In these timepieces, the Master Watchmaker's singular deconstruction of time is illustrated in a playful, nostalgic, and figurative register, with hand-painted elements set against a background of stone that evokes the daytime sky in chalcedony, or the night sky in aventurine.
Launched in 2025, the Source collection translates Emmanuel Bouchet's vision of time. That vision runs through both Complication One and Source alike: the Master Watchmaker uses mechanical complications to illustrate the essence of time, to remind us that every second, every minute, every hour and every day matters. That we are called to remain aware of each moment as it passes and then escapes us. To pay tribute to each of the units that govern our lives is to be brought back to the essential, to the roots of our own existence.
Where Complication One gives each unit of time its own distinct display, the Source collection keeps a traditional reading of hours and minutes, whilst expressing the passage of time in a more philosophical way still. Cones rotate at speeds drawn from different references of timekeeping: the seconds and the twenty-four hours. These are the pillars of time. The motion of the twenty-four-hour cone is far too slow for the human eye to seize. And yet, it turns. An homage to the passing of time, reminding us that time moves whether or not we notice, and that the moment is ours to capture.
Mr. Bouchet is the first to acknowledge that dividing time, in this particular way, is not always self-evident. “Sometimes my complications are hard to grasp, as they reveal themselves only to the attentive eye, per se. They are, above all, a way of expressing a philosophy."
This year, Emmanuel Bouchet wished to render that same philosophy in a more figurative language. Source Aleph Day and Source Aleph Night set the pillars of time within a mountain landscape, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the Master Watchmaker.
"These pillars of time are illustrated by the elements of nature that endlessly inspire me: the fir trees that grow on the mountainside and the stars that shine ceaselessly in the clear sky. To me, they are the roots of timekeeping, and through this scene, drawn from the nature that surrounds me, I have symbolized the deconstruction of time. The fir tree moves so slowly that you scarcely notice it moving at all. And yet it does: the eye perceives the change of colour, the time elapsed since you last looked at your watch. I want to remind you that life is only a moment, a passing hour, a fleeting day and to encourage you to live the present fully. It is in this slowness that every important change and development occurs", reflects Emmanuel Bouchet on Source Aleph.
In each of the two timepieces, the star at three o'clock rotates at the speed of a second, while the fir tree at four thirty represents both Day - on its white face, and Night - on its dark face, completing its rotation in twenty-four hours. "By juxtaposing the second, the quickest increment in everyday timekeeping, alongside the longest - night and day - you arrive at a dreamlike conception of time. Especially since these increments are not shown in a traditional display; they hide in plain sight. My hope, and the aim of this watch, is to make you think about time. And if it reminds you, gently, to slow down, then it has served its true purpose”, says Mr. Bouchet.
The 39mm cases of these two new pieces may be crafted in precious metal, platinum or 18-carat gold, and, according to the client's wishes, set with precious gemstones or left unadorned.
The dial bases are cut from stone. On Source Aleph Day, chalcedony renders the intense blue of an open sky: a clear firmament, a few clouds, a line of fir trees on the horizon, where time shows itself in the honest daylight of the mountains. On Source Aleph Night, an aventurine dial captures the starlit atmosphere of winter nights in the mountains: a sky full of stars, still to the eye, yet moving with every second.
