BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
At Watches & Wonders Geneva, Louis Moinet unveiled its latest novelty, a tribute to the first chronograph timepiece invented by Louis Moinet.
The watch’s design is a little more normal, at least compared to their other chronograph creations, which stand out for the prominent display of the chronograph’s mechanism on the dial. This watch is much more reserved as it follows the design of the original piece. Louis Moinet brought with them a replica of it to the show.
With its design based on Louis Moinet’s watch Compteur de Tierces, the watch is clean and legible but also interesting to look at. The 40.6mm x 14.7mm case is made of grade 5 titanium and features a brushed/polished look with a lightweight titanium bracelet; it’s 30m water resistant. Sadly, the bracelet was too small for me to get my hand through for a wrist shot. Still, the polished and grained dial is easy to read and the jumping minute counter for the chronograph is a nice touch. I think the pushers are a little big, but they are synonymous with Louis Moinet’s current design language.
Around the back and visible through the caseback is the manually-wound calibre LM1816. It’s a brand-new movement built specifically for this watch due to the dial’s unusual layout, and it features a 4Hz beat rate and a 48-hour power reserve. The movement is very well finished and shows off the swan’s neck regulator and the chronograph mechanism the most, as is tradition for these watches. I would’ve liked a little more polishing on the surfaces, as opposed to the grained and brushed surfaces, but what we get is of excellent quality, and the polished edges of the movement’s plates gleam under the light.
As you’d expect of a watch from a small watchmaker painstakingly making its watches by hand, Louis Moinet’s new 1816 will be hard to get hold of. It’s not a limited edition piece, per se, but Louis Moinet is not a high-volume manufacturer. As such, the price is around CHF28,000.
