Some watches announce themselves with restraint. Others arrive with purpose. The AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde belongs firmly to the latter category, and it could scarcely have arrived at a more significant moment. As Maurice Lacroix commemorates its 50th anniversary, the brand from the Franches-Montagnes has chosen not to simply reflect on past glories but to demonstrate exactly why its next half-century warrants close attention. This is a timepiece that distils a quarter-century of retrograde expertise into a singularly focused expression of contemporary watchmaking.
The story begins in 1999 when Maurice Lacroix introduced its first retrograde display, the Calendar Retrograde. That pioneering mechanism set the brand on a path that would become a signature speciality. Three years later, the Double Retrograde expanded the concept, and now, in 2025, we witness the logical progression: a triple retrograde configuration that elevates this rare complication to new heights of practicality and visual drama.
A Study in Controlled Complexity
The anthracite dial surface immediately establishes a serious, technical tone. The vertical brush finish creates a subtle directional texture that catches light with restrained sophistication, providing the perfect backdrop for the watch’s primary theatrical elements. Four apertures interrupt this surface, each revealing a carefully framed view into the mechanical heart beating beneath.
At nine o’clock, a modest opening accommodates the small seconds display, its circular brushed track and silver powder printing offering a masterclass in legibility. The remaining three apertures showcase the watch’s signature complication. At noon, a retrograde hand tracks the second time zone across a 24-hour scale. At three, another hand arcs through the days of the week. At six, a third retrograde hand counts the date. Each follows an identical design language: circular brushed tracks, silver powder printing, blue hands and racks, and rhodium plated bridges secured with polished screws.
This systematic approach to design creates extraordinary visual harmony. The proprietary retrograde mechanisms sit optimally towards the periphery of the movement, freeing the centre of the dial for the primary time display while allowing each complication room to breathe. The skeletonised elements reveal sections of the rhodium plated mainplate, creating visual depth without sacrificing clarity. Rhodium circular brushed bridges and an anthracite external flange with silver powder printing complete the layered architecture.
The hour and minute hands deserve particular attention. Inspired by the arms gracing the AIKON bezel, they are facetted, rhodium plated, and feature a sandblasted centre line. Super-LumiNova ensures nighttime legibility while maintaining the refined aesthetic. These hands, together with the matching hour markers, demonstrate the brand’s fastidious attention to detail and its ability to translate design codes across collections.
The Movement: ML291 Manufacture Calibre
Beneath the dial lies the automatic ML291 Manufacture Calibre, a movement that embodies Maurice Lacroix’s Manufacture credentials. Operating at 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz) and offering approximately 38 hours of power reserve, the specification aligns with contemporary expectations for precision and performance. The calibre contains 47 jewels, indicating the complexity of its gear train and complication modules.
The decoration reveals a brand that understands classic finishing techniques. The upper plate features Côtes de Genève, those classical vertical lines that catch light with seductive movement. The bridges feature the Maurice Lacroix that adds texture and visual interest while the rhodium plating ensures lasting beauty. The skeleton rotor, visible through the exhibition caseback, features Côtes de Genève and skeletonised ML logo, creating a cohesive visual experience from both front and rear.
The Case: Ceramic Reinforced Architecture
The 43 mm stainless steel case provides a substantial presence without overwhelming the wrist. Brushed and polished surfaces are deployed strategically, creating interplay between diffuse and specular reflection. The ceramic bezel, with its six double-width arms, represents a significant technical and aesthetic choice. Zirconium dioxide ceramic offers scratchproof properties and UV stability, ensuring the bezel’s deep black finish remains unaltered through years of wear. This ceramic treatment extends to the crown, which features a black ceramic cover that echoes the bezel’s design language.
