Maurice Lacroix - First mechanical watch with a memory function - Memoire1

• 2007-07-16
  Filed under Complications
  
  Maurice Lacroix is probably best known for its classic watches which combine quality watchmaking skills with aesthetic beauty. All Maurice Lacroix's current collections are pure elegance and refinement - luxurious timepieces that you pass down to future generations.
  
  But now Maurice Lacroix has achieved its goal of combining the long tradition of Swiss watchmaking art and its high standards, with a futuristic innovation. Maurice Lacroix has developed the first mechanical watch with a memory function - a completely new Grande Complication, which sets a new milestone in the history of the art of Swiss watchmaking. The highly complex calibre is made of 537 components and will find its initial application in the Memoire 1 chronograph.
  
  The Memoire 1 will have only two hands - one for the minutes and one for the seconds- along with a disk to indicate the hours. The new memory function of the ML128 manufacture movement - completely designed and developed in the new 'Atelier de Maurice Lacroix' - makes an innovative connection between the time and the chronograph indications possible.
  
  By pressing the button integrated into the crown, the mode indicated at 3 o'clock changes from 'Time' to 'Chrono'. The hands and the hours disk immediately change their positions. If their previous function was telling the current time, they are now available for the precise measurement of time intervals. When the button is pressed once again, they all return to their positions for telling time. Even when the chronograph is running, it is possible to shift back & forth between the two modes without losing the information provided by one or the other function.
  
  The development process for this watch, which will be presented officially at Baselworld 2008 is still underway. You can follow its creation on a dedicated internet site at: www.memoire1.ch
  Link: http://www.memoire1.ch/