Chaumet Dandy Edition Metronome Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed)
Dec 2nd 2010 at 12:01PM

The Richemont Group often reminds me of General Motors. Especially the GM of "back in the day" that would re-purpose engines, car bodies, chassis, etc... Not that this practice is bad (actually it is smart), but from an informed perspective it does allow for a chuckle now and then. I recently wrote about a new movement inside of a Steinway & Sons watch that turned the seconds hand into a metronome. Cool right? It also made a lot of sense given the fact that Steinway & Sons is primarily a piano maker.

Now I see the exact same movement used in a watch by Chaumet. To be honest, I actually like the Chaumet version better from a design perspective. Does it make any sense with the Chaumet brand? Not really. They position the limited edition as a tribute to Chopin (who would have celebrated his 200th birthday this year). Placed in a Dandy watch case, the "Dandy Edition Metronome" will be limited to just 100 pieces, and be in an 18k white gold case. I like the black and white contrast meant to resemble piano keys. You can see the small metronome through a window in the dial placed at the bottom of the off-centered watch face. The little Lyre shows up once again - just like on the Steinway & Son's model.

At least Chaumet pay's tribute to Jean-Marc Wiederrecht, the watch maker who is more or less responsible for the cool little complication as part of the mechanical movement. Both the Chaumet and Steinway & Sons models are impressive, and unique from a design perspective. Though the fact that the movement wasn't really designed specially for Chaumet does take a bit away from the "reason" for the limited edition. Get the piece because you like the design and the complication, not because you think Chaumet really has anything to do with Chopin or timepieces in honor of great composers.

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

Tags: chaumet, dandy, metronome, watch