Vond dat deze wel een eigen topic verdiende, en geen plekje in het Basel topic.
Bron is horomundi. Op dit moment is er nog maar 1 foto voor handen. Dit zou wel eens het meest gecompliceerde 3 wijzer horloge kunnen zijn.
Part of the Maurice Lacroix Memoire-1, the only image provided by ML and allowed for publication.
In one of the most secret two-to-one presentation ever, Maurice Lacroix very pleasantly shocked me with the most impressive timepiece in Basel 2007 so far.
CEO Philippe C. Merk and Product Director Sandro Reginelli treated me with a video presentation in the special Memoire-1 Room, followed by the amazing Memoire-1 timepiece floated up in a box from a glass coffee table.
Basically, within the next seven months or so, members of Horomundi together with very exclusive selected international publications will be treated with a continuous feed of information and images of the Memoire-1, leading to an explosive launch of the watch sometime on November 2007.
In brief, the Memoire-1 is a 3-hands (actually a disc and 2 hands) ONLY watch and chronograph with a memory. At normal “Time” mode, it looks like a futuristic time only watch with a moving hour indicator disc, a minute hand and a seconds hand.
The same Hour Disc, the minute hand and the second hand suddenly and magically all resets to zero and starts the chrono timing function when the Chrono-start button is pushed.
3 hrs later, say, if the ‘time’ mode is activated, the hour disc, the minute and seconds hand will suddenly switch to the right time.
Assuming the chrono stop button and reset button was not activated, the chrono will continue counting and the accurate chrono time will be indicated again when the chrono “mode” is activated. So one can play with the watch while continuing to change the watch mode from “chrono” to “time” and each time, the watch will switch the hands to indicate the right 'time" and the accumulated “chrono” time so far.
Once the chrono is stopped or reset, switching to ‘chrono’ mode will indicate the last measured chrono time.
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Can a mechanism remember? From now on, the answer is “yes”! Maurice Lacroix developed the first memory function for a mechanical watch. This completely new Grande Complication, which will find its initial application in the exclusive Mémoire 1 chronograph, is a new mile-stone in the history of the art of Swiss watchmaking.
This watch has only two hands – one for the minutes and one for the seconds – along with a disk to indicate the hours. And yet the Mémoire 1 is one of the most complicated watches ever developed!
The reason is that a revolutionary design sits inside this exclusive chronograph – the first memory function for a mechanical timepiece. An indication at 3 o’clock reveals the secret: By pressing the button integrated into the crown, the mode changes from “Time” to “Chrono”. The hands and the hours disk immediately change their positions. If their previous function was telling the current time, they are now available for the precise measurement of time intervals. When the button is pressed once again, they all return to their positions for telling time. Even when the chronograph is running, it is still possible to shift back and forth between the two modes without losing the information provided by one or the other function.
The memory function of the ML 128 manufacture movement, which makes possible this unique connection between the time and chronograph indications, is a major new Grande Complication that Maurice Lacroix developed to enrich the world of mechanical timekeeping. The mechanism and movement were completely designed and developed in the new “Atelier de Maurice Lacroix”. The result of this intensive process is a highly complex calibre made of 537 components – including nine switching hearts – for which Maurice Lacroix has already submitted numerous patent applications.
Maurice Lacroix is also pioneering new territory with the Mémoire 1 in the design of the case and dial as well as in movement decoration and the selection of the materials used. The development process for this watch, which will be presented officially at Baselworld 2008 for the first time, is still underway.
L’Atelier de Maurice Lacroix
Maurice Lacroix has set itself a clear objective: creating extraordinary timepieces through consistent preservation of the long tradition of the Swiss watchmaking art and meeting its high standards as well as through its own innovations in the areas of complications, mechanisms and movements, contem-porary design and a heightened passion for detail, perfection and quality.
These high demands led to the creation of the “Atelier de Maurice Lacroix”. In this creative cell for research and development, the experience, expertise and proficiency of designers, engineers, constructors and watchmakers were gathered together. And it is here that revolutionary ideas and concepts come about which are setting new benchmarks in the history of Maurice Lacroix and mechanical timekeeping. The Mémoire 1 demonstrates the potential of the “Atelier de Maurice Lacroix”, and further innovations will follow!
