At a glance
- Subject type
- mechanical clock and educational kit business
- Historical origin
- Reims, France (founder account)
- Important date layers
- Not established in this research pass
The difference between making a clock and assembling one
Persée makes a carefully defined part of watchmaking visible to its owner. The kit contains 233 components, but the stated assembly task covers 169; the regulating organ is already assembled. That boundary is central to the product, not a contradiction to hide. The customer works on a supplied mechanism rather than manufacturing wheels or forming a hairspring. The team then addresses the practical consequences of novice handling with softer screwdriver blades, demonstrations linked from the book and access to support. The finished object remains a mechanical clock, with winding and an hourly chime, rather than merely a static teaching model. 1
A founder’s project, a team’s mechanism
The credits make Persée a collaborative story. Alcée’s project brings together Benoît’s production coordination, Tschumi’s design, Desgrange’s movement-design contribution and Ducret’s horological teaching experience. Manufacturing is distributed among specialist partners, while the owner performs part of final assembly. These are different kinds of authorship. Describing the result as a founder’s vision can be accurate, but attributing every technical component to the founder would erase the specific work that made the assembly experience possible. 213
Key dates
Ownership and continuity
Modern venture dated by its founder to 2019; no historical-revival claim adopted. 1
Watchmakers and designers linked to Maison Alcée
These people have a sourced relationship to this brand in the Enjoy Watches register. The label beside each name states the relationship recorded; it should not be read as a broader employment or ownership claim.
- Alcée Montfort — Founder / co-founder
Identification and service
For an individual watch, record the complete reference, serial, dial, case, and movement markings and compare them with dated primary documentation.
A brand history cannot authenticate, appraise, or establish the provenance of a particular watch.
Evidence and limits
How the claims are supported
- source stated claim
Persée is a mechanical table-clock kit. Its current specifications distinguish 233 total components from 169 to be assembled, with 17 tools and a 150-page guide.
- source stated claim
The Persée base clock has a hand-wound movement, two-week stated reserve and switchable hourly chime; the regulating organ comes preassembled.
- source stated claim
The maker specifies softer non-hardened beryllium-copper screwdriver blades to reduce scratching and QR-linked videos plus a private support group for assembly.
- source stated claim
Maison Alcée names Alcée and Benoît Montfort as founders, Benoît as manufacturing-network coordinator, Antoine Tschumi as designer, and Jean-Marie Desgrange as a movement-design contributor.
- source stated claim
The firm identifies Thierry Ducret as a horological expert and teacher involved in developing the assembly experience.
- source stated claim
The maker describes roughly thirty manufacturing partners and says around 90% of those partners are in the Franco-Swiss Jura Arc.
- source stated claim
Montfort’s 2025 interview dates Maison Alcée’s founding to 2019.
- source stated claim
The 2025 interview reports Persée’s 2023 GPHG Audacity recognition.
- verified fact
The current Persée product page offers ordering and an atelier appointment in Aix-en-Provence, while the founder’s genesis account describes the earlier move to Reims.
Known limits
- Reims and current advertised Aix-en-Provence are documented but relocation timing is not. GPHG object page yielded no text. Current Moon Phase option appears, but its mechanics were not researched.
Direct sources
- Persée Azur — assembly and technical detailsMaison Alcée · technical documentation · accessed September 15, 2026
Locator: At the heart of Persée; Description; The manufactured movement; Movement specifications; The clockmaker’s tools; The watchmaking book; Personalised support; The manufactured movement and tools; Order controls; appointment form: Aix-en-Provence. External source.
- Expert watchmaker — the Maison Alcée teamMaison Alcée · first party · accessed September 15, 2026
Locator: The soul of the maison; Benoît Montfort; Antoine Tschumi; Jean-Marie Desgrange sections; Thierry Ducret section. First-party source; its statements remain attributed.
- French watchmaking — origins and manufactureMaison Alcée · first party · accessed September 15, 2026
Locator: Component manufacturing stages. First-party source; its statements remain attributed.
- Inside The Minds Of Five Women Driving Innovation In WatchmakingRevolution · original interview · accessed September 15, 2026
Locator: Alcée Montfort section; founding paragraph; Alcée Montfort section, opening paragraph. External source.
- The GenesisMaison Alcée · first party · accessed September 15, 2026
Locator: Move to Reims paragraph. External source.
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