Horological Meandering

Kong
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Maurice Lacroix Baselworld 2013 Collection

Recently, Mr Marc Gläser, Managing Director of Maurice Lacroix,  was in Singapore to present the Basel 2013 Collection to the media here at the Four Seasons Hotel.  The presentation started with a background of the brand and run through of the collections.

A recap of the session ...


Mr Marc Gläser, Managing Director of Maurice Lacroix (left) began some background of Maurice Lacroix.
The company has the capacity to produce 90,000 watches per year.  Its main focus is in preservation of traditional craftmanship, innovation and design in the area of retrograde displays , chronographs and moonphase indications. 
For the past seven years, the company was awarded five RED Dot awards and a Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Geneve award.

As for movements, they now have eleven manufactured under their belts. 

Distribution channel has grown to 7 Boutiques and 3,000 points of sale worldwide.

The offerings of Maurice Lacroix showing the product mapping of the company and the price segmentation to focus on.




The two  interesting pieces -  Masterpiece Seconde Mysterieuse , was not at this preview, probably during Basel 2013 later.
The Masterpiece Seconde Mysterieuse is available in two variations - rhodium and ruthenium version.
Each variation is limited to 125 pieces.





From the dial of this diameter 43mm stainless steel case, the hour-subdial is at the 2H position.

The attractive part is the large seconde display.  The second hand will move linearly to finish the 15sec count and then it rotates to the block, which is much easier to explain with a video or a piece in your hand.

This seconde-hand is more entertaining than the previous innovative clover and square wheel of the Masterpiece Roue Carree.




A new movement is created for this model, Caliber ML215,  twelfth in-house developed movement.
The automatic ML215 beats at 2.5Hz and has a power reserve of 50 hours.

Indicative pricing ... pretty attractive.



Running simulated video of the Seconde Mysterieuse ...



Next 2013 model ... Masterpiece Le Chronographe Squelette ...

Available in 4 variations with skeletonised dials, in four movement executions : Rhodium movement, Ruthenium, Blue nickel and pink gold.



Blue nickel


Rhodium movement



Ruthenium variation with PVD case.



Rose gold variation


The 45mm diameter case is of stainless steel with satin & polished finish.  It looks large due to a thin bezel. 
The dome sapphire crystal is double-side anti-reflective coated for enhance clarity.



Guess which subdial is chronograph-minute totaliser and small seconde?

It may be a good idea to have a small indication for consumers who are new to chronograph.  For us here, we can guess from the gear-train.
Small seconde at 9H while chronograph-minute totaliser at 3H.   Maurice Lacroix also incorporate a rare 60-min totaliser instead of typical 30 mins.



Crown is screw-down type.


Thein-house  ML106 caliber is pretty, with column wheel, escapement, balance and gears clearly in view.
The manual winding caliber beats at 2.5Hz or 18000VPH and with a power reserve of 42 hours.





It looks good on a friend's small wrist too.



Next novelty  is the Masterpiece Worldtimer ...

Available in two models for this diameter 42mm  -  Europe and Asia.  The difference is with the map on the dial.

The above is the Europe version with world map  on the Clous de Paris and blue hour-minute-second hands.
The subdial at 9H is the day/night indicator while the date is at 6H.

Whereas for the Asia version, the map is on sun-brushed finish with pink gold hour-minute-second hands.

The 24-hour hand indicates the wearer' current place of residence.  To adjust the time in the current location, simply depress the adjuster at 2H for +1hr or
4H to -1hr.  Date adjuster is at 8H.

The movement used is automatic Calibre ML 164 with power reserve of 40 hours.



For those who wants just time only, this could be the option.





Next is the Pontos S Extreme ...

Pontos S Extreme comes in three colours - Racing Blue, khaki and Black.

The material used for then43mm diameter case is Powerlite, a special alloy consisting of five elements - aluminium,magnesium,titanium, zirconium and ceramic.  Powerlite is more than 2 times lighter than stainless steel, and twice harder than steel.
The parts made of Powerlite are the bezel and the case-band, while the crown, pushers and caseback are of titanium.

Another unique feature is the patent-pending mechanism to move the rotating bezel (beneath the dome sapphire crystal) with the crown after unlocking a knob on the start-stop-pusher.


Racing Blue


Black is a special version, designed by Henrik Fisker, who created many emblematic BMW and Aston Martin cars.  From the presentation, noted this Black version is limited to 999 pieces.


Khaki


The dual function start-stop-pusher and the screw down titanium crown.






Solid caseback , and the water resistance is rated to 20atm.
Within is powered by the robust Valjoux 7750.














The final model - Pontos S Diver
Comes in two variations - off-white opaline dial or black sun-brushed dial  with a vintage touch for a retro design.


Designed for professional diving with water-resistance to 600 metres and dial layout for easy and quick time readout.

Case is diameter 43mm and is of stainless steel, with helium release valve at 9H.



Solid caseback, within is the automatic Calibre ML115 with power reserve of 38 hours.



Black dial with steel bracelet.



Helium escape valve at 9H.




Which model/s  you like most ?

Kong

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