Horological Meandering

Louis Moinet in Geneva, January 2016

 

Louis Moinet exhibited at the Beau Rivage hotel along with the Manufacture Royale.  This year Louis Moinet is celebrating the 200th anniversery of the the invention in Paris 1816 by Louis Moinet.  The first in a series of watches to comemorate this date is the Memoris 200th Anniversery.

As we remember the Memoris is an exceptional mono-pusher chronograph where one can see the entire chronograph complication from the dial.  This makes for a fascinating experience with each use.  For the 200th anniversery special model the back plate of the dial is decorated with blue enamel and an engraved night sky. This night sky engraving is made with a new process on a rose engine that reminds me somewhat of émail cloisonné.  This limited edition of 20 pieces is being made with a white gold case.

Here we see some "standard" Memoris models in other case materials, first in red gold...

... here in white gold with a rhodium plated dial...

... and here in white gold with a blue dial.

This Vertalor tourbillon is in the new Louis Moinet case.  This case is finer and lighter than the earlier case and can be made in two metals, such as in this case in titanium and red gold.

Vertalor Tourbillons with special dials, be it semiprecious stones, meteorites or engraving, are a strong point of the Louis Moinet collection.  Here we see a stunning Vertalor Dragon Tourbillon.

The Tempograph with its mesmorising 20 second retrograde second hand.  Again the mechanism for the retrograde seconds is visible from the dial side.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint) the 20 seconds repeat is fast enough that one sees things happening all the time, but slow enough that one does have to wait to see the jump.  The result is that one spends alot of time watching without noticing the time pass!



This message has been edited by DonCorson on 2016-02-11 23:08:00