Margot by Christophe Claret

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It’s great when independent watchmakers take the time to create a marvel. It’s even greater when they design a timepiece dedicated to ladies. So is the case of the Margot watch from Christophe Claret.

The complication of this timepiece is the “He loves me… he loves me not” (“Effeuiller la marguerite” in French) Margot flower. The Margot collection is issued in four limited editions of 20 pieces each.

Since the Christophe Claret team presented so beautiful these timepieces, I with let them explain everything.

“He loves me… He loves me not.” The elusive answer wafts in on a delicate petal, announced by a Tinker Bell-like chime. Behind the game, an enchantingly innovative complication specifically developed for women. Christophe Claret’s Margot ‘picks petals’ with the simple press of a button.

What hopeless romantic hasn’t ever picked the petals off a daisy to discover how their sweetheart feels about them? “He loves me… he loves me not.” A game of luck, or a game of love? With Christophe Claret’s Margot, time is wooed infinitely. On the dial, the classic conundrum comes to life in an elegant and romantic ladies’ timepiece.

The story goes that the Île Saint-Louis in the center of Paris during the Middle Ages was a meadow lined with willows and poplars. It was an idyllic place for sweethearts to stroll and ‘learn’ the depth of each other’s love by picking petals off a daisy while reciting: “Il m’aime… il ne m’aime pas du tout”. Translation: He loves me… he loves me not (at all).

Note that while the English version is all or nothing – i.e. loves me, loves me not – the French has a wider range of possibilities: loves me a little, loves me lots, loves me passionately, loves me madly, or doesn’t love me at all.

The tradition has since transcended time and is the perfect allegory for Christophe Claret’s desire to create a watch that is both charming and complex, the ultimate embodiment of women. As a beautiful expression of true love, Margot takes watchmaking savoir-faire and transforms it into an amorous declaration.

Margot is Christophe Claret’s first ladies’ watch complication. It features an ingenious mechanism that helps to ‘predict’ – or at least tries to – one of nature’s paramount questions: “Does he love me?” A simple press of the pusher at 2 o’clock brings the watch to life.

With each press, a petal – sometimes a pair of petals, it is impossible to foresee – subtly disappears under the dial in a smooth action, perfectly depicting the delicate undressing of the flower. The eagerly-awaited answer appears at random in calligraphic letters (in French) on the dial at 4 o’clock: Un peu (a little) – beaucoup (a lot) – passionnément (passionately) – à la folie (madly) – pas du tout (not at all)?

At each press of the pusher, a distinct, crystalline chime resonates, aurally signalling the pace of the game. The striking mechanism is one of Manufacture Claret’s signature complications, blending technical mastery with sublime aesthetics, and here its hammer is adorned with a prong-set ruby. A caseband window at 8 o’clock allows clear views of it vertically striking the cathedral gong above.

Pressing the reset pusher at 4 o’clock instantly makes all petals reappear around the pistil and turns the ‘sentiment’ display at 4 o’clock to an ellipsis (…). The petal display and its mechanism have been awarded a patent.

Such an original technique called for ingenious design. The dial exudes romantic femininity: At the whim of its iridescent reflections, the natural mother of pearl dial reveals delicately engraved verses penned by Victor Hugo, one of the standard-bearers of the 19th-century French Romantic movement. These excerpts are taken from the writer’s classic poem Unité, which features in his compendium Les

Contemplations.

On the dial, three pear-shaped diamonds at 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock poetically punctuate the scene. A pair of gold-tipped, steel hands – each delicately rounded by hand – glides over the 12 white, satin-lacquered titanium petals that tightly embrace the central citrine pistil, its multi-level corolla intensifying the three-dimensionality of the dial’s landscape.

In perfect harmony with the movement, the feminine gold case has a curved profile to marry with even the most slender of wrists. To soften her silhouette, Margot’s crown is hidden from view, placed on the back next to the top lugs.

Margot features baguette diamonds or snow-set brilliant cut diamonds, depending on the model, with the gem-set lugs featuring different designs that complement the aesthetics of the jewels. Snow-set or baguette diamonds also bring a scintillating play of light around the bezel.

The display back reveals the automatic winding rotor, a delicately carved, flower shaped carrousel of colours symbolising sentiments of love, with a central cabochon concealing the rotor’s ball bearings. Each one of the eight resplendent triangular precious stones denote a feeling – hope, passion, tenderness… Which one will line up with the red-lacquered heart when the flower halts its waltz?

