What is MCT Watches? It is synonymous with Haute Horlogerie. It means that writing and talking about this maison means entering a whole new chapter of Swiss watchmaking, a chapter not interested in showcasing big earnings but mostly in realizing the quintessential complicated timepiece, one destined to attract the connoisseurs’ attention. A watch that is handmade, in a very limited number, just like Italian haute couture.
MCT Watches are a manufacture that has conceived, developed and realized an extraordinarily innovative visualization of time, using modern technology, the best of traditional high-end watchmaking expertise and creating what may regarded as not just watches but veritable “time machines”. Watches that capture the very essence of time and that consider traditional watchmaking and hour visualization as something to be dismissed.
The MCT Sequential Two S200 is the second step in the development of MCT Watches’ trademark: digital hour visualization via high-end micromechanics. At Baselworld the MCT Sequential Two S200 was the leading light at the MCT Watches’ booth, representing for the first time an innovative mechanism based on a four triangular prisms architecture, each carrying three hours, encased in a round case. If the press images used for our preview post were eloquent, rest assured that the actual timepiece is absolutely stunning.
I saw the entire MCT Watches line up and went through all the design steps, from early models to their first ever round case timepiece. The round case creates a strong geometric contrast with the innovative hour switching mechanism, generating an amazing optical illusion that focuses your attention on the interior mechanism. This effect is enhanced by the glass which extends up to the edge of the round case, which is 44,6mm wide, made out of rose or white gold, and is so strongly cambered that you almost feel you can touch the four prisms with your fingertips.
The brand logo, which is here and there on dial, crown and bridges (ndr one is missing on both protos as they are the very first ones made) is somewhat redundant, for this architecture is so unique you immediately associate it with MCT Watches. The MCT Sequential Two S200 is powered by an automatic calibre which is fully developed and made in-house, uses a 18 carat gold micro-rotor and has a balance wheel that vibrates at 2,5Hz. It sports an alligator strap with the sturdy MCT logo on the folding buckle. Once on your wrist the MCT Sequential Two S200 is just sensational. And if you were as eager as I was to appreciate it, just pull out the crown, rotate it clockwise and see the prisms, central minutes and disc come to life, creating the kind of magic that I will not be able to experience again until next year, at Baselworld 2015.
Photo credit: courtesy of MCT Watches; Horbiter®'s proprietary photo-shooting)
Gaetano C. @Horbiter®
