Velours is a delightfully gentle new version of Margot which is Christophe Claret’s first ladies’ watch complication.The strap now appears clothed in velvet-touch blue alligator leather that feels like a second skin. Soft, noble, silky and timeless, velvet is synonymous with luxury, chic and good taste. Margot Velours now reveals a dark blue mother-of-pearl dial framed by grain setting on its bezel and lugs. This particular technique uses stones of an intermediate size compared with the two settings on the previous Margot versions. Three pear-shaped diamonds indicating 3, 6 and 9 o’clock add infuse the scene with a sense of poetry.

Just like the first editions of Margot, the Velours edition features an ingenious mechanism that helps to ‘predict’ – or at least tries to – one of nature’s paramount questions: “Does he love me?” A simple press of the pusher at 2 o’clock brings the watch to life. With each press, a petal – sometimes a pair of petals, it is impossible to foresee – subtly disappears under the dial in a smooth action, perfectly depicting the delicate undressing of the flower. The eagerly-awaited answer appears at random in calligraphic letters (in French) on the dial at 4 o’clock: Un peu (a little) – beaucoup (a lot) – passionnément (passionately) – à la folie (madly) – pas du tout (not at all)?

At each press of the pusher, a distinct, crystalline chime resonates, aurally signaling the pace of the game.

The display back reveals the automatic winding rotor, a delicately carved, flower-shaped carrousel of colors symbolizing sentiments of love, with a central cabochon concealing the rotor’s ball bearings. Each one of the eight resplendent triangular precious stones denote a feeling – hope, passion, tenderness… Which one will line up with the red-lacquered heart when the flower halts its waltz?

Technical specifications

Movement
Caliber:  EMT17, automatic-winding
Dimensions:  Diameter: 38.4 mm, Height: 9.76 mm 
Number of components:  731
Number of jewels:  95
Power reserve
72 hours
Two barrels
Escapement
Swiss lever
Frequency:  4 Hz (28,800 vph)
Case
Dimensions:  Ø42.50 x 14.52 mm
Water resistance:  3 ATM / 30 m / 100 ft

Material

Case
White gold and slate blue PVD-treated grade 5 titanium, bead-set 64 diamonds, 4.60 carats
Dial
Dark blue mother-of-pearl
White gold prong-set with pear-shaped diamonds
Hands
Steel with blued tips
Pushers
White gold
Strap
Blue alligator, velvet look
Stainless steel screws, set with diamonds

Functions

• Hour and minutes
  
• “He loves me... he loves me not” (“Effeuiller la marguerite” in French)
• Symbolic ‘colour-feeling’ on the winding rotor

Distinctive features

• 12 "He loves me…he loves me not” petals to ‘pick off’
• ‘Sentiment’ displayed in window at 4 o’clock: un peu(a little), beaucoup (a lot), passionnément (passionately), à la folie (madly) and pas du tout(not at all)
• Pusher at 2 o’clock ’picks off’ one or two petals while advancing the ‘Sentiment’ indicator by one sentiment
• Striking chime at each action of the 2 o’clock pusher with a visible hammer at 8 o’clock
• "He loves me… loves me not” reset pusher at 4 o’clock: all the petals instantly reappear around a pistil, while the ‘Sentiment’ displayed in the window at 4 o’clock turns to an ellipsis (…)

Pricing

CHF 198,000 White Gold Case, 64 Diamonds (4.6 carats)
20-piece limited series