Akrone is back with a new thrilling project
Erwan Kerneur and Jean-François Kerboul founded Akrone in Nantes, in 2015. Through this independent watchmaking house, they support a functional approach of time-measuring items. Here, watches are considered true tools. Frank Sans C invited Erwan Kerneur to recount how they managed to walk their own path, while also giving out some useful pieces of advice on how to successfully create a watch brand. The interview also provides the opportunity to present the new S-05 edition: a Meca-Quartz chronograph whose production will depend on the dial’s design chosen by the Akrone community as well as a crowdfunding… with a big mechanical surprise as a bonus.
S-05 model: participate to its production… and win an Alpine
Akrone launches the S-05 edition, a model like no other. For the first time, the independent house presents a quartz chronograph – and more precisely a Meca-Quartz one – and entrusts their community with a part of its designing process. First, Akrone lovers will vote for their 3 favourite dial designs. Only those 3 editions will be produced, in a collection limited to 1,000 copies. A participative approach that involves simple purchasers into the creative process of a watch.
On the technical aspect, this new S-05 follows Akrone’s tool-watch vocation: a 39mm case made in sandblasted titanium, a thickness of 11.3mm for a light-weight of 47g (including the bracelet), a sapphire crystal and a screwed-down crown that provides water resistance up to 100 meters. Powered by Seiko’s VK64 Meca-Quartz movement, it can be pre-ordered for €299.
But this new release is much more than a mere crowdfunding. One of the buyers will be chosen at random to be offered an Alpine A110 as well as a private session on a race track (Fay-de-Bretagne, France) with a private race driving lesson.
Three other participants will also benefit from this exclusive experience.
Pre-order price: €299 – Collection limited to 1,000 copies
Technical features:
Sandblasted titanium case
39mm
11.3mm thick
Water-resistant up to 100m
Screwed-down crown
Sapphire crystal
VK64 Meca-Quartz movement
47g (bracelet included)
PRE-ORDERING SOON TO OPEN
DELIVERY IN JUNE 2026
A French tool-watch is born
Erwan Kerneur and Jean-François Kerboul founded Akrone in Nantes in 2015 with a simple purpose: the production of a French mechanical self-winding watch designed for a daily use, sold in limited collections with a controlled price.
Their project began with a Kickstarter crowdfunding that instantly confirmed their audience by selling 161 watches. The second campaign dedicated to a diving watch supported this first success with 248 watches purchased. The house soon favoured technical credibility: in 2016, Frédéric Swierczynski wore an Akrone watch while setting a new national record by cave diving 267 meters deep. That same year, a first collection limited to 50 copies obtained the Viper certification by the Observatoire de Besançon. Akrone thus confirmed their first principle: show, don’t tell.
From crowdfunding to risk taking
Starting from 2017, the company turned to professional workers. The first collections developed for task units established a durable method: conceiving watches with real users, then adapting them for civilians. Partnerships with armed, aeronautic and technical forces such as special units (GIGN), aviation forces and combat divers multiplied, turning their workshop into an engineering and design office.
Their official partnership with the ALAT (French Army Light Aviation) in 2020 only confirmed this tendency. The watches became service instruments prone toluminescence, shock-proofness, accuracy and glove manipulation. Moreover, the watchmaking house already donated more than €100,000 to various associations supporting armed forced members.
Yet, simultaneously, Akrone proved watch-tools can remain time instruments, especially with a collection “Art Crafts” engraved by hand. As a consequence, 100 copies were sold in a few hours. The house was also acknowledged for their time-measuring skills when it became the official timekeeper of the Solitaire du Figaro sailing race – putting their abilities at the service of sport events.
Inner workings made in France
Akrone has been keeping up with their industrial coherence since 2023, with the release of the C-02 Heritage collection powered by a movement produced in Maîche, France by France Ébauches. The goal is crystal-clear: getting as close as possible to a full French watch, from the designing process to the setting procedure, including the production of components. Although Akrone still uses other calibers, they improve them in-house according to chronometric standards.
Now aged 10, Akrone keeps a downsized work team and a stable guiding principle: self-winding watches costing between €500 and €1,500, technical materials, limited production. To celebrate this anniversary, the young house partnered with Amixem, a YouTuber who co-founded SpaceFox, to release the Moon GMT XK1 model that was unveiled as a preview showing during the Watch of the Year 2025 ceremony.
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