“Tout est mystère dans l’amour,” wrote Jean de La Fontaine – “Love bears a world of mystery”. Without a shadow of a doubt, Margot fully embraces these words of the 17th century French poet.

Quick facts:

– Caliber: EMT17, automatic-winding

– Dimensions: Diameter: 38.4 mm

– Height: 9.76 mm

– Number of components: 731

– Number of jewels: 95

– Power reserve: 72 hours, two barrels

– Escapement: frequency 4 Hz (28,800 vph) with Swiss lever

– Functions: hours and minutes, “He loves me… he loves me not” (“Effeuiller la marguerite” in French), symbolic ‘colour-feeling’on the winding rotor

– Features: 12 “He loves me…he loves me not” petals to ‘pick off’; ‘Sentiment’ displayed in a window at 4 o’clock: un peu (a little), beaucoup (a lot), passionnément (passionately), à la folie (madly) and pas du tout (not at all); pusher at 2 o’clock ’picks off’ 1 or 2 petals while advancing the ‘Sentiment’ indicator by 1 sentiment; striking chime at each action of the 2 o’clock pusher with a visible hammer at 8 o’clock; “He loves me… loves me not” reset pusher at 4 o’clock: all the petals instantly reappear around a pistil, while the ‘Sentiment’ displayed in the window at 5 o’clock turns to an ellipsis (…)

Ref. MTR.EMT17.000-020
Case: Round
Dimensions: 42.50 X 50.15 X 14.52 mm
Water resistance: 3 ATM / 30 m / 100 ft

Material: White gold (palladium alloy), baguette-set
69 diamonds in total, 4.8 carats
Top lugs with feature hexagonal diamond
Hands in blued-steel with 3N yellow gold tips

Dial: Blue mother of pearl
White gold prong set with pear-shaped diamonds
Christophe Claret logo in white gold

Crown: White gold

Strap: White alligator leather
White gold prong set with pear-shaped diamond
Clasp: White gold

Limited edition of 20 pieces
Price in Swiss francs (ex VAT): 278,000

Ref. MTR.EMT17.030-050
Case: Round
Dimensions: 42.50 X 50.15 X 14.52 mm
Water resistance: 3 ATM / 30 m / 100 ft

Material: White gold (palladium alloy)
424 snow-set diamonds in total, 2.2 carats
Hands in blued-steel with 3N yellow gold tips

Dial: Blue mother of pearl
White gold prong set with pear-shaped diamonds
Christophe Claret logo in white gold

Crown: White gold

Strap: White alligator leather
White gold prong with snow-set diamond
Clasp: White gold

Limited edition of 20 pieces
Price in Swiss francs (ex VAT): 198,000

Ref. MTR.EMT17.090-110
Case: Round
Dimensions: 42.50 X 50.15 X 14.52 mm
Water resistance: 3 ATM / 30 m / 100 ft

Material: 5N red gold, baguette-set
69 diamonds in total, 4.8 carats
Top lugs with feature hexagonal diamond
Hands in steel with 4N pink gold tips

Dial:Pink mother of pearl
4N pink gold prong set with pear-shaped diamonds
Christophe Claret logo in 4N pink gold

Crown: 5N red gold

Strap: White alligator leather
5N red gold prong set with pear-shaped diamond
Clasp: 5N red gold

Limited edition of 20 pieces
Price in Swiss francs (ex VAT): 278,000

Ref. MTR.EMT17.060-080
Case: Round
Dimensions: 42.50 X 50.15 X 14.52 mm
Water resistance: 3 ATM / 30 m / 100 ft

Material: 5N red gold
424 snow-set diamonds in total, 2.2 carats
Hands in steel with 4N pink gold tips

Dial: Pink mother of pearl
4N pink gold prong set with pear-shaped diamonds
Christophe Claret logo in 4N pink gold

Crown: 5N red gold

Strap: White alligator leather
5N red gold prong with snow-set diamond
Clasp: 5N red gold

Limited edition of 20 pieces
Price in Swiss francs (ex VAT): 198,000

I would like to thank Christophe Claret for the images and information.

Please visit the Christophe Claret Website for more information about their current collection or the Official Boutiques for a live view of their timepieces.

Margot by Christophe Claret

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Margot by Christophe Claret

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