journal - Louis Moinet

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04: 2014 | W A T C H J O U R N A L . com
the watch magazine redefined
style
The polished
platinum case holds a
thick Plexiglas crystal
in a nod to history.
OFFICINE PANERAI RADIOMIR 1940
CHRONOGRAPH PLATINO (PAM 518)
APRIL 2014
Display until 05/19/14
+
Five Minutes with...
SCOTT DIXON | THE I RL CHAMP AND HIS D RI V I NG PASSI ON
text by: Keith W. Strandberg
2013 IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon is no stranger to success. He has been a
“It’s a lot of fun to
be involved in the
creation of a watch
and have input into
the design.”
champion at every level of open wheel racing. With three championships in all and an Indy 500 win (in 2008), the New
Zealand–born driver is considered the most successful competitor in the Indy Racing League. And, over time, Dixon has
become an ardent watch lover.
— Scott Dixon
ACCELERATION
Louis Moinet Scott Dixon
chronograph in its box
COLLABORATION
Dixon has collaborated with
060
04:2014 | W A T C H J O U R N A L . com
louismoinet.com
1 1,9 0 0
+
h, $
high-end Swiss watchmaker
Louis Moinet on a special
edition two-pusher chronograph (limited to 365 pieces)
bearing his name, and he was
wearing one when we did this
interview. The project came
about through a personal contact: Dixon’s manager is good
friends with Louis Moinet
president Jean-Marie Schaller,
and they decided to produce a
watch together.
“It’s been a blast working
with Louis Moinet, and I absolutely love the watch,” Dixon
says. “It’s a lot of fun to be
involved in the creation of a
watch and have input into the
design. In the future, I could
see doing watches with specific
functions that I would use, both
in and out of the car.”
So, in addition to watching
Dixon on track, we may soon
be watching this champ’s watch
designing career gaining speed.
ra p
most important factor in racing.
“Time is how we are measured,”
he explains. “It’s all about getting around the lap the quickest
and finishing the race quickest. Everything is down to the
1,000th of a second, and the
competition is fierce.”
“When I am in the middle
of a race, I receive updates
every three corners about how
my lap is going, and I have a
digital read-out in the car,” he
continues. “Some of the changes we can make, dampers or
aerodynamics, can make the
car quicker in the straights but
not as quick in the corners, so
I need to be constantly aware
of how the lap is going. Some
drivers don’t use this kind of
read-out, because it can be
distracting—they might push
harder and get reckless if they
are losing too much time.”
og
while driving competitively in
IRL races (watches and jewelry
are deemed too dangerous in
the event of a crash or a fire).
But he often wears a watch
when he is racing in other
events. “During the 24 Hours of
Daytona, for example, I wore a
watch, and I looked at it often,
because I wanted to have a
sense of where I was in the 24
hours,” he points out. Not surprisingly, for Dixon, time is the
on
TIME ON TRACK
Because it’s against the rules,
Dixon doesn’t wear a watch
Dixon on track
for Target Chip
Ganassi Racing
hr
“When I first started making
any kind of money in racing, I
bought a Rolex Daytona. It was
an easy choice because it’s an
iconic watch that has meaning
for me as a racing driver,” Dixon
explains. “Over the years, I
eventually graduated to harderto-find pieces, like some of the
limited Panerai pieces. Today,
I have about 35 or 40 watches,
some of which I keep in their
boxes as collectibles. At some
point, though, I will probably
end up wearing them.” True to
his nature as an athlete, Dixon
prefers sporty watches. “I like
chronographs,” he confirms.
“And I don’t have any leather
strap watches—for me, a rubber
strap has become the norm.”
T he L
o uis M oi ne t S
co
ix
tt D
on
c
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WATCH JOURNAL REVIEW
REWARDING ENDEAVOR | INTERNATIONAL CHRONOMETRY COMPETITION ANNOUNCES WINNERS
TEXT BY: KEITH W. STRANDBERG
Chronometry paired with competition—it’s an old idea
that is making a comeback but not without both resistance and controversy. The
modern, biennial International Chronometry Competition introduced by the Musée
d’Horlogerie du Locle in 2009 puts entered timepieces through a tortuous program
of testing in an effort to identify the best timekeepers being produced today.
WINNERS’ CIRCLE
CLASSIC CATEGORY:
FIRST PLACE: Tissot
Concours Calibre A86.502
SECOND PLACE: Tissot
Concours Calibre A86.501
The testing involves three
rounds of measurements carried out in the laboratories of
the Besançon Observatory in
France and the Swiss Official
Chronometer Testing Institute in Biel, Switzerland. The
watches also undergo exposure
to severe magnetic fields and
shocks at the Haute École Arc
in Neuchâtel, Switzerland,
before the final round of timekeeping measurements.
To put this in perspective,
both the current COSC certification for chronometer precision
and the prestigious Geneva Seal
certification involve only one
round of testing. The International Chronometry Competition requires that a watch meets
the international chronometer
standard three times in succes-
sion, the third time after exposure to intense shocks and magnetic fields. Also, the watches
are not allowed to be adjusted at
any time after they are submitted to the competition.
With such stringent criteria,
it’s no wonder that participation
is a hard sell. Of all the watchmakers in the world, only 17
participated in the latest edition
of the competition, entering
a total of 38 watches into the
contest’s three categories: Classic (for non-tourbillon watches),
Tourbillon, and School (for
watches produced by students).
By design, the International
Chronometry Competition
is extremely difficult to win,
and any watches that survive
the competition are to be applauded. The winners were an-
nounced on October 24, 2013.
In the Classic category, of the
20 pieces entered, 12 of them
passed all three tests. In the
tourbillon category, there were
seven entries, and a tourbillon
by Les Ateliers L. Leroy was
the only survivor; the others
could not withstand the ordeal
of shocks and magnetism. And
out of 12 entries in the School
category, two were successful. (It
is worth noting that the last time
the contest was held, no school
entries passed all the tests.)
“I think the competition
sets a good benchmark,” says
Jean-Marie Schaller, president,
Louis Moinet, which took the
third-place prize in the Classic
category. “The chronometry
competitions that were held
decades and centuries before
From left: Tissot Concours Calibre A86.502, L. Leroy Osmior Tourbillon Régulateur, Louis Moinet Mecanograph
098
04:2014 | W A T C H J O U R N A L . C O M
THIRD PLACE:
Louis Moinet Mecanograph
TOURBILLON CATEGORY:
FIRST PLACE:
Les Ateliers L. Leroy
SCHOOL CATEGORY:
FIRST PLACE:
Mathieu Douik
SECOND PLACE:
Maxime Bettinelli
were standards of excellence,
and they were taken seriously
by watchmakers.”
Given the number of watches
that fail, should the criteria be
relaxed? Competition organizers don’t think so. Some makers
will opt not to participate
because they don’t want to
lose, but that’s something the
International Chronometry
Competition is willing to accept
in order to keep its standards
high. This way, a win is really
something worth celebrating.
“The big names from
historical chronometry
championships, brands
like Longines, Zenith and
Rolex, should come back,”
Schaller comments. “There
are many awards around the
world, but this one is based
on technology. I hope that
more companies come into
it and take it seriously.” The
deadline for submissions
in the next International
Chronometry Competition is
January 31, 2015.
concourschronometrie.org