A watch featuring a hard to find substance tends to appeal to connoisseurs and collectors of fine watches. Luxury watchmaker Louis Moinet has introduced an exclusive limited edition tourbillon-powered timepiece with its dial featuring an extremely rare hand-crafted fragment of the Wabar meteorite that was found in Saudi Arabia’s Rub al Khali desert in 1863.
On discovery, the Wabar meteorite weighed 2,550 kg and it was then acquired by the British Museum who cut it for onward exchange, which is how fragments of the meteorite became available. Currently the pieces of this meteorite can only be viewed at the National Museum of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh – where it is the main exhibit, the British Museum, Chicago, Washington, New York and a few other museumsin Europe.
The Wabar tourbillon comes in a limited edition of twelve pieces and is designed for the discerning fine watch aficionados and collectors. The hand-engraved applique featuring the Wabar meteorite sets off the silvered hour and minute hands as well as the main spring and tourbillon escapement. The stunning 18k white gold case of this masterpiece comprises 50 components including the signature Louis Moinet crown guard.
Ateliers Louis Moinet was founded in Saint-Blaise, Neuchâtel, in 2004. The fully-independent firm was established to honor the memory of Louis Moinet (1768-1853): master watchmaker, certified inventor of the chronograph (1816), and pioneer in the use of very high frequencies (216,000 vibrations per hour).
Today, Ateliers Louis Moinet is perpetuating this legacy. The firm’s timepieces, produced in limited editions only, have won some of the most coveted awards, including a Red Dot Design Award (Best of the Best category), a prize in the International Chronometry Competition, and a recent UNESCO Award of Merit. Louis Moinet creations often make use of unusual materials, such as fossils and meteorites, in a unique creative approach combined with bespoke fine watchmaking complications. The brand’s core values are creativity, exclusivity, art and design.
