01/17/2017

SIHH 2017: Christophe Claret Maestro, Memory Effect

We often remember a new watchmaking piece by the design and originality of its complication. With this fact in mind, Christophe Claret has launched the Maestro, a watch with a mechanical complication that is not easily forgotten.

By Vincent Daveau

Contributor

Enthusiasts of unique watchmaking features already know Christophe Claret to be unusually savvy when it comes to playful complications. The master watchmaker knows exactly how to experiment with the technical and aesthetic tools of the trade, one in which he excels. Here, he brings us a new vision of his art in the shape of the Maestro. The 42 mm diameter timepiece forged in titanium grade 5 or in 5 N rose gold, offers the spellbound onlooker a captivating display of not just time-telling, but of mechanical prowess.

Christophe Claret Maestro

The playful display of time

Bold creativity is the term best used to describe the work of the watchmaker. Eager to rethink the usual mechanical approach to watchmaking, without losing sight of the classic codes, the master craftsman has created his own hallmark graphic vocabulary, so distinctive that his work can be spotted at first glance. A consummate craftsman of the mechanical arts and watchmaking genius, Christophe Claret this year rolls out a watch with powerful styling. A watch that is not just able to tell the time in a highly unique manner, but that also, thanks to the development of a totally unique complication, jogs its owner's memory about certain things, including his latest New Year's resolutions …

Christophe Claret Maestro

The Maestro is above all remarkable for the general architecture of its mechanical calibre with manual winding reference DMC16, and in particular the vivid colour coating on some of its 342 constituent parts. Gazing deep into the 'Charles X' style bridges, your eyes will fall on a strange cone shape sitting next to the balance-wheel, its countersunk screws set within a felly sporting an ultra-complicated design. The maker has chosen to give the piece a large and quirky conic date feature. The rotating pyramid structure displays tens of units at the top and units at the bottom. The number of the day may be read in an aperture delineated by two struts in either red or blue, depending on the model chosen.

Christophe Claret Maestro

A complication with recall

Nestled in the heart of a construction, whose components are finished according to classic watchmaking techniques, purists will note the presence of a unique cone-shaped function tipped with a sapphire or ruby, bearing the inscription 'MEMO'. At first glance, you might think it is a function indicator for the winding crown and that the pushpieces placed either side of it are there to engage or deactivate it. In fact, this is not the case at all, for the function of this tiny element is simply that of an 'aide-memoire', a reminder to the wearer that there's something he must not forget. A more useful alternative to the ubiquitous 'post-it' or conventional knotted handkerchief.

Christophe Claret Maestro

The owner of the timepiece, once the objective has been met or the promise fulfilled, simply presses the pushpiece, which in turn pivots the MEMO function to indicate that the deed is now accomplished. The small appendix then returns, in a twenty-minute process powered by a semi-instantaneous jump, to its original position at night in readiness for further tasks, or to help the wearer to remember his commitments … You'll remember when you see it!