Although fully engraved cases and bracelets have a long and illustrious history in the world of watch customization, very few fully engraved designs have ever been created by the watch brands themselves. Maurice Lacroix is the latest brand to step into this bold visual space, collaborating with renowned Parisian parkour expert Simon Noguiera to create a deeply textured and complex design for its cornerstone integrated bracelet. The limited edition Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe gives the Aikon line a more vibrant street-inspired character while containing an impressive amount of surface detail.
The 42mm stainless steel case of the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe is undoubtedly the most striking element of the model. Instead of the standard Aikon mix of brushed and polished surfaces, nearly every surface of this elegant integrated bracelet is adorned with a skillfully laser-engraved tribal pattern. With repeating zigzag textures, concentric circles, stripes, and more, the intricate engraved texture appears vibrant and dynamic in images, reminiscent of patterns on a traditional West African dashiki shirt. Even the signature Aikon bezel claws participate in this design, with deep vertical stripes along their top surfaces. With such a complex and predominantly matte texture covering most of the case, polished segments like the sharply angled bezel sides and the case's side chamfer become important visual breaks in the images, preventing the angular profile of the watch from getting lost in the pattern. Like the standard Aikon model, the Aikon Urban Tribe features a sapphire caseback and a water resistance of 200 meters.
If the case of the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe aims for vibrant complexity, the dial instead embraces clean simplicity. It is virtually identical to the black dial of the standard Aikon model, except for the polished black logo at 12 o'clock in the initial images. The signature Clous de Paris guilloche pattern still adorns the Aikon dial, adding a luxurious texture and a more dynamic character to the minimal combination of pencil hands and applied indices. However, as with the standard model, the use of a white date wheel at the 3 o'clock position creates a noticeable visual hole in the dial.
Like the standard Aikon model, the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe uses the automatic ML115 movement based on the Sellita SW200-1. The ML115 movement is beautifully decorated for this application: perlage, snail patterns, and Geneva stripes on the bridges of the movement, along with a rotor engraved with an intricate tribal pattern. The specifications of the ML115 model are identical to the standard SW2000-1 model: a power reserve of 38 hours at a frequency of 28,800 beats per hour. The integrated stainless steel bracelet of the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe with five links, whose shape flows into the lines of the case, continues the engraved pattern of the case. This complex texture should make the Aikon Urban Tribe bracelet significantly less reflective on the wrist than its regular production counterpart, but the polished edges of each link are likely to allow for a more subtle play of light.
Perhaps it is not the brand's most revolutionary release in recent years, but the engraved texture of the limited edition Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe is one of the most unorthodox and eye-catching riffs on the established Aikon formula. Only 500 pieces of the Maurice Lacroix Aikon Urban Tribe will be released, and the watch is already available through official dealers at a price of $2,150 USD.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS - MAURICE LACROIX AIKON URBAN TRIBE
Case: 42mm diameter x 11mm height - engraved stainless steel case - sapphire crystals front and back - screw-down crown - 200m water resistance
Dial: black sunray dial with Clous de Paris pattern, silver-colored applied markers and hands with Super-LumiNova luminous coating
Movement: Caliber ML115 (based on Sellita SW200-1) - automatic - 26.5mm x 4.6mm - 4Hz - 38-hour power reserve - 26 jewels - hours, minutes, seconds, and date
Bracelet: engraved stainless steel bracelet, folding clasp - easy change system
Reference: AI6008-SS009-330-1
Availability: Limited to 500 pieces. Available for pre-order in August 2021
Price: 1,990 EUR