Manufacture Royale : Welcome to court

1770

Case: 18K pink gold and steel, 20 parts, sapphire back Diameter: 43mm Movement: mechanical hand-wound (Caliber MR3, 108h power reserve), 208 parts, silicon escape-wheel and lever, flat balance-spring Functions: hours, minutes, flying tourbillon, power-reserve display Dial: opaline silver-toned or anthracite, openworked Water resistance: 30m Strap: rolled-edge alligator leather, alligator leather lining, pin buckle

Less than a year after being acquired by the Gouten family, Manufacture Royale presented at Baselworld 2014 its first completely new release under its new shareholders. In tribute to the brand’s founders and origins, the 2014 new model is named 1770, the founding date. It owes its design to the magic touch of Eric Giroud, who placed the flying tourbillon at 7 o’clock and created an understated yet sophisticated 20-part case featuring the shafts on either side which are a Manufacture Royale aesthetic signature. The purity of the dial and lines of the delightfully rounded pink or white gold case accentuates the singular stage-setting for the flying tourbillon, topped by a crossbow-shaped power-reserve display. The arrow-like hour-markers and sword-shaped hands pointing towards the interior of the dial and the mechanical treasure beneath set the perfect visual touch to the 1770. Along with its silicon escape-wheel and lever, its Haute Horlogerie finishes are revealed on the back, notably including the mirror-polished plates and bridges adorned with straight-graining, beveling and circular-graining. The impact of the original esthetic of this timepiece is matched by an excellent quality/price ratio that the court is bound to appreciate.


Brice Lechevalier is editor-in-chief of GMT and Skippers, which he co-founded in 2000 and 2001 respectively. He has also been CEO of WorldTempus since it joined the GMT Publishing stable, of which he is director and joint shareholder. In 2012 he created the Geneva Watch Tour, and he has been an advisor to the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève since 2011. Also closely involved in sailing, he has published the magazine of the Société Nautique de Genève since 2003, and was one of the founders of the SUI Sailing Awards in 2009 and the Concours d’Elégance for motor boats at the Cannes Yachting Festival in 2015.

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