture, but it’s exactly where many young independents need help most.

Two winners receive specialised tooling and machinery, with workshop visits planned to ensure the equipment is properly integrated.

The support also includes technical mentorship with Jean-François Mojon, business mentoring and introductions to the Tad Kozh collector community.

What comes next for Tad Kozh

Van Es says Tad Kozh intends to keep supporting all six finalists where possible, particularly through public visibility, media awareness and commercial guidance.

The next major collaborative watchmaking project is planned with Armin Strom, with a reveal targeted for November.

That follow-up will be important, because Tad Kozh’s credibility depends on consistency rather than the charm of a single debut.

If the initiative can keep connecting serious independent manufactures, artisans with real authorship and young watchmakers who need practical support, it could occupy a useful space in the independent watch landscape.

Details & Specifications

Tad Kozh is compelling because it treats craft, collecting and career-building as connected rather than separate conversations.

For collectors who care about the people behind independent watchmaking, that may be the most interesting part of the project.