Maison Alcée

Maison Alcée is a French luxury clockmaking maison founded in 2020 by Alcée Montfort and her husband Benoît Montfort, whose founding concept is one of the most original in contemporary horology: a high-end assemblable table clock that any collector — regardless of watchmaking background — can build entirely by their own hands, from the movement upward, at home. The idea grew from a deeply personal experience and a professional realisation. Alcée was born into a family of five engineers and carried from childhood an instinct for making things by hand — she was by turns a candy maker, soap maker, and ceramist. Her career took her through some of the most rarefied environments in French luxury and Swiss watchmaking: Hermès (where she developed a deep respect for material and manufacture, from silk to leather tanned in gold leaf); then to Cartier on the recommendation of her Hermès mentor (to learn production discipline and workshop organisation in a more Germanic mode); then to Richemont's after-sales department (where she encountered the breadth of the group's brands and watched watchmakers approach every repair with deep respect); and finally to TAG Heuer in Switzerland, where she rapidly rose to head a workshop assembling Heuer 01 and 02 movements.

It was there that the defining encounter occurred: one of the oldest watchmakers in the workshop confessed his fear that his profession might one day disappear, because he had no way to pass on his knowledge. 'Some watchmakers like to cultivate an air of mystery when others want nothing more than to share their expertise.' That observation, combined with her return to Reims following her husband Benoît, crystallised the concept: to create a high-end luxury object that would transmit the experience and knowledge of watchmaking to anyone who genuinely wanted to learn — not through a kit of simplified parts, but through a real, proprietary mechanical movement, made to the standards of the Franco-Swiss Jura Arc, assembled by the owner from 233 meticulously crafted components.

The Persée is the first creation of Maison Alcée — a luxury table clock whose name draws from Greek mythology and whose form, when standing vertically, resembles an hourglass, and when horizontal recalls something a time-traveller might wear on the wrist. Standing 160mm high and weighing 900 grams, the exposed mechanism is machined from watchmaking brass, stainless steel, aluminium, and nickel silver. The design was conceived in October 2020 by Swiss watch designer Antoine Tschumi, who produced hand-drawn concept sketches from Alcée's specifications; the design study and mechanical feasibility calculations were handled by watch construction expert Jean-Marie Desgrange; and the watchmaking execution — prototyping, adjustment, pre-assembly inspection, finishing, and quality control — is the work of Thierry Ducret, Meilleur Ouvrier de France in horology, who teaches at the Lycée Edgar Faure in Morteau. 'Alcée, yes, we're on board with you in this adventure,' Ducret told her when everyone else had said it was impossible.

The movement is proprietary to Maison Alcée — developed specifically to be assembled by a novice while delivering the real experience and understanding of mechanical watchmaking — with 233 total components, 169 of which are assembled by the owner. The remaining components form a pre-assembled subassembly requiring a professional hand. The power reserve is 12 to 14 days. The Persée Azur won the GPHG Audacity Prize in 2023, competing alongside established names including Bovet, Bulgari, Piaget, Tudor, and Ulysse Nardin — an extraordinary recognition for a first creation from a young French independent. Thirty manufacturing partners contribute to the Persée, more than 90% of them in the Franco-Swiss Jura Arc. The kit includes 17 specialised watchmaking tools, many developed specifically for novice use; a detailed compendium that serves as a comprehensive assembly guide written in accessible language; short video segments for each assembly phase; and a private WhatsApp group connecting each owner directly with Maison Alcée's watchmaking team for personal support throughout.

Three variants are offered: Persée Azur (€5,900, the emblematic model in Mediterranean blue); Persée Douce (€5,500, in delicate pink); and Persée Nuit (€6,900, in black PVD with signature yellow accents). Each is pre-built by Maison Alcée before shipping to verify that all components are perfect and the clock runs correctly — so the owner begins with confidence in the raw materials. Optional additions include the hourly chiming mechanism (€1,400, a separate complication the owner adds to the already-assembled Persée) and a solid beech (€980) or solid oak (€1,250) watchmaker's bench. The Moon Phase complication (€1,800), launched in 2026, is the latest addition — a lunar cycle complication tracking the 29.5-day cycle, displayed at the bottom right of the dial, with a moon disk that is hammered and polished on its upper surface with a satin finish beneath, every crater shaped by hand in the workshop. Ninety-five percent of the Moon Phase components are made in France. The bridge carries a proprietary surface treatment called gratté — a combination of frosting and hammering that produces a sparkling, textured depth. The Moon Phase kit includes 18 components, all necessary tools, and booklet with assembly video links, and buyers receive access to the same private WhatsApp watchmaker support group. Maison Alcée's founder describes the assembly experience not as building a LEGO set but as a genuine learning process: 'You assemble, understand, and master how it all works.' Many of the brand's customers are entrepreneurs and executives who use the assembly experience as a form of disconnection from the virtual world — a mindfulness practice with a tangible, beautiful, self-made result.