Masterpiece Le Chronographe Squelette

^^An avant-garde design housed within a diameter of 45 mm. A skeleton that shapes time. A Manufacture – made mechanism, the ML 106-7 caliber. This new instrument for the measurement of short time intervals deserves the utmost respect. Its precise mechanics, for which a patent has been filed, and openwork design, which displays and thus authenticates the movement, are the cornerstones of an undeniably contemporary collection.

Offering a new take on the skeleton watch, which had already been fully redesigned in 2007 with the Masterpiece Squelette, this model looks like being a worthy successor. Protected by a sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating on both sides, the manually wound movement is proudly on display. Within this maze, the workings of the skeletal structure enjoy a refined, streamlined effect and have been reduced to the bare essentials.

Hypnotized by the movement's intricacy, the light brushes past the dusky seconds hand, before bouncing off the sharp, luminous spurs of the hours and minutes hands. Having pierced through the slate-gray metallic sapphire dial, with its applied time indicators, it comes to rest on the chronograph counters, intrigued by the presence of a 60-minute counter. It then follows the movement of the counter's hands which, shaped like skeletal discs, resemble the gears of the movement.

It then ricochets off the snailed architecture and black screws of the bottom plate, before being drawn into the depths of this compelling time machine. Once inside, it tames the escapement, grazes across the golden gears, acquaints itself with the column wheel and caresses the rubies. Then, in a flash, it slips through the sapphire-crystal case-back, powered by the oscillations of a well-concealed, black balance that blends into its surroundings until almost invisible.

The structure of the Le Chronographe Squelette transforms inorganic matter into a living and exciting mechanism that displays each of its Manufacture-crafted components with pride. The design of this metallic sculpture is an appropriate icon for a brand that has dared to create an elegant yet edgy collection most definitely anchored in the 21st century.