Recognized as the world’s premier charity timepiece auction, Only Watch will be conducted by the watch auctioneers, Antiquorum. With this innovative model, the Manufacture Maurice Lacroix has gone one step further, setting a new benchmark in its exploration of new and original ways of expressing the passage of time.

The brand sincerely trusts that this will provide additional inspiration in finding innovative new ways of combating and ultimately eradicating this terrible disease.

Captivating, exceptional, and every bit as mysterious as its name implies, the Masterpiece Seconde Mystérieuse features the revolutionary ADLC (amorphous diamond-like carbon) treatment on its case, bridges, mainplate, skeletonized dial, crown and buckle. This cutting-edge mix of hydrogen and carbon atoms is used to endow almost any surface with some of diamond’s most valuable properties including low friction, high chemical inertness and bio-compatibility. Its production process involves a “hail” of projectiles resulting in accelerated nanoscale reproductions of the combined heat and pressure that produce natural and synthetic diamond. Moreover, its amorphous structure avoids any brittle fracture planes and ensures a truly flexible coating that molds the underlying shape while remaining as hard as a diamond.

The vast range of applications for this exceptional material include the tooling and automotive industries as well as the medical field. Its use on this truly unique model lends a particularly powerful high-tech aura that perfectly complements the overall stealth- type visual effect based on suggestion rather than overstatement. The distinctive design details combine to convey a decidedly subtle approach in line with the principles of discretion and elusiveness that ensure this model lives up to its name.

The hands of the Masterpiece Seconde Mystérieuse are black gold-toned, while the “mysterious seconds’ disc” is in black and the indications are light grey and black. The off-centered hours and minutes dial is engraved and free of any numerals. All elements, including the case, bezel and dial, are sand-blasted, while the rotor of the automatic winding system equipping calibre ML 215 and visible through the sapphire case-back is also ADLC treated. An engraving on the rotor reads “ONLY WATCH 2013 – PIECE UNIQUE 1/1”.

The driving force behind this work of art is calibre ML 215, the twelfth 100% in-house development by Maurice Lacroix, offering a unique and exclusive linear reading of seconds, alternating from a horizontal to a vertical axis every 15 seconds. To mark the birth of this innovative movement, Maurice Lacroix naturally wished to create a setting that did it full justice. The result is a stunningly finished and perfectly balanced 43mm case, with a skeletonized face revealing the movement’s intricacies topped by the offset hours and minutes dial.