MCT Sequential One Innovation Overview

As promised, please find my report about one of the stars of the Salon Belles Montres 2008: the Sequential One from MCT (Manufacture Contemporaine du Temps).

MCT is a small company created in 2007 by Denis Giguet who worked previously for Harry Winston as head of the Production and of the Development.



The Sequential One is the first watch produced by MCT and  the fruit of the combined talents of Denis Giguet and of Eric Giroud.

The name of the watch comes from the way the hour can be read: though sequential display systems. You can find the 4 systems on each side of the dial.

 
It's fascinating to see how the system works: each sequential display is composed by 5 triangular prims which rotate in order to tell the right hour.

Of course, it's an impressive technical feature because the prims have to be perfectly aligned with the correct figure exactly when the new hour starts.

 
You may think that the main originality is this sequential system. But there are also other surprises hidden in this watch. Let's take the minutes hand. It seems to be retrograde. We are wrong. In fact the minute hand turns around like a classic watch.  The trick is that the minutes sector (which has a horseshoe shape to avoid to hide the hour display) rotates (or better: jumps with a 270 degrees angle) in order to be in front of the correct hour display. The minutes hand never jumps.



A movie is easier to understand than my explanations so I filmed the flow of time while Denis was turning the crown of the watch:

www.youtube.com

Of course, Denis Gigoud and Eric Giroud created a totally coherent watch: the design is in harmony with the complication and the caliber was specifically built to supply the time display systems. And they need a lot of energy, believe me !



The handwind caliber is a low frequency caliber (2,5hz) with 81 jewels and a power reserve of 40 hours. Getting this power reserve with a very demanding complication is a great achievement. Please note that it composed by more than 470 parts, for example more than a Datograph caliber !

The double hairspring escapement used in the Sequential One is the one used by Moser.

The caliber has a very neat design and gives a contrast with the busier dial. But there is another surprise on it: the second hand is running at the back of the watch! You can also notice the circular Côtes de Genève.





 The case has a "square&cushion" shape and a sapphire layer in both sides of the watch in order to bring the light into the caliber.


A nice idea: the light is led to the center of the watch.



Of course, I had the opportunity to handle and to wear the Sequential One.

It's quite heavy (180g) but it is very comfortable to wear due to the shape of the back of the watch. No detail was forgotten !




The usual wristshots. I loved to wear it, the hour display systems give an unique style to the watch. Easy to read, with a strong presence on my wrist, it was difficult for me to give it back to Denis !









The Sequential One is available in WG and PG versions. Only 99 pieces will be produced for each version.

The watch which was shooted is a prototype. So expect even better finishings with the final versions.

I must confess I was totally seduced by the Sequential One.

Original, coherent, comfortable, easily readable, it's a masterpiece because it offers a new way to tell the time. The Independants watchmakers have always a creative mind and their watches reflect  their vision. The Sequential One is another proof of it.

I would like to thank a lot Denis Giguet and Eric Giroud for their explanations and for the time they spent with me.

Fr.Xavier