maurice lacroix mp6119-ss001-31e 0001

A timepiece carries out the simplest job and hence we sometimes overlook the intricacy required behind the scene. The Jours R��trogrades from the exclusive Masterpiece Collection features an impressive function that is both traditional and extremely attractive: a retrograde day indication. A small hand at 6 o'clock moves one position further to the right each day to indicate the current weekday and when reaches the end of the scale it goes back to the start. The watch has a 40 mm stainless steel case with a sapphire crystal and a display back. It uses the hand-decorated automatic caliber ML 102 with 22 jewels, blued steel screws, Incabloc shock protection, a polished steel pallet and escapement wheel, a Glucydur balance, and a skeletonized rotor. The hand can manually be repositioned without damaging the movement.

Maurice Lacroix Classique Phases de LuneThe second interesting entry from the Swiss watch maker is the new Maurice Lacroix Classique Phases de Lune model. Available both in stainless steel and SS / yellow gold mix, this is yet another dressy watch from the relatively young brand.Unlike a great number of other offerings in this segment, the new Classique Phases de Lune is powered by ML’s own caliber 37 movement.Based on the ETA 2824-2 automatic movement, this engine features an additional module that displays date day of week, current month and the moonphase. Simply speaking, the ML caliber 37 mimics ETA Valjoux 7751 chronograph movement’s functionality sans the chronograph.Although, to my taste, the stainless steel and gold mix version of the watch leaves much to be desired (well, to put it less diplomatically, it actually sucks, big time,) the stainless steel model leaves much better impression. In fact, the design looks so good, it is really a shame that Maurice Lacroix didn’t dare to offer this model in white gold.