FATAL ATTRACTION

As a tourbillon celebrates the mysteries of gravity, Louis Moinet takes us to a new aesthetic world.

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe,” said the American astronomer Carl Sagan. The same goes for making a watch and that’s surely why the Space Mystery by Louis Moinet is inspired by the cosmos with a never-before-seen celestial design. The deep and intense “Magic Blue” dial brings to mind the starry sky. An interstellar feature appears in the form of a majestic tourbillon and its oversize cage at 13.59mm in diameter. Another star catches the eye at 9. The perforated dial gives a glimpse of a real C chondrite meteorite fragment which may contain fossilised extra-terrestrial molecules. No wonder the watchmakers at Louis Moinet have unleashed their stratospheric imagination!

There are 4 versions of the Space Mystery’s 46mm watch. The white and rose gold models are beautifully hand-engraved or completely smooth. There are 8 of each limited edition model available.

Price: 175,000 CHF (rose or white gold) – 195,000 CHF (engraved rose or white gold) www.louismoinet.com

By Dan Diaconu

HE WHO CAN DO MORE CAN DO LESS

We are now used to seeing the Louis Moinet workshops produce exceptional timepieces, and they have surprised us once again with the Metropolis, a model with a small second.

Through his career, inventions and achievements Louis Moinet became a major figure in watchmaking history. Since 2004, the company of the same name headed by Jean-Marie Schaller, like its illustrious founding figure, has never ceased to enchant us with watches featuring impressive complications, materials and finishes.

If its price seems to have been – and this is a first for the brand – one of the key points in the watch’s specifications, the Metropolis has kept the DNA and the production quality of its older siblings.

The 43.2 mm watch case, baptised Neo, is available in pink gold or steel, and features remarkable finishes, as ever in the work of the manufacturing workshops in Saint-Blaise, in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. The extra-large Roman numerals set in three groups, the decentred second hand and transparent dial between 8 and 12 o’clock give the Metropolis a strong visual signature and make a clear link with the rest of the prodigious Louis Moinet range and, above all, provide an incredible look.

The depth of the dial and its geometry on several levels means light dances across the anti-reflection sapphire face.

The Metropolis is powered by the LM45 calibre, with a frequency of 28,800 vph, specially developed for the watch and providing a comfortable power reserve of 45 hours.

Diamond anglage, perlage, Côtes de Genève and Clous de Paris patterns… the standards of superior watchmaking are all present and correct in this model, which opens up a new direction for the Louis Moinet range.

A detail with a certain importance is that the crocodile leather strap on the Metropolis closes with a folding clasp decorated with fleur-de-lis, the brand’s symbol.

Price: from 10,500 CHF www.louismoinet.com

By Yannick Ortolan

Introducing the Louis Moinet Memoris 200^th Anniversary Basel

In 1816, the French clockmaker and painter Louis Moinet (1768-1853) created the first chronograph, naming it the compteur de tierces (“thirds counter”). To celebrate this two-hundredth anniversary, the Ateliers Louis Moinet, which were founded in 2004 and perpetuate the memory of the horologist through exceptional stopwatches, have unveiled a mono-pusher chronograph in a limited edition of 20 watches: the Memoris 200^th Anniversary Basel.

On the dial, tiny painted phosphorescent stars made using a fixed graver process form a starry backdrop to the passing of time. The hours and minutes, displayed with two “Goutte de Rosée“® (“dew drop-shaped”) hands, have been moved to a lacquered dial at 6 o’clock, while the seconds tick away at 9 o’clock, and the stopwatch functions are shared between the seconds, in the centre, with a golden hand, and a minute counter at 3 o’clock.

The rose gold case measures 46mm in diameter. It contains the LM54 automatic calibre, taking care of the various features, and provides a power reserve of 48 hours.

Price: 69,000 CHF

By Sharmila Bertin