Manufacture Royale and Louis Moinet set the atmosphere with some foosball at the presentation of their novelties in the Beau Rivage Hotel. The Crownology Lab moved to a saloon on the ground floor of the prestigious hotel, the huge windows of which offered perfect lighting for an impromptu game and for the watch muster, of course.
The Manufacture Royale 1770 Micromégas Revolution
The 1770 Micromégas timepiece debuted in Basel in 2015. The name Micromégas comes from Voltaire, the French philosopher and satirist, who published his science fiction tale in 1752 about Micromégas, an inhabitant of one of the planets that orbits Sirius.
Manufacture Royale’s Micromégas has two flying tourbillons constantly revolving in the same direction at two different speeds. The left makes one turn in 6, the right in 60 seconds, but both are fed from the same barrel with a capacity of 80 hours of uninterrupted energy. The MR04 orchestrating the dance is automatically wound by the hand movements of the wearer. The necessity and importance of every little component in the great whole is emphasised by the vivid colours of the individual wheels through the generous opening around the tourbillons. My personal fave was a rose gold version with a bright orange dial contrasting the blue hands, and bright orange leather straps.
In autumn 2016 the Manufacture released another double flying tourbillon timepiece, the 1770 Micromégas Revolution.
The new MR08 movement is partly skeletonized and features two flying tourbillons just as the MR04. It has a gold micro-rotor and eccentric minute and hour dials – the hour sub-dial is at 2 o’clock close to the edge of the case, while you can see the minutes on a skeleton wheel towards the centre of the watch.
The 1770 Micromégas Revolution is now available in three exclusive limited editions of only three pieces. The pink gold version has a khaki dial and khaki alligator straps with white hand-stitching. The titanium models come with blue or purple dials and straps. The intense colours are achieved by a transparent metal oxide layer (CVD treatment). For those not in the mood for brave colours, go for the black movement.
1770 Flying Tourbillon Openwork
Manufacture Royale keeps the simplest case for some models of the 1770 line. The 1770 Voltige, the 1770 Haute Voltige and the 1770 Flying tourbillon all have a round case and a domed dial. See more about the line here.
The new 1770 Flying Tourbillon Openwork is 43mm, in steel or rose gold. Inside you will find the manual winding MR06 calibre with a flying tourbillon. The bridge, the mainplate, the barrel and the tourbillon cage have a warm, shiny brown colour, achieved by CVD treatment.
Photo credits: Loupiosity.com.
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