DeMonaco Carre d'Or Squelette Tourbillon Minute Repeater Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
Jan 29th 2010 at 6:01PM

Shown at the Geneva Time Exhibition, but apparently not for official release until Baselworld, here is the newest creation from DeMonaco. The parts for their watches are Swiss made and assembled in Monaco. They further have their own designed movements. The main reason for the official release later on? Because of the 8 pieces they plan to produce in the limited edition, only this one has been made, and it has already been sold.

Showing great talent for design and finishing, the new DeMonaco Carre d'Or Squelette watch comes in a 46 by 50mm square-ish case in 18k rose gold with a titanium core. Movement is the new TB-RM1 manually wound tourbillon movement with a 48 hour power reserve. The tourbillon has DeMonaco's signature sapphire crystal bridge which is very cool, and a pain to manufacture. The mainplate of the movement is seen right through the skeletonized dial of the watch, that is cut to form the art deco style Roman numerals. Check out the diamond shaped titanium hour markers that are polished and neat looking. The watch hands are solid gold. Flip the watch over to reveal a beautiful and unique manner of movement decoration. Much of the shapes are small pyramids.

Aside from the tourbillon and the time, the major complication here is the minute repeater. It is operated via the slide lever on the left side of the case. The watch comes with a large wooden amplifier as part of the case that helps the minute repeater chimes sound louder. The hand finishing all over the case is really well done and I am certainly impressed with this new brand. Price for this watch is high, I don't recall the exact amount, but it is over $100,000.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Gallery: DeMonaco Carre d'Or Squelette Watch