We carried the early release news of the Sylvian Pinaud Monopoussoir Chronograph in these pages as news broke about this new, talented young watchmaker. Here we share the high resolution photographs of the watch.
Photo rich article, with personal thoughts and hands-on insights.
Sylvian Pinaud Monopoussoir Chronograph
We are quite excited about Sylvian Pinaud and his work in the Monopoussoir Chronograph. This watch is a compelling persuasion to support the work of a single watchmaker, working alone, making almost the complete watch by hand. True, in this case, he starts with a base – the ETA 6497, a donor ebauche which is almost completely stripped to the base and reconstructed and rebuilt with new chronograph works into the monopusher.
He also made the bridges, the mainplate, the winding system and balance wheel which were completely rebuilt and manufactured to fully integrate the chronograph. In the prototype, a few parts were manufactured by CNC, but the vast majority were handmade and with conventional machines. Tempering, bluing, decoration and polishing, all this is entirely done in the traditional way.
The quality of the work is top grade. So much, that the Chief Editor had to include it as a bonus in his Top Picks from Baselworld 2019.
The quality begins at the drawing board with the design. Every element is carefully thought out. For example, the case is a masterful stroke, which features a raised crystal and inserting a peripheral cylindrical crystal to allow light into the movement, so that it can be viewed more clearly.
The chronograph works is a traditional horizontal clutch system controlled by a column wheel. The column wheel is anchored with its own bridge at 6 on the dial side. And the chronograph fingers from the column wheel are designed to be aesthetically pleasing in shape and form, as well as in the brilliant finishing.
Finishing is very well done. From the anglage, to the straight graining of the bridges. From the hand blued hands to the magnificent black polishing of the chronograph works and the gold chatons which hold the pivots. All are exceptionally well done.
Overall, a sterling package. Aesthetically pleasing, as well as a haute horlogerie finishing. The asking price is perhaps the only deterrent. But not because the watch is any lesser than any other being offered elsewhere. But because Sylvian Pinaud is still an unknown name. And heaven knows if he should succeed, which will make the asking price a bargain. Or if he would fail and disappear into the abyss of watchmaking. Only time will tell. But we are betting on Sylvian to pull this one off.
