With traditional watchmaking school not an option, I went directly to the source material. I approached EPFL Press with a proposal: to translate the 1,200-page industry bible, Traité de Construction Horlogère, into English. Over nine months, this project became a rigorous, self-directed apprenticeship. I didn't just translate the text; I studied the physics and engineering principles behind it. This provided the theoretical bedrock necessary to move from assembling components to engineering them from scratch.

Theory required execution. I established AW Labs to turn theoretical knowledge into physical reality. Transitioning from prototyping to production, I brought the manufacturing process in-house to gain complete creative freedom. The goal was not to replicate the past, but to explore original design concepts and push my own technical limits, launching a brand defined not by heritage, but by engineering integrity.