Despite the announcement of its sale by majority stakeholder DKSH last year, Maurice Lacroix remains active in the industry, and introduced the lower priced Aikon collection at BaselWorld this year, with no dearth of offerings at the higher end of its range either. The brand has updated the Masterpiece Mysterious Seconds, which debuted in 2013, and added the Revelation suffix to its name. Like the original, this watch tells the time using an off-centred sub-dial at two o’clock, while leaving a large circular space at six o’clock for the display of the seconds in a most theatrical manner.

The highlight of the Masterpiece Mysterious Second has always been its untethered seconds hand, which appears to float around as its two coloured tips alternatingly trace the vertical and horizontal scales. For instance, as the black tip glides along the black hashes to the number “30”, the hand becomes increasingly aligned until the scale and the hand are superimposed. Once that happens, the white tip begins to move leftward towards “45” as it continues to indicate the seconds. Only after the second hand is perfectly horizontal will the black tip come into play again.

The Masterpiece Mysterious Seconds Revelation is so named because unlike the previous model, which has an opaque running seconds sub-dial, it comes with a perforated dial that reveals the workings of the mysterious seconds complication underneath it at certain angles. The watch comes in two options: Classic and Contemporary. They are identical save for their colourways – the former (shown above) has a stainless steel case, while the latter is in black PVD.

Obviously, practicality is not at the forefront of this watch. Rather, this is an exercise in creativity, and clearly demonstrates the multifaceted charm of mechanical watchmaking.

Specs

Movement Self-winding Maurice Lacroix Calibre ML215 with 50-hour power reserve

Case 43mm in steel, water resistant to 50m

Strap Black crocodile with steel ardillon buckle

Story Credits

Text by Ruckdee Chotjinda

This story was first published in WOW.