The Tourbillon Casino de Monte Carlo features a
hand-engraved, three-level dial.
Tell us about Ateliers DeMonaco’s newer pieces?
Pim Koeslag
The new Monte Carlo piece presents the link we have with Monaco, but
it also represents what we want to create. This example is a unique piece.
The level of art and craftsmanship is really crazy. If you look at the dial, has
the image of the Casino of Monte Carlo. This is fully hand engraved on an
18-karat gold dial. And the dial is actually three different dial pieces on top
of each other. We start with three dials and then cut everything out. Then
we hand engrave it. And then we assemble. It creates a lot of depth on the
watch—the dial takes 200 hours of craftsmanship.
One of our most important pieces this year is our Geneva Seal watch. We
introduced the first Geneva Seal watch a couple of years ago. The Gene va
Seal remains such a high-quality hallmark, and we are only the fifth brand
to obtain the Seal. Also, our steel chronograph is our new entry-level
model. The price point is $13,500, and its cased with a type of steel that’s
five times as hard as typical steel. It’s 1200 Vickers, which basically cannot
be scratched. In twenty years it will look exactly as it does today.
Does Ateliers DeMonaco do much custom work?
Ateliers DeMonaco
Ronde de Monte Carlo
with Tanzanite set into
flower shape.
Yes. That’s has become a large part of our sales. The Tourbillon Casino of
Monte Carlo is something that really shows what we can make. We have
sold many unique pieces. We created a watch for the Princess of Monaco,
called the Mermaid, which is her nickname because she was an Olympic
swimmer. The flower inside the watch is a Protea, inspired by her since she
comes from South Africa. The flower is the national flower of South Africa.
In another custom piece, the person wanted us to use Tanzanite in it, so
we made a special version in Tanzanite. We pre-cut the stones, took a plane
to visit the customer at her house and then we matched the color of the
stones to her jewelry. This is what she wanted, and we created the watch.
Some of these custom watches we make public and others
remain private.
Where can our readers find Ateliers DeMonaco
watches?
We have retail partners in the United States (Little Treasury, Gambills, MD,
J.B. Hudson in Minneapolis, and Madison Jewelers in New York City) and we
are in discussions with another potential partner. This fall we visited many
customers across the United States. Since we have a limited production of
about 150 pieces per year, these sorts of events are perfect for us. For them
it’s very nice. Not too often does a watch company CEO and designer and
watchmaker –all one person in our case– visit with them to discuss
the watches.
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