Maurice Lacroix Aikon Mercury
Maurice Lacroix presents a new timepiece that unites the brand’s tradition of unique innovation with a contemporary, urban aesthetic. Presenting the AIKON Mercury, the first watch in the sports elegance collection of Maurice Lacroix to embody the spirit of the emblematic Masterpiece fine timepieces with a world premiere and patented display that embodies the complex nature of time.
At first glance, the AIKON Mercury appears to be a normal watch, with central hours and minutes and small seconds at the six o’clock position. With the slightest tilt, however, the hour and minute hands spin freely, abandoning their chronometric duties. Hold the AIKON Mercury upright, and the hands fall back and give correct time.
The patented mechanism behind this innovative display took 3 years to develop and perfect in the manufacture facilities of Maurice Lacroix in Saignelégier. This location, at the heart of the Swiss Jura that forms the supply lifeline of the Swiss watch industry, has enabled Maurice Lacroix to develop and premiere some of the most creative expressions of timekeeping seen in recent years, such as the Masterpiece Roue Carrée, with its interlocking eccentric gears, and the Masterpiece Mysterious Seconds.
The AIKON Mercury combines an unprecedented “free hand” system that works with natural forces of gravity to read and display time from a double snail-cam mechanism hidden beneath the dial.
One snail cam is associated with the display of hours, making one complete rotation every 12 hours, while the other is associated with the display of minutes and rotates once every 60 minutes. When the wearer turns his wrist to look at the watch (A), with its movement perpendicular to the ground, gravity acts on two weighted levers, pulling them into contact with the snail cams. Dictated by the continuous rotating snail cams, the levers then drive the hour and minute hands to indicate the correct time.
When the wearer leaves the upright position (B), hands follow a mercurial pattern before falling to gravity. The mechanism still computes in the background, ready to give back the correct time when A is triggered by the position of the wrist.
Technical details
Model: AIKON Mercury
Movement
Calibre ML225, in-house developed and patented time memory module on self-winding base; hours, minutes and small hacking seconds; 4Hz (28,800vph); 54 jewels; 38-hours power reserve
Case
Stainless steel; 44mm; 10ATM water resistance
Dial
Skeleton design; sapphire-crystal layer with hour markers and small seconds counter
Glass
Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating; transparent case-back in sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating
Strap
Five-link stainless steel bracelet interchangeable with Alligator leather strap with M logo and folding buckle
