Horological Meandering

Our first objective with Mermont is to produce the nicest possible "montre de philosophe" (Philosopher's watch), meaning a watch with a single hour hand to display the time. 

I've been an avid collector for more than 20 years and I'm absolutely passionate about single hand watches for 2 main reasons:

- It provides a new relationship to time. The watch is virtually motionless, which enables to really focus on the moment (no constant reminder that time is running out) - that's the "philosopher's" part (but still super easy to read the time, each mark on the minute track indicates 10 minutes)

- It removes the technical constraints related to stack height, allowing to make a hand with unprecedented curves and volumes. 

Our second objective is to offer a "taste" of independent watchmaking but with a different recipe: Each Mermont is hand finished, finely regulated and assembled by master watchmaker and AHCI member Nicolas Delaloye in his Geneva workshop, but the focus of his work is on the finishing of the hand rather than on the movement. This allows to keep the price in an "unusual" range. 

Some specifications / background info:

- 38mm*9.2mm case

- Platinum (Pt950) case, crown and buckle, combined with a tantalum screwed case back (30 meters water resistance). This gives a nice contrast between the dark grey blue of the tantalum back and the ultra white shine of the platinum case... but only the wearer can appreciate it

- Hand: carved out of mild steel, flame heat treated and then mirror polished by hand for 4 hours by Mr Delaloye. No surface coating, only black polish magic!

- Dial: Curved sunburst with zapon lacquer, a very traditional process but with a twist! 2 unique colors specially developed for Mermont: Salmon (18 pieces, sold out) and Blue (28 pieces)... and a secret signature 

- Movement: Lajoux-Perret D101 in "top grade" with cotes de geneve, perlage, etc... A very simple and robust workhorse, making the watch thin and easily serviceable. Finely regulated to +/- 3 seconds per day. 

- Price: 10 998 chf (excluding tax and duties)

- Project duration: > 2 years: 1 year from initial brief to final drawing (I thank Diego, our designer, for his patience ), 1 year from final drawing to final prototype. The fact that Breguet recently won the GPHG with their amazing Souscription is a coincidence, not a direct inspiration (production of the prototype started 6 months before the Breguet release) 

- Except the movement each component has been developed specifically for Mermont - no "catalog" part 

- Most challenging aspect of starting a new brand from scratch: convincing the right partners and suppliers to support the project despite the small quantities (we will make less than 50 pieces per year)

- Most satisfying aspect: getting fellow one hand enthusiasts from across the world appreciate the watch! 

Cheers,

Seb