Key takeaways
• The Maurice Lacroix Masterpiece Grand Date Retrograde is a signature timepiece from the 1975 collection.
• It features a retrograde calendar display, a complication that returns the hand to its starting point after completing its arc.
• The watch showcases a prominent grand date window for enhanced legibility and classic aesthetic appeal.
For more than 25 years, Maurice Lacroix has crafted retrograde indications, a rare speciality that has become a brand signature. On this occasion, the Saignelégier-based Manufacture unveils its 26th Masterpiece calibre, featuring a retrograde day indication, grand date, and eye-catching skeletonised display. Delivering accessible excellence and respecting the brand’s heritage, the 1975 Master Grand Date Retrograde provides a new perspective on time.
The retrograde indication – a signature complication
Since its establishment in 1975, Maurice Lacroix has conceived several watches that have reimagined the way time is indicated. In 1999, the brand released the Calendar Retrograde and, three years later, it unveiled the Double Retrograde (2002), both of which featured proprietary mechanisms. Over the years, the company has amassed much expertise in crafting timepieces endowed with this complication, ensuring each model delivers functionality, legibility, and reliability. While retrograde indications remain comparatively rare within the watch industry, Maurice Lacroix has become synonymous with the complication.
The Maurice Lacroix factory in Saignelégier.
Now, the brand from the Franches-Montagnes is pleased to unveil a new watch, the 1975 Master Grand Date Retrograde. This model features an expansive sapphire crystal box that absorbs light, enhancing readability. In addition, it features a retrograde indication coupled with a grand date display.
Viewing time from a different perspective
Employing all its technical mastery, the creative team at Maurice Lacroix sought to create a watch where the aesthetics and functionality were fully optimised. The 1975 Master Grand Date Retrograde is the result of this exhaustive work. It features a skeletonised display that reveals several components normally hidden from view.
The underside of the mainplate is visible from the front and features a sandblasted finish and black rhodium treatment, helping to highlight the indications positioned above. Trait tirée bridges, executed in a rhodium finish, rest upon the mainplate, conferring tonal contrast. Trapeze-style hour and minute hands feature white Super-LumiNova®️, and a rhodiumed external flange frames the display.
During the development process, the Manufacture experimented with the design of the bridge’s front of house. This involved refining the thickness of the bridges, giving due consideration to symmetry, and ensuring that the display’s functionality was optimized. When viewed from the side, the sapphire crystal box reveals a fascinating arrangement of levels. Indeed, the lateral view reveals depths, colors, textures, and angles as well as several mechanical processes at play. It is the brand’s holistic design approach that has led to the model’s cohesive aesthetic.
A notable attribute of this watch is its ability to communicate clearly with the wearer. Drawing on its know-how of crafting the AIKON Master Grand Date, Maurice Lacroix has equipped this latest model with a large date display. Using two discs to indicate the tens and units, the display proves eminently simple to read. In addition, the date discs are fully revealed, allowing the wearer to see the fascinating mechanism at work. Likewise, the retrograde display, located at the bottom of the display, indicates the day in a user-friendly format. The blue hand begins its weekly journey, first indicating ‘Monday’ before subsequently sweeping right. Eventually, as it reaches its endpoint and Sunday concludes, it flicks left and a new weekly cycle begins.
Mastering mechanisms
In just 50 years, Maurice Lacroix has crafted a remarkable 26 Masterpiece calibres. In addition, it has produced numerous in-house mechanisms that have delivered functionality and a sense of theater. On this occasion, the Jura-based Manufacture has produced an in-house module that combines two complications, a ‘grand date’ and a ‘retrograde day display’. The 42 mm stainless steel case, enriched with a combination of brushed and polished surfaces, is fitted with an exhibition caseback. This grants a glimpse of the Masterpiece ML302 calibre, adorned with various finishes, including Côtes de Genève, perlage, and colimaçon.
Wear it with pride
The watch is presented on a black calf-leather strap with an alligator-style texture and a debossed M logo. Courtesy of the Maurice Lacroix Easy Strap Exchange system, the wearer can easily adapt the look of their watch without tools, with just a few user-friendly clicks.
A few words from Stéphane Waser
Stéphane Waser, Managing Director of Maurice Lacroix, remarks, “For more than 25 years, we have created models equipped with retrograde indications, a rare complication in the watch industry but one that has become a signature of our brand. On this occasion, we have chosen to unite a retrograde day display with a grand date complication, another speciality of our Maison. We have housed the movement within our 1975 model, a classical design encompassing traditional lines and featuring a retro-modern box sapphire crystal. Skilfully crafted within our Manufacture in Saignelégier, this watch delivers accessible excellence, respects our legacy and provides an insight into our vision for the future.”
