Schwarz Etienne x LN

The Geneva watch atelier has chosen to give Abraham-Louis Breguet's famous complication a very exclusive whirl around with a unique piece in collaboration with a key manufacturer in Swiss Watchland: the Schwarz Etienne Tourbillon small retrograde second. This new opus highlights how the tourbillon is still at the essence of high-end watchmaking and its mechanical displays and confirms that this watch complications remains a tireless engine of creativity.

The star is the tourbillon, highlighted by the caseback. The tourbillon is not alone, the complication it drives is also at the very forefront: the small retrograde seconds rocker is directly linked to the tourbillon. It is unique, never seen before and this is what gives its spirit to this watch. The mechanical gesture fits like a signature to the Schwarz Etienne manufacture's way of operating, who is a Master in the Art of dedramatizing the watch complications. This dual complication - tourbillon + small retrograde seconds - is crazy technical, but everything is done to make it light and playful, easily viewable, and instantly understandable.

The first eye-catching feature is the two transformed dials, the hour and minute dial at four o'clock, and the small retrograde seconds dial, a segment at 11 o'clock. In Schwarz Etienne's creation, these dials are made of natural-colored stones and stand out visually from the rest of the watch. They have been re-manufactured by Label Noir, finished with sandblasting, and electroplated to a mid-gray hue. Finally, the Roman numerals of the hours have been substituted by sector indexes. Definitively, the original model's exuberance has been given way to a contemporary minimalism.

It's just how the metamorphosis begins. The hour and minute hands are painted black and highlighted with black Super LumiNova. The retrograde seconds hand is painted in glacier blue - a reference to the overstitching on the black textile strap and the Schwarz Etienne and Label Noir brand names on the dial. The plate is also black finished. The case middle, the bezel, the crown, and the deployant clasp are also treated in black with a very fine micro blasted finish, which breaks with the polished renderings of the original timepiece.