I have never seen a watch (as pictured) presented in such a profile. It is so futuristic and unusual that it does not look like a watch at first sight. Named La Clef du Temps, this watch is from Confrérie Horlogère’s “Les Masters” collection.

The case is one of the largest I have ever seen. It is sized at 53.20×58.6mm and 21.6mm thick. Thanks to the titanium that it is made from, it is not that heavy as it feels. It features four huge lugs which the stylish strap made of right rubber-clad strands is connected to. The strap is secured to the wrist by a foldding clasp in titanium. The strap, also new to me, well matches the case design.

La Clef du Temps is incorporated with two large crown. The one at 3 o’clock is used to wind the watch and set the time, and the other one at 9 o’clcok conveys the idea that “true luxury and wealth lie in the possibility to manage one’s time”. What does it means? Well, the watch houses a sophisticated mechanism that allows the wearer to “alters the running speed of the hours and the minutes” through operating the crown at 9 o’clock that has three positions.

Crown position 1 : the pace of time slows by half (so that the value of one normal hour is displayed as a half-hour on the dial of “La Clef du Temps”).

Crown position 2 : the pace of time remains the same (i.e. one hour remains one hour).

Crown position 3 : the pace of time is doubled (so a standard half-hour becomes a full hour on the dial of “La Clef du Temps”).

In this way, the wearer can shorten unpleasant moments or double happy moments. And the special mechanism allows its time indications to remain in positions 1 or 3 as long as its wearer wishes.When the wearer wants to read the the real time of day, what he need to do is just to return the crown to position 2.

Beating inside the watch is the calibre CH 1057-CDT, providing retrograding running seconds at 4 o’clock and a power-reserve indication (PRI) in a 120° sectoral indicator at 8 o’clock, special pace-of-time indicator at 10 o’clock and usual hours and minutes displayed on the dial that is skeletonized to dispay the stylish movement in human- brain shape. The movement also features a vertical tourbillon-type Swiss lever escapement that allows the tourbillon cage vertically fitted at 6 o’clock between two lugs. This hand-wound mechanical movement provides three days of power reserve

La Clef du Temps is limited to 24 pieces worldwide, each of which corresponds to a timezone.The watch is water resistant to just 30 meters.