This year, Jean-Marie Schaller is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Les Ateliers Louis Moinet. The anniversary is as discreet as the CEO who, over the course of two decades, has succeeded in bringing the name of the eponymous watchmaker (1768 – 1853) back into the watchmaking universe.
And that was no easy feat. In 2004, no one had heard of Louis Moinet. Today, he is recognised as a renowned scholar responsible for a number of seminal inventions (the chronograph and the high-frequency movement) as well as for his contribution to watchmaking literature. His Treatise, written in the autumn of his life, was still being used in some countries a century later, in the 1950s. Thanks to Jean-Marie Schaller, Moinet's hometown of Bourges in France now even has its own Rue Louis Moinet. All that remains is to get hold of one of his paintings or sculptures, none of which have been found, despite the fact that he is known to have executed several in France and Italy.
Mineral exploration
For the time being, Les Ateliers Louis Moinet are keeping his name alive with evident talent. Beyond the masterful Memoris, a tribute to the invention of the chronograph, Jean-Marie Schaller has explored the vastness of space just as Louis Moinet, in his day, scrutinised it at the frenzied pace of his Compteur de Tierces (30 Hz, more than seven times the average rate of a watch at that time).
In addition to these chronographical and astronomical dimensions, Jean-Marie Schaller has for a long time explored the possibilities of minerals in watch design, first through extensive use of fossils, followed by semi-precious stones in a broad spectrum of intoxicating colours. Opal is one of them.
A new genre
Opal has a distinctive lustre that varies from blue to green, turquoise and even purple, depending on the angle of the light. It’s a vibrant stone that immediately draws attention. It has been used by Chopard, Piaget, Jaquet Droz, Dior, Chaumet and, more recently, Gucci. But there are two important things to note: first, with the exception of Jaquet Droz, these are all primarily jewellery houses. And second, all the watches concerned are for women.
Les Ateliers Louis Moinet Ateliers are therefore forging a new path, or rather, two new paths. The first is that this 40.7 mm Geopolis is unisex, perhaps even erring on the masculine side. For a watch whose main aesthetic draw is opal, this is a first. The second innovation lies in how the stone is used – not for the dial, but for the indices. The dial itself is made from onyx of the deepest black.
Opal indices
The way this Geopolis is constructed seems to have no equivalent in watchmaking. Opal is used for 10 of the indices around the outside of the dial. The last two are present in spirit beneath the tourbillon at 6 o’clock, whose cage rotates against an opal background. Finally, the two central hands revolve around an opal centre.
This focus on the indices opens up new creative possibilities. Traditional watchmaking has ignored them for decades, relegating these discreet decorative elements to conventional treatment in gold or, at most, baguette-cut diamonds. Watch hands, too, are largely standardised.
Clearly, customers can be conservative, and rarely quibble over such classic details, often believing there’s no real alternative to dauphine hands and baton indices. But it’s up to the watch brands to shake up the things the market takes for granted, and offer alternatives. Unique, sparkling mineral indexes such as those we see on the new Geopolis are both surprising and welcome. This is not just a watch: it’s an idea. The idea that things can be done differently, without complication (in the literal and figurative sense), simply by taking the time to look at all the constituent elements of a dial, and considering how they could be enhanced. Louis Moinet has paved the way. Let’s hope others will follow.
