Aaron Becsei / Bexei

Aaron Becsei is a third-generation Hungarian watchmaker whose family craft survived communism through sheer persistence. His grandfather Joseph, born in what is now Serbia, moved to Budapest and became a renowned self-taught watch and clock restorer — but private business was banned under the regime, and it took Aaron's grandmother repeated visits to the authorities, petitioning with her two small sons in tow, before Joseph was finally permitted a small side-street workshop, forbidden from the main road or city centre. Aaron's father Zsolt continued the trade once restrictions eased, and took a young Aaron on budget trips to the watch museums of Europe — La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Patek Philippe museum in Geneva, Vienna's Clock and Watch Museum — planting the seed of a life in horology. That seed had competition: Aaron trained and played water polo in the Hungarian Championship League, training six days a week, before choosing the workbench over the pool after secondary school. He paired formal watchmaking training with a CAD/CAM engineering degree from the School of Technical Sciences of Budapest, graduating with honors in 2005; his graduation thesis on a tourbillon was honored by the Budapest Chamber of Engineering. It was his future wife Eszter who encouraged him to stop merely restoring watches and start creating his own — leading him to track down the AHCI's then-president, living in Vienna, and pay him a personal visit with his earliest hobby pieces.

Becsei's debut clock, the tiny Miniature Double Pendule Zappler (35mm high), was completed in 2003, followed by the Tourbillon No.1 travel clock, which earned him AHCI candidacy in 2005 — making him the academy's youngest member — and full membership in 2009. His first wristwatch, the Primus Triple-Axis Tourbillon (Baselworld 2008, limited to 9 pieces), introduced a patented jewelled-bearing system replacing conventional ball bearings, and remains, in his own words, his all-time favorite creation. The Dignitas collection followed in 2010 (Power Reserve and Pure references, later joined by a Hot Hammered Zirconium execution), and more recently the Vox Vinum Grande Sonnerie. Honors accumulated steadily: the Tourbillon No.1 table clock was named 'Masterpiece of Hungarian Craft' in 2012; Becsei received the Hungarian National Bank's Special Prize at the 2015 Gala Night of Exemplars of Young Entrepreneurs; and his work was exhibited at the Musée International d'Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds that same year. A friend once told him he 'operates at the level of a younger Dufour' — a comparison Becsei takes as motivation rather than flattery, revering Dufour's work and trying to make his own watches worthy of that attention. His dedication to finishing is almost obsessive: on one recent piece he spent nearly six months perfecting a technique to black-polish and blacken all seven sides of a new double-bevelled index, checking his work under a 10–15x microscope against an industry standard of just 3x.

In 2026, Becsei rebranded with a new label, Becsei J.Z.A. — the initials standing for Joseph, Zsolt, and Aaron, honoring three generations of the family trade in a single name — debuting with 'Hommage to Grandpa' (Ref. 115146): a 37.9mm stainless steel time-only watch powered by the hand-wound Caliber 'Grandpa,' limited to 8 pieces at €85,000, its click spring shaped after the sword in the Austro-Hungarian Empire's coat of arms. The new design language leans toward Bauhaus restraint with a distinctly Hungarian character, aimed at broadening his reach among contemporary collectors without abandoning the hand-craft that built his reputation — fewer than 20 wristwatches made across his entire career, nearly every part shaped, finished, and assembled by his own hands, with only springs, jewels, and crystals bought in from outside. His historic Bexei catalogue remains documented at bexei.hu, while Becsei J.Z.A. carries the family name into its next chapter at aaronbecsei.com.