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Baselworld 2012: Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Diving Chronograph

Kyle Stults — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:42:08 +0000

Swiss-watch brand Maurice Lacroix has been on a roll for the past few years. Whereas I used to know the brand as a purveyor of generic-looking quartz timepieces, Maurice Lacroix really stepped up its design game which has resulted in some very solid watches over the past couple seasons (see: Pontos Day-Date (2010), “Square Wheel” (2010), Pontos Chronograph (2011). With the 2012 release of the new Potos S Diving Chronograph, Maurice Lacroix is poised to put itself on the radar of dive watch aficionado’s as well. As shown below, the watch comes in a few color variations (black, orange, blue) and strap choices (Nato strap, Nato-matching color stripe, steel bracelet). Good use of color (not too much), solid movement choice (Valjoux 7750) and an inner rotating bezel make this watch a winner in my book.

Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Diving Chronograph

43mm steel case, water resistant 200 meters, automatic mechanical movement (Swiss Valjoux 7750), internal rotating bezel

Baselworld 2011: Maurce Lacroix Pontos Chronograph Valjoux

Kyle Stults — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 16:54:17 +0000

As I mentioned in yesterday’s preview of the new Hamilton Pan Europ Vintage 1971 Reissue, I have today another blue-dialed watch to share with you. This is the Pontos Chrongraoph Valjoux, and it comes from Maurice Lacroix, a Swiss brand who has made great strides the past few years and is now really cranking out some very nice looking watches. As the name implies, the watch is powered by the well-regarded and very reliable Valjoux 7750 movement, a Swiss luxury watch standard of sorts. I find it to be a nice looking, well balanced watch. The curvaceous chronograph pushers are exceptionally beautiful. One caveat I will throw out about blue-dialed watches is that they can often look much different up close and in person and particularly in different lighting conditions, thus like any watch, you should see it in person before making the final decision whether or not to buy.

Maurce Lacroix Pontos Chronograph Valjoux

43mm steel case with brushed and polished surfaces, radial patterned crown, available on a bracelet or a croc-strap with steel folding clasp

As an aside, it is refreshing to see Maurice Lacroix referring to the Vajoux movement as what it actually is, rather than renaming it something generic and meaningless to the consumer in an effort to imply some sort of “ownership” of the movement . I guess I can join my fellow watch blogger Ariel Adams in a call for greater use “universal names” when it comes to movements!

Stay tuned for more great watches to come from Maurice Lacroix!

Maurice Lacroix Limited Edition Watch for Zurich Film Festival

Kyle Stults — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 20:21:49 +0000

Maurice Lacroix is once again the exclusive watchmaking sponsor of the Zurich Film Festival. Maurice Lacroix brand ambassador and artist Sir Bob Geldof will present the Audience Award on the closing night to the director of the winning film chosen by the festival audience. The prize is nice — of the 36 special limited-edition timepieces designed by Maurice Lacroix for the Festival. The special limited edition (36 timepieces) is based on the Pontos chronograph (a design I really like) and has a hand-decorated automatic movement, 30 minute and 12 hour counters, and a date display.

If you love this watch but not a winners at the film festival, don’t worry because ten of these timepieces are being made available exclusively at Kurz Schmuck und Uhren in Zurich, at a price of 3200 CHF.

About the Zurich Film Festival

The 6th Zurich Film Festival takes place this year from 23rd September to 3rd October. Over 11 days, spectators can see over 70 Swiss, European or world premieres. The programme ranges from Hollywood films to extravagant art-house cinema. Along with premiere parties, panel discussions and Zurich Master Class workshops, personal meetings with actors and directors count among the various visitor highlights at the festival. In 2005, the two current co-directors, Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri, founded Spoundation Motion Picture GmbH, promoted by the Zurich Film Festival. Last year, over 37,000 film enthusiasts attended the Zurich Film Festival.

Maurice Lacroix Three of a Kind

Kyle Stults — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:53:59 +0000

Three unique pieces, three charitable causes…

While I’m sure most of you are by now familiar with the Audemars Piguet “Time to Give” celebrity watch auction (if not, see here), I’d like to bring light to another, albeit much smaller, charity auction that is going on right now. But it is a charity auction nonetheless. So thanks to Orologio Blog (in Italian), I was excited to learn that three, one-of-a-kind Maurice-Lacroix Pontos Décentrique GMT timepieces designed by three prolific designers are now up for auction. You can view details on both the Maurice Lacroix and Wallpaper* (modern design and style blog/magazine) websites. Bidding started on May 13 and concludes on June 19. All proceeds from the auction will be donated to a charity of each designer’s choice (as I have noted below each watch).

