From yesterday to today, Pequignet can boast of having always created watches that free themselves from codes and standards. The new products unveiled at the Watches&Wonders 2024 show were, it seems, intended to recall this specificity. Each illustrated the major milestones reached by the brand: the cult of design with the Moorea launched in 1984, the status of manufacture achieved in 2010 thanks to a team of talented watch engineers, the development of in-house mechanical movements from the year following and, now, the mastery of an excellent complication, the flying tourbillon, which allows him to join the elite watchmakers.
Let’s first go back in time to 1984: watch designer Émile Pequignet imagined the Moorea, which would become one of the most iconic watches of the 1980s before becoming timeless and available in a thousand different ways, including as jewelry. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the icon, Pequignet’s designers have returned to their roots by subtly revisiting its codes. The seven references (25 mm or 38.5 mm) in the anniversary collection preserve the style traits that made the Moorea so successful: the fluidity of the slender lines, the purity of the dial and, above all, the signature bracelet, with long steel links interspersed with gold grains.
Having become a manufacture, the Pequignet house remains, to this day, the creator of the only French-made mechanism capable of combining on a single support the complications of moon phase, double date with semi-instantaneous jump and power reserve indicator. Designed and assembled in its workshops in Doubs, the Calibre Royal has benefited from a superb enhancement since 2019: its inner beauty is revealed in the Royal Saphir models, equipped with translucent dials. To enhance it with even greater intensity, they are no longer only colorless but also tinted jade green, ruby red, amber yellow, topaz blue or lapis lazuli! Initiated in a limited series in 2023, this audacious chromatic symphony has just joined the permanent catalog.
Another memorable milestone was the fiftieth anniversary of the house, marked last year by the creation of the Concorde timepiece with integrated bracelet and “in-house” automatic caliber. The model earned new stripes by moving from steel to 18 ct rose gold and diamond-set steel. This choice of classic luxury offers a fine illustration of the aesthetic and technical mastery acquired by the house.
Finally, the arrival of the first Pequignet tourbillon is a strong marker that legitimizes its know-how and its reputation. Often presented as the Holy Grail of watchmaking, this PEQUIGNET A FRENCH DESTINY From design star in 1984 to watch manufacturer since 2010, the uninhibited trajectory of one of the rare independent French houses. spectacular complication fascinates enthusiasts and collectors. However, it was much more useful to 19th century gentlemen, since it was responsible for compensating for precision errors due to the vertical position of their pocket watches. A tourbillon is nonetheless prestigious, rare and precious: Pequignet offers its own in just twenty-four examples!
Infos : www.pequignet.com
