News - AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde

Currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, Maurice Lacroix is duly proud of its achievements and notable success. However, it remains a forward-looking company, conceiving future chapters of its page-turning story. A fundamental pillar to achieving its goals is to deliver exciting products, incorporating creativity and Swiss watchmaking tradition along with accessible excellence. In particular, the Swiss brand has shown a remarkable talent for conceiving new and imaginative ways of indicating time from rotating square and clover-shaped wheels to mysterious second hands that seemingly float mid-air. But most of all, Maurice Lacroix is known for retrograde displays. With this complication, one lone hand moves along an arcing track in linear fashion until it reaches its end point and then, within the blink of an eye, it flicks back to the start and begins its journey anew. In 1999, Maurice Lacroix released the Calendar Retrograde and, three years later, it unveiled the Double Retrograde (2002), both featuring proprietary mechanisms. Now, Maurice Lacroix unveils the AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde, a new model incorporating ‘innovative craftsmanship’ that unites cutting-edge materials and technology with the brand’s signature complication.

The anthracite dial, adorned with a vertical brush, embraces skeletonised elements with four apertures, each revealing a section of the movement’s rhodium plated mainplate. The automatic ML291 Manufacture Calibre is also adorned with Côtes de Genève, a classical decoration composed of vertical lines. At 9 o’clock, an aperture plays host to a small seconds display. The three remaining apertures are retrograde indications, displaying the home time (GMT), the day and the date. All four apertures are endowed with circular brushed tracks and silver powder printing, wonderfully contrasting with the adjacent vertical lines. Moreover, the retrograde indications all feature a blue hand and rack, while the associated bridges are rhodium plated, circular brushed and secured with polished screws. The proprietary retrograde mechanisms, optimally positioned towards the periphery of the movement, endow the watch with an expansive dial that proves eminently simple to read, appears balanced and affords sufficient room to showcase the complication to maximum effect. The hour and minute hands (lined with SLN), together with the hour markers, were inspired by the arms gracing the bezel of the AIKON, Maurice Lacroix’s best-selling watch. Faceted, rhodium-plated and imbued with a sandblasted centre line, they demonstrate the brand’s fastidious attention to detail. The AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde juxtaposes circular motifs and vertical lines while at the same time presents components at different levels, imbuing the display with depths, heightening visual appeal.

AN ALLURING BEAUTY THAT WILL NEVER FADE

Housed in a 43 mm stainless steel case, uniting brushed and polished surfaces, the AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde is fitted with a ceramic bezel endowed with the AIKON’s six, double-width arms, a design that is also celebrated with the ceramic crown. Ceramic is scratchproof and won’t fade when exposed to UV-light, ensuring the beauty of the watch will never diminish. The strap affixes to the case with high-gleam attachments, while the flanks of the case are enriched with variable chanfreins (chamfers that increase in magnitude) that readily engage with light. To ensure maximum dial legibility, the sapphire crystal features an upgraded anti-reflective coating, granting superior light transmittance and improved resistance to salt water.


THE PATENTED ML EASY CHANGE SYSTEM

The watch is presented on a black rubber strap incorporating a textured insert and sporting a black rubber M-logo. It is equipped with the new patented ML Easy Change, allowing the wearer to remove the strap and swap it for an alternative without the need for tools. Moreover, with no visible catches or levers, the smooth lines of the case are preserved. Where the central row of links meets the case body, they pivot, allowing the strap to be separated from the watch head. Refitting the strap simply requires the wearer to line it up and push it home until it clicks into position.