Current offers for each watch are still near the opening price — €4,250 — for each watch. I think that any one of these three fine unique pieces should could go for prices in excess of €10,000 — great watches for a great cause — bid high people!

Below is a preview of each watch, as well as a short video of each designer talking about his philosophy for his particular watch. While all the watches are absolutely spectacular, my personal favorite is the piece by Arik Levy. Which one is your favorite?

*****

“Raw and Essential” by Arik Levy

Unique Piece

Dial: Black gold, horizontally brushed; engraved hour markers on both second time zone; metal coated sapphire crystal over the day and night disk and date indication, black gold hands (hours/minutes/2nd time zone), luminous at night.

Case: Brushed stainless steel, 43mm

Levy plans to donate the proceeds of this summer’s auction to Sinjiya-Ton, a charity dedicated to the aid of Malian street children.

*****

“Five Continents”, by Gwenaël Nicolas

Unique Piece

Dial: Matt-black, with 5 circles, brushed/polished; glossy black printed hour markers; hands (hours/minutes/2nd time zone) luminous at night. Day-and-night display in black, sun and stars in polished silver.

Case: Polished and brushed, stainless steel, 43mm

Nicolas plans to donate all proceeds from this year’s auction, to human aid organisation, Médicins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).

*****

“Bonded Watch”, by Neil Barrett

Unique Piece

Dial: Completely clad in black leather; raised applied hour markers under the leather; metal coated sapphire crystal over the day and night disk and date indication, hands (hours/minutes/2nd time zone) luminous at night.

Case: Stainless steel completely clad in black leather

Neil Barrett plans to donate the proceeds of this summer’s auction, to world aid charity, Oxfam.

Again, you can visit http://www.wallpaper.com/mauricelacroix or http://www.mauricelacroix.com/#PARTNERSHIPS to place a bid!

Baselworld 2010: Maurice Lacroix “Square Wheel”

Kyle Stults — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:06:32 +0000

Maurice Lacroix Reinventing the wheel?

This one will grab some attention! Stay tuned for more details….

43.5mm case size, manual wind movement with 48 hour power reserve

Baselworld 2010: Maurice Lacroix Pontos Day Date

Kyle Stults — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:46:40 +0000

This is a new color variation on a previously existing model that is coming in 2010 from Swiss-watchmaker Maurice Lacroix. Maurice Lacroix says that the “Day Date” model is a best-seller within the Pontos collection, and I think that this new dial color – “solar blue” – as Maurice Lacroix calls it – is a nice extension to this lineup that should help the sales trend continue. Notice that the dial also has a brushed look to it that radiates out from the center – it must look great under the right daylight conditions!

The stainless steel case is 40mm in diameter with nice curves. It appears to be mostly polished but there are some satin-finished parts on it as well as you can see in the photos below:

If you look closely you will notice that the tips of the hour and minute hands are luminescent, as are the hour markers around the outer edge.

Otherwise there is not too much else to think about on this watch – just enjoy it!

You can keep an eye out for all of Maurice Lacroix’s new watches for 2010 here on Perpetuelle.com’s Baselworld 2010 Forum. Actually there are already a few posted, so feel free to check them out now!

Maurice Lacroix le Chronographe Commercial

Kyle Stults — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:30:51 +0000

This is a 30-second spot produced by Maurice Lacroix.

I like this watch and think that ML is making some good moves as it attempts to move up the “status chain” in the world of watches. But lately it seems that whenever I see a new watch commerical / clip, I always ask myself “Why does every watch commercial look the same?” You know, a bunch of swirling watch parts that ends up as a complete watch. Seriously, that’s how they all seem! (except for the wonderful A. Lange Richard Lange Pour le Merite commercial I posted the other day!)

Anyway, as I say Maurice Lacroix seems very intent on becoming a prime time player in the world of haute horlogerie – and the brand’s 2009 BASELWORLD pre-releases definitely back that up.