The Saskia Maaike Bouvier Equilibre Watch - Conflicting Contrasts, Perfect Parity.
For 2012 Saskia Maaike Bouvier has, along with the acclaimed artist and designer Andre Meyer, created a timepiece of contrasts, no less spiritual than its predecessors - a timepiece which promotes the balance and harmony of the Yin and the Yang, hence its name "Equilibre".
Saskia Maaike Bouvier was our favourite star of Independent Watchmaking in 2010 with her complex yet playful L’Heure d’Eté & d’Hiver dual timezone watch. Her 8 Moons Collection was ingenious and imaginative - a worthy successor. The Equilibre, new for 2012 also features a dual timezone, this time set against a background which is dramatic, yet fragile and delicate.
The dial of the Equilibre features the finely engraved grooves of guilloché to create a "chiaroscuro" effect, cleverly conceived to promote the contrast of light and dark with each subtle wrist movement. A dual time zone enhances not just the complexity of the Equilibre, but also the ethos behind its creation - the perception of the passage of time and it's external influences on our lives - yes, this is a timepiece of contrasts, of conflicting and opposing elements, yet the resulting facade is of perfect parity.
The Equilibre is presented in a 45mm steel case and inside is the SmB 901 automatic movement, hand finished and decorated. Further contrasts are to be found in the icy coolness of a diamond-set bezel and the superb tactile roughness of its "dragon skin" strap.
Saskia Maaike Bouvier is an ACHI candidate, independent master watchmaker, designer, artist and rising star of the watch industry. Having acquired her watchmaking degree in 1997, Saskia worked for some of the watch industry’s major players mainly on research and development of mechanical movements. An independent since 2004, she realised her ambitions to create her own brand of women’s mechanical timepieces, a niche often neglected by luxury watch brands, in 2009.
More information at the watchmaker's official website.
Further reading
The Saskia Maaike Bouvier L’Heure d’Eté & d’Hiver
The Saskia Maaike Bouvier 8 Moons Collection