Emmanuel Bouchet’s Complication One

By Kristen Shirley

Having spent his career creating significant timepieces for some of watchmaking’s best-known brands, including designing Harry Winston’s Opus 12, Emmanuel Bouchet recently launched his eponymous brand with one timepiece. And when it’s this special, one is enough, at least for now.

Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One with blue PVD Coating

It takes just a quick look to realize that this is a special timepiece. Visually stunning, the dial showcases a new way to tell time. Taking a tour around the dial, there are three sapphire discs with different functions. At 12 o’clock is the larger seconds disc with a sweeping hand, which hovers above a day/night indicator visible through the disc. At 4 o’clock is a minutes disc. Here, Bouchet uses two hands to indicate the minutes. The longer jumping hand is for single minutes and the shorter jumping retrograde hand is for tens of minutes. At 8 o’clock there is a jumping hour.

With a movement this unique, it’s no surprise that Bouchet created every piece in the EB-1963 movement, all the way down to the screws, specifically for the Complication One timepiece. Only 100 pieces will ever be made, and the pictured blue PVD coated version is limited to 10 pieces.

And if you want an even more exclusive timepiece, be sure to check out Christies’ Important Watches auction in Dubai on October 19. Bouchet has created a pièce unique with a lapis lazuli dial for the auction, which is held at Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel. It is estimated to sell between $50,000-$100,000.