maurice lacroix pt6118-pg101-731 copy

Maurice de Mauriac is a Zurich based watchmaker that produces customized watches. The company has been around for 12 years and was founded by long time watch business executive Daniel Dreifuss. When I spoke with Daniel, last Friday, regarding MDM timepieces he said, "we produce each day something new, new dial, new hand, always something better, everyday something.... we never know what is next." A good example of what Daniel is talking about, is the watch shown here. It is the newest model from their Chronograph Modern collection. It will be available in 2010.The new Chronograph Modern features a DLC coated titanium case, a first for Maurice de Mauric. Last year, the comparable model to this featured PVD, which is great, but DLC is even better. Most DLC is usually a little bit grayish black, where PVD is a darker black. Both are attractive, but if you don't want the full black, then DLC is the way to go. DLC is also slightly harder. Overall, the MDM models in PVD and DLC are both appealing, but if I had my choice it would definitely be this model, as the DLC is just more desirable to me. As you can see from the photos, the numerals are applied on the dial. Last years model featured printed numerals. Another detail that makes this watch, that much more appealing. Although, the price is pretty good for a chronograph with either PVD or DLC treatment, so you might be just as happy with this years model, as you are with last years.All of the chronographs are powered by a trusted Valjoux 7750 self-winding movement. The rotor features the signature "Maurice de Mauriac Zurich" emblem. The strap is made of a high-tech cloth material that looks ultra comfortable and features a detachable folding clasp, in DLC. Retail is $4,000Source: Maurice de Mauriac

With Bulgari focusing heavily on their new Serpenti line of snake themed watches, it gave me a chance to think about some of the other snake themed watches that came out in the last few years. I always appreciated the artistic look of the Maurice Lacroix Divina Temptation line of limited edition watches (even though I wondered about who really bought them). They even used snakes in their ads pretty well. Maurice Lacroix is not being targeted by Bulgari, as the Italian brand has done snake themed watches way in the past. Bulgari clearly did a better job with naming the watches, as their Serpenti collection of watches and jewelry, by its name, should clearly resonate as having a reptilian look. What is up with how Maurice Lacroix names its watches? Though for many, these watches will be more wearable than the Bulgari pieces - though you could easily view both as ugly. The "Temptation" part of the name likely relates to the snake being the 'bad guy' in the Adam & Eve story. Poor python. The women's watch has a 24.5mm wide case in 18k white gold and comes in four types. Each has a collection of jewels that make up the snake image on the polished solid silver dial. The watch face itself is not exactly easy to read, but that isn't the point. There is a Swiss quartz movement inside the watch as well. There are four versions of the watch. A green toned version with rubies and green tsavorites, a brown version with garnets and blue sapphires (both of these are limited to just 10 pieces). There is also a red toned version with diamonds, rubies, and pink sapphires, and finally an orange toned version with orange and yellow sapphires, and rubies. These final two versions are each limited to 30 pieces each. Originally released a few years ago, there are actually still some of them out there. Prices are about $60,000 - $100,00 each. Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com. Gallery: Maurice Lacroix Divina Temptation watch