The case flanks incorporate variable chanfreins, chamfers that increase in magnitude as they flow along the profile, engaging playfully with ambient light. High-gleam attachments secure the strap, while the sapphire crystal receives an upgraded anti-reflective coating that improves light transmittance and salt water resistance, ensuring maximum dial legibility in all conditions. Water resistance reaches 10 ATM (100 metres), providing genuine practicality beyond the boardroom. The open caseback, fitted with sapphire glass, invites contemplation of the ML291 calibre’s finishing and that elegantly decorated rotor. At 13 mm thickness, the case balances robustness with wearability, sitting comfortably under a cuff while maintaining sufficient presence on the wrist.
The Strap and Wearability
Maurice Lacroix equips the watch with a bi-rubber strap featuring a black rubber base and a black textured nylon imitation rubber insert. Black stitching and a black rubber M-logo complete the overall cohesive aesthetic. The strap incorporates the patented ML Easy Change system, allowing replacement without tools and without visible catches or levers that might interrupt the case’s smooth lines. Where the central row of links meets the case body, they pivot, enabling separation with a simple action. Refitting requires only alignment and a firm push until the mechanism clicks into position.
This attention to everyday practicality demonstrates Maurice Lacroix’s understanding of modern ownership expectations. A watch of this technical complexity should not demand complicated procedures for basic strap changes. On the wrist, the watch behave well, with substance but comfort. The watch is striking and well visible – good legibility but also easy recognisable due to its original layout (and specific ML elements).
A Future Icon Validated
The AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde arrives at a retail price of 7.500,00 €, positioning it as a serious proposition for collectors who appreciate technical innovation and proprietary engineering. For that investment, one acquires not merely a compilation of complications but a coherent expression of Maurice Lacroix’s Manufacture capabilities, design philosophy, and material expertise.
Stéphane Waser, Managing Director of Maurice Lacroix, describes the watch as “the distillation of the AIKON design codes, our movement expertise and our mastery of materials, all expressed in one singular form; a future icon.” This is not marketing hyperbole but an accurate assessment of what the watch represents. It celebrates 25 years of retrograde development while pointing towards the brand’s future direction.
In the current horological landscape, where retrograde displays remain comparatively rare, Maurice Lacroix has not only mastered the complication but multiplied it, creating a watch that rewards examination from every angle. The AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde stands as compelling evidence that Maurice Lacroix’s 50th anniversary marks not a culmination but a new beginning. Your time, as the brand motto suggests, is now. Well done ML!
Maurice Lacroix AIKONIC Master Triple Retrograde Technical Specifications
Ref. AC6068-SSL20-230-2 – 6,450 CHF / 7.500,00 € / 6,900.00 USD / 50.800,00 HK$ / ¥ 1,032,900 / 8,800.00 S$ / 270,900.00 ฿ /
Movement
- Automatic manufacture ML291
- Functions: Hours and minutes, small seconds at 9H, GMT retrograde 24 hours at 12H, Day retrograde at 3H and date retrograde at 6H
- Vibrations: 28,800 vph / 4 Hz
- Power Reserve: 38 hours
- Number of jewels: 26
- Decorations: Rhodium movement with M-logo etching and colimaçon on bridges. Côte de Genève on upper plate. Automatic skeleton rotor with Côte de Genèves and colimaçon
Case
- Diameter: 43 mm
- Height: 13 mm
- Material: Stainless steel and ceramic
- Water resistance: 10 ATM
- Finish: Brushed and polished stainless steel case with an open caseback. Black brushed and polished ceramic bezel with sandblasted black ceramic claws. Stainless steel crown with black ceramic cover
Dial
- Anthracite vertical brushed dial with anthracite counters with white printings.
- Rhodium circular brushed bridges and anthracite external flange with white printings
- Index: Rhodium index with sandblasted central line
- Hands: Rhodium facetted hour and minute hands with white SLN and central sandblasted line, rhodium facetted small second hand with sandblasted central line, blued facetted retrograde hands with sandblasted central line
Strap / Bracelet
- Bi-rubber strap with black rubber base and black textured nylon imitation rubber inset with black stitchig and black rubber M-logo.
- New easychange system
