Ultravox is an exclusive Hour-Strike creation, designed to celebrate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Louis Moinet’s birth. The inventor of the chronograph also designed striking clocks which adorned the drawing rooms of the world’s greatest leaders - Napoleon Bonaparte, Tsar Alexander I, US presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe, and many others besides. These works of art are now to be found in the White House, and in prestigious private collections and museums. But Ateliers Louis Moinet also have a large historical collection at their head office in Saint-Blaise.
A watch signed “Eric Coudray & Co”
The Ultravox bears the name of one of the greatest watch designers alive – and a winner of the Gaia Prize - watchmaker Eric Coudray, and his outstanding team, without whom nothing could have been achieved. Ultravox is available in a limited edition of just 28 rose gold pieces measuring 46.5 mm in diameter.
The Latin name Ultravox – “the ultimate voice” – is a nod both to the strike mechanism and to the neoclassical influences on Louis Moinet, whose clocks portrayed figures such as Minerva, Julius Caesar, and Cicero.
The strike mechanism denotes each passing hour on the hour, marking out the appropriate number of chimes. A silencer mechanism also allows the wearer to disengage the chime if they so wish.
A complication revealed as never before
For the first time Louis Moinet has unveiled its entire spectacular mechanism - the automatic movement LM56, with 38 hours of power reserve - on the wrist. The pulsating balance wheel, channelling the force of the barrel to regulate the pace of the chime, is revealed. The central flirt triggers a system to arm the hammer: located at eleven o’clock, this strikes out the hours on a gong arranged around the movement.
The movement’s plate has over 50 jewels in order to engage the chime mechanism’s various components. Its “Moinet blue” colour illuminates the entire watch, setting off the block-polished and chamfered screws above it. The rear reveals an innovative system of parallel double rotors, also enhanced with Moinet blue. The first of these serves to generate power for the hours and minutes mechanism, while the second is dedicated solely to the chime.
Ultravox is fitted with an alligator strap equipped with a folding clasp.
