Maurice Lacroix- Masterpiece Chrono Globe

The designers and engineers at Maurice Lacroix have reworked the successful Chrono Globe from the Masterpiece Collection for 2006. This Masterpiece in its sporty and clear-cut case brings together an extraordinary array of technical features and capabilities. For example, this includes a precise auto-matic movement displaying hours, minutes, and seconds. The chronograph is set in motion at the press of a button, stops precisely to an eighth of a second, and records intervals of up to thirty minutes with a separate hand beside the “12”. The date indicator is positioned next to the “3” and the small seconds next to the “9” to perfectly balance the visual appearance of the dial. The special cosmopolitan feature of this timepiece is that three different time zones can be read simultaneously from the dial; the Masterpiece Chrono Globe is therefore the ideal companion on trips, while doing sports, or when meeting with international customers. Naturally, the reworked version of the Chrono Globe retained all of these features. A centrally located pair of hands still indicate a time zone on the outer hours ring and a second zone on the inner rotating ring, which can be quickly changed with the crown at the “9”. However, to make it easier to read, the third time zone at the “6” was redesigned. Its characteristic feature – the beautifully shaped globe at the centre – remains in place. The 12-hours indication, where a double-arm indicator with a light or dark end showed daytime or night time hours, has made room for a practical 24-hours indicator. Thanks to this new design and the illuminated hands, Arabic numbers and index marks, the expressive dial is easily read also in unfavourable lighting.

Maurice Lacroix was not content to just redesign the dial. The mechanism for the indication of the third time zone was completely rethought and conceived. The new mechanism regulates and stabilizes the quick correction of the time indication. Irrespective of the position of the 24-hour dial, pressing the correction button at the “8” completely allows the GMT hand to jump forward by exactly one hour. If the GMT hand is at 4.30 p.m., for example, pressing the button once allows it to jump to 5.30 p.m. The positioning and jumping of the hand is secured through a lever spring.
The Maurice Lacroix watchmakers have created the caliber ML 88-1 of the Chrono Globe in numerous working steps and with a great deal of love and precision, lovingly decorated the surfaces, and blued the screws to match the rest of the watch. The result is a small work of art on view through the sapphire glass caseback.

Image:Maurice Lacroix- Masterpiece Chrono Globe


Technical details:
Movement: Hand-decorated automatic ML 88-1 movement, based on the Valjoux 7750 calibre, 26 jewels, blued steel screws, Incabloc shock protection, polished steel pallet and escapement wheel, Glucydur balance, skeleton rotor, 28,800 a/h.
Functions: Chronograph with 30-minute counter, small seconds, date indication with hand, three time zones (second time zone shown in the 24-hours indication at the “6” and adjustable with the button at the “8”; third time zone shown by the rotating ring and adjustable with the crown at the “9”).
Case: Stainless steel or stainless steel/pink gold 18K 750; domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on inside, screwed caseback with sapphire crystal; water-resistant to 50 m, diameter 43 mm.
Dial: Solid silver 925; silver-coloured or black; luminous hands (hours/minutes), Arabic numerals and index marks.
Watchband: Crocodile leather with folding clasp.