La Clef du Temps

The mechanism

The sophisticated mechanism allows the wearer to “modulate the speed of time” by simply operating a three-position crown placed at 9 o’clock and serving to alter the running speed of the hours and the minutes.

With the crown in position 1, the pace of time is doubled (so a standard half-hour becomes a full hour on the dial of “La Clef du Temps”); when the crown is in position 2, the pace of time remains the same (i.e. one hour remains one hour); and with the crown in position 3, the pace of time slows by half (so that the value of one normal hour is displayed as a half-hour on the dial of “La Clef du Temps”).

The mechanical memory of the watch allows its time indications to remain in positions 1 or 3 as long as its wearer wishes, since simply returning the crown to position 2 resets the hour and the minute hand to the real time of day.

Dial information: hours and minutes off-centred, special “pace-of-time” at 10 o’clock, retrograding running 30-seconds-counter at 4 o’clock and a power-reserve indication (PRI) shown on a 120° indicator at 8 o’clock.