Elite Traveler January-February 2015

DISCOVER

The exposed mechanism of the Franc Vila FV EVOS 18 Cobra is arranged to resemble a skull

elite traveler JAN/FEB 2015 ISSUE 1 42

BRAND PROFILE/// LOUIS MOINET

Louis Moinet was an 19th-century horologist who invented the chronograph (or compteur de tierces as he called it) in 1815. His legacy and enthusiasm have been revived by Jean-Marie Schaller, founder and creative director of Les Ateliers Louis Moinet in Saint-Blaise, Switzerland. Schaller’s watches are both highly technical and uniquely designed rarities embellished with fragments of meteorites (Qatar Tourbillon), fossilized woods (Geograph Rainforest) and even dinosaur bone (Jurassic Tourbillon). louismoinet.com

1

JURASSIC TOURBILLON The unlikley place where the worlds of horology and paleontology meet, the dial features authentic dinosaur bone, making this arguably one of the world’s oldest watches. Price: $360,000

With its see-through movement the Richard Mille Tourbillon RM 56-02 takes transparency to new levels

Bare-faced chic Haute watchmakers are showing off their assets like never before. The skeleton trend, where some or all of the watch-face is removed to reveal the beating, bejeweled heart of the timepiece beneath, is back with a vengeance. In truth it has never really gone away, rather the line between what can and cannot be exposed without compromising the horological engineering has grown ever more imperceptible. Take Piaget’s Altiplano Skeleton Enamel 1200E (main picture). Its automatic skeleton movement is not only the world’s thinnest (just 2.4mm) but also the first of its kind to be enameled, all by hand. Or the Richard Mille Tourbillon RM 56-02, which

2

QATAR TOURBILLON With a beautiful, hand-engraved dial featuring two pieces of the only meteorite ever found in Qatar (Qatar 001), this elegant skeleton complication can genuinely claim to be out of this world. Somewhere between Mars and Jupiter, to be precise. Price: POA

takes the concept to levels of genuine transparency. With its sapphire crystal components fed by a braided steel cable with a diameter of just 0.35mm, the see-through movement appears to float unsupported over the wrist. The Franc Vila FV EVOS 18 Cobra interprets skeletonization in a different light, with its exposed mechanism arranged in an inverted figure of eight that subtly resembles a skull. Meanwhile in Claude Meylan’s Lac collection, it is the framework rather than the movement that takes center stage, the intricate structure stripped down, hand painted and then reassembled with dramatic results. piaget.com, richardmille.com, francvila.com, claudemeylan.ch

3

GEOGRAPH RAINFOREST This two-pusher automatic chronograph features fossilized palm wood from an ancient forest in South-East Asia. Better still each sale helps the Pulau Banding Foundation preserve the Malaysian tropical forest of Belum-Temengor. Price: $21,000