Louis Moinet Memoris Scarab Wings Watch features a subsidiary hour/minutes dial at 6:00 that is made using scarab wings.
On its recently revamped website, in the “tomorrow” section, Swiss independent watch brand Louis Moinet writes: “A meteorite unique in the world has just landed in the Ateliers Louis Moinet, more than 150 years after its discovery. This extraterrestrial material will be the heroine of a one-of-a-kind creation telling a truly extraordinary story.” The thing is, if you know the Louis Moinet brand, you know that this extraterrestrial material really will be the envy of every wrist when it is rolled into some fabulous new Louis Moinet watch. Just one look at the brand’s existing timepieces that utilize everything from meteorites to fossilized bones and trees, proves this. Another body of proof: the Memoris Scarab Wings watch.
The vibrant 18-karat rose gold watch with green dial features an inset hours/minutes subsidiary dial at 6:00 that is made using scarab wings. The scarab, in ancient Egypt, was considered the incarnation of the sun god, who was reborn every morning. It was a respected beetle by the Egyptians, who carved statues of the scarab.
No scarabs were killed for the making of this dial, which retains the luminous green quality of the Indonesian scarab.
To create this dial, Louis Moinet uses scarab wings from expired beetles (no scarabs are killed for this watch) and creates a marquetry composed of 12 Indonesian Sternocera Aequisignata scarab beetle elytra elements. This particular beetle has an exceptional brilliant green metallic color that Louis Moinet works to preserve and honor.
The one-of-a-kind open-worked chronograph watch pays tribute to the brand’s first chronograph. After all, Louis Moinet invented the chronograph in 1816. The complicated single-pusher column-wheel chronograph watch has a complex movement that consists of 500 individually polished and finished parts. The first Memoris was released in 2016 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first chronograph. The Memoris has been recreated with a host of different materials, including Gibeon meteorite. This Scarab edition, though, offers bold, naturally occurring color. It retails for 54,000 Swiss Francs.
The dial is marquetry made of 12 scarab wings.
The watches are born of the creative genius, Jean-Marie Schaller, who founded Ateliers Louis Moinet in 2004 to honor the eponymous master watchmaker who lived from 1768 to 1853 and was also a pioneer of very high frequency watch movements. He was a scholar, a painter, a teacher and an author. Louis Moinet today focuses on Cosmic Art and Mechanical Wonders, and has won a host of design and watchmaking awards.
