BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
It’s been too long since I last did a longer-term review — far too long, and even though we’ve had events through the year so far, I’ve missed being able to sit down at my amateurish camera setup and take some photos. Recently I spent some time with a piece from Louis Moinet and, unlike me, it is absolutely anything but amateur.
Louis Moinet is a brand I always visit at Watches & Wonders Geneva because their watches are exciting, engaging, and different from the brands around them. The man himself lived from 1768 to 1853 and is best known as the inventor of the chronograph, but the watch you see before you is a product of a modern company founded in 2004 by Jean-Marie Schaller (1959 – 2026) to bring Mr. Moinet’s spirit of innovation to life.
The signature look of a modern Louis Moinet watch is the Memoris Spirit you see before you, with the chronograph mechanism exposed in all its glory. It’s by no means the only style of watch the maison produces. But if you’re already looking at the Memoris Spirit and thinking it’s not for you, I’d ask you to reconsider, because while it has a busy appearance and sits on the larger side of the dress-watch spectrum, it has character. Lots and lots of character.
At first glance, you’ll notice the apparent lack of a time display. Don’t worry, it is there; you’re just trained to look at the centre of a watch’s dial to find the time, whereas on the Memoris Spirit the current time is relegated to a subdial at 12 o’clock. It’s easy enough to read despite its size thanks to the vibrant blue backdrop on this specific model, which I believe is enamel.
The time subdial backdrop reminds me a little of the ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ logo, and once you see it, you can’t unsee it. It looks good, though, and reading the time on it is nice and easy despite the smaller size. There’s no lume, though, so reading it at night will be difficult.
Reading the chronograph also takes a little time to get used to. The Memoris Spirit isn’t illegible, far from it, but with this colour palette the reds of the hands on the subdials blend into the background in some lights, which is aided by the sapphire crystal rings for the running seconds and the chronograph minutes. Other versions of the Memoris Spirit have different dial colours, but they all keep the red hands.
The reason I’m suggesting this isn’t a big deal is, well, call it sacrilegious, but I don’t actually own a chronograph watch, and after spending a fair amount of time with one I found I didn’t use the chronograph much. Sure, I played with it; the folk at Louis Moinet were kind enough to let me have it for a while, so I was going to press the big button sometimes, but it wasn’t the be-all and end-all. Maybe you’re different, reader. Also, what I traded for some legibility, I was rewarded with views of the chronograph’s mechanism in action, including the jumping minutes indicator for the chronograph, something you don’t see in every chronograph.
On display on both sides of the watch is the self-winding calibre LM84. The most striking thing about this watch, and nearly all of Louis Moinet’s chronograph watches, is the revealed chronograph architecture on the dial side. The column wheel (the ‘brains’ of the chronograph) is centred at 12 o’clock with levers connecting it to the various other parts. The running seconds are displayed on the subdial at 9 o’clock, and you can see the wheels for it turning through the sapphire crystal piece carrying the indices.
When you engage the chronograph, the LM84 shows the wheels of the horizontal clutch engaging on the dial side, which you almost never see in watchmaking. It’s also a good demonstration of why you shouldn’t leave a chronograph with a horizontal clutch running all the time, as although with general use the LM84 is unlikely to need extra servicing, those teeth don’t always mesh perfectly. It’s just the nature of the beast. Again, I’m sure they could have made a model with a vertical clutch which doesn’t have that issue, but there’s far less to see compared to the horizontal layout. Patek Philippe undoubtedly uses horizontal clutches in its watches for that reason, too.
Anyway, back to the LM84. The calibre is proprietary to Louis Moinet; I mean, with this layout, how could it not be, right? Louis Moinet collaborated with Concepto to bring the LM84 to life. Concepto is an independent firm that watchmakers can work with to design all kinds of mechanical marvels. It serves as a base for watch brands to approach when they need assistance or want further advice.
As we learned when speaking with Anthony de Haas, A. Lange & Söhne’s director of product development, knowledge in the watch industry is limited by who you happen to employ and what they know, and so having a third-party company watch brands can collaborate with makes sense. I don’t know exactly where Concepto’s work ends and Louis Moinet’s begins, as Concepto can machine movements as well as consult on designs, but I can tell you this proprietary calibre has 311 components, 30 jewels, a 4Hz beat rate, and a 48-hour power reserve. The finishing is excellent, too, on both the dial and movement. The elegantly shaped rotor with contrasting guilloché looks terrific, and the LM84 has a lot of depth.
All of this is set in a grade 5 titanium case measuring 40.7mm. It’s an extremely wearable size, more so than the 46mm beasts we’d seen before the Memoris Spirit was released. I don’t have the exact thickness of it to hand, but it’s fairly thick thanks to that unusual chronograph – it has a domed sapphire crystal and will fit under most cuffs without issue. At precisely 100 grams in this configuration, according to WristReview’s VSS (Very Scientific [Kitchen] Scales), it’s easy to wear.
The leather strap is substantial and of good quality, although I found the decorative Fleur-de-lis clasp cover a little large and more likely to be scratched. I also found the integration of the leather strap with the case a little awkward. There are two teeth that mate to matching gaps between the lugs to keep the strap in place, but it was fiddly to hold in the spring bar using the little purchase given for my fingers, then line up the strap with the holes for the spring bar, and also line up the teeth on the end of the strap, as the teeth like to fit in at one angle and the spring bar at another. I’m sure it’s just a technique I haven’t mastered, but I’d imagine you might get some scratches between the lugs, as I managed. It’s not a dealbreaker. Overall, though, I like Louis Moinet’s current, rather technical approach to the case’s looks; the modernistic lines work well here, and it’s a very wearable package.
I really enjoyed my time with Louis Moinet’s Memoris Spirit; it reminded me of why I love mechanical watches. It’s rare, even in mechanical watches, to see so many pieces moving in harmony, but the Memoris Spirit shows it off. It’s a tactile piece to hold and use; the knurling on the large monopusher and the smooth feel of the chronograph are a joy. That start>stop>reset action just works so nicely. Traditional touches show up here and there, too, like the etched cursive ‘Louis Moinet’ script on the case’s side, but that doesn’t keep the watch from doing things differently. And, if you don’t fancy the blue model I’ve been playing around with, there are seven others to choose from.
The Louis Moinet Memoris Spirit LM-84.20.22 is limited to just 60 pieces and is priced at €31,200. In my view, this watch is the textbook definition of what Louis Moinet is all about.
Explore more at Louis Moinet
