“To create the first chronograph-watch, we invented a new concept. This involved putting the chronograph before the watch. That was something fundamentally different, making Memoris a truly unique, original work. Over 300 components were required for the movement, and more than 50 for the case alone,” sais Jean-Marie Schaller, CEO and Creative Director of Louis Moinet.
This chronograph moves the entire chronograph function onto the dial side, following three guiding principles: putting the chronograph in the central position on the dial; fitting it with a column wheel featuring a conventional clutch; and adding a monopusher, just like on Louis Moinet’s Compteur de Tierces, the first chronograph in history (1816). Memoris Only Watch features a contemporary design, requiring 147 components for the chronograph and 155 components for the automatic movement. The originality of the piece resides in the separation of these two functions, thus allowing the chronograph to become a primary function, with its mechanism fully visible on the dial.
The column wheel is the heart and soul of this timepiece. It comprises two parts, indexed to one another: six columns on the top section, and a cog base on the lower section. This bottom cog ensures the perfect positioning of the column wheel and controls its rotation, interacting with the control hook spring and jumper. Between them, the six columns orchestrate the functions required for the chronograph to work, together with the minutes hammer, blocking lever, and clutch.
Memoris Only Watch features the highly effective “Energie Plus” winding system, improving the winding performance of the automatic movement by some 30%. The plate is made from aventurine, a deep blue material dotted with a host of inclusions to form an amazingly lifelike depiction of a star-studded sky. The hours and minutes are read off a blue lacquered guilloché dial, positioned at 6 o’clock. The counters and flange are made from a translucent material, specially designed to make both the chronograph mechanism and the aventurine plate fully visible.
The case is made from polished titanium and bears the authentic Louis Moinet signature on the caseband. The entire back of the movement can be seen through a sapphire caseback, with “N°01/01” engraved around it. The watch is wound using an oscillating weight, decorated with a lacquered blue concentric Clou de Paris pattern and engraved with the words “ONLY WATCH”.
The Louisiana alligator strap and alligator lining are hand-sewn; the strap is fitted with a clasp bearing Louis Moinet’s fleur de lys emblem.
