The Pontos de Maurice Lacroix celebrates its 20th anniversary
The Pontos is celebrating its 20th anniversary
Launched in 2000, PONTOS returns to the front of the stage to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. On this occasion, the collection is enriched by various major pieces. First with the limited series PONTOS Chronograph Monopusher at the vintage look, then with two new versions of the automatic chronograph and the model Day-Date. All prints of a contemporary and elegant spirit, these five novelties are marked with the seal of the design Maurice Lacroix. The details, the finishes, the contrasts, the tension of the lines, all in PONTOS celebrates a watchmaking whose refinement is noticed, but does not show up.
Since its inception, the spirit of this collection has been incarnated through its lines and housing. This spirit is contemporary and respectful of the codes of traditional watchmaking, dressed without being formal, refined without resting on design artifices. A search for timelessness away from habits and ease. It is through its round box, rich in detail, that the whole personality of PONTOS is expressed. It is marked by a shoulder on both sides of the crown, which protects it and creates a slight asymmetry. This protection takes the form of push pushers in the case of PONTOS chronographs.
The smooth bezel is slightly tilted, polished on its surface and satiny on its thin slice. Finally, the crown itself is cut and cranked in a spiral shape, completing to install PONTOS in the contemporary domain, which remains the undeniable brand of the Maurice Lacroix design. The double horns have a pronounced shape of eagle's beak, the first level of which is satin, while the second, outside and below, is polished.
This game of finishings alternating between matity and brightness highlights the profile of an enclosure that is the hyphen of the PONTOS collection that now houses three models. The first is PONTOS Chronograph1 Monopusher, launched in limited series to celebrate the 20 years of the collection. The second is a new
Execution of the automatic steel chronograph, the PONTOS Chronograph. The third is a current extension of the Day-Date model, available in an exceptional version in bronze with green dial and another in steel with a silver dial.
Execution of the automatic steel chronograph, the PONTOS Chronograph. The third is a current extension of the Day-Date model, available in an exceptional version in bronze with green dial and another in steel with a silver dial.
THE NOBILITY OF A CLASSIC COMPLICATION
The PONTOS Chronograph Monopusher is a limited series of 500 copies, which plays on impressions and an unsuspected level of depth at first. The ASM automatic chronograph size is used here as a historical allusion to the development of complications, but also to its aesthetic advantage. With its only push, it creates an asymmetry and a break of codes with what is usually expected to be seen on a chronograph.
Because nothing in the PONTOS Chronograph Monopusher is truly classic. Its dimen, 41 mm, is perfectly contemporary. Idem for the treatment of its steel. By recovering it thanks to the PVD technology, Maurice Lacroix guarantees total and lasting darkness, abrasion resistance and scratches, but above all an aspect without a concession. The dial is degraded; black on the periphery, it gradually becomes clearer as the gaze moves closer to the centre, where it is medium grey. Halfway, the telemeter and the tachymeter make their appearance, one red, the other blue.
These two reading scales cross the time counters of minutes of the chronograph and the small second, creating a complex pattern appreciated by traditional watchmaking aficionados. The same ones who will report the finishes of the movement, perlage and Côtes de Genève, and of the oscillating mass solebled with Côtes de Genève, visible through a transparent sapphire background.
THE MODERNITY OF A TIMELESS CHRONOGRAPH
Always at the confluence of a modern and timeless style, two versions of the PONTOS Chronograph are appearing. In the PONTOS steel case, with a diameter of 43 mm, the automatic lift chronograph size ML112 offers another dimension to PONTOS. The dial is available in a white lacquered or grey version, where the hourly indexes are, for the first time, incarnated by Arabic numerals.
PONTOS chronographers are based on a balance of colours that comes out of the beaten track and is in reality a style of Maurice Lacroix's style. Thus, the white dial plays the contrast with a bright blue tint, and the grey dial with yellow gold applications. These hues, textures and the rounded and flexible typography of Arabic numerals create a strong design dynamic, a contemporary wear and chic sport that is at the heart of the identity of the chronographers PONTOS.
These shades are repeated on partially skeletted needles and meters at 6 and 12 hours, which are part of the reading of the chronograph indications. PONTOS chronographers are offered on a blue calf leather bracelet bearing the M, logo of Maurice Lacroix or a steel bracelet with three links. It takes over the finishes of its housing, alternating satin and polissages that highlight its contours.
Finally, the background of the chronographers PONTOS bears an engraving which registers them in the frame of the twenty years of the collection.
THE WEALTH OF DETAILS OF A DIAL
First model of the PONTOS range to be rethought in 2017, the PONTOS Day-Date is enriched by two new executions. But the design details of this 41 mm model remain intact: triangular indexes, cashed timers, cutouts in the 6-and 12-hour dial that highlight the date and day, respectively, a slightly trapezoidal needle with a rigorous design. The effect of these geometrical elements, arranged in a savage manner on cadrans with careful finishing, is a relevant modernity. Capable of crossing the ages, he inscribed the Pontos Day-Date in an authentic intemporality.
On this basis, Maurice Lacroix presents a version to the chassis in bronze and green dial, in series not limited. The hue of the processed PVD gold needles and the bronze case is reflected on the rhodium indexes, whose facets change color with the movement. This mirror game is further amplified by the green hue bottle of the dial which gives the model a retrocontemporary look.
In parallel, the PONTOS Day-Date is equipped with a silver dial and soleky with a perfect sobriety, which warms a logo in application, needles and pink gold color indexes. On a three-link steel bracelet or matte black calf leather, PONTOS Day-Date is revealed in its most elegant dimension while keeping its nervousness, its modern twist.
SCROLLED IN TIME
PONTOS is not, therefore, a paradox. Twenty years after its launch, the collection is more than ever able to overcome its details, its quality of execution and its contrasts. Added to this is a variety of models, movements, complications that still have a reserve. Thus, the renewed relevance of its design installs PONTOS in its time and duration. Strengths that are still underlined by the will of Maurice Lacroix to offer these models of high quality at always fair prices.
