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Trilobe: French Fine Watchmaking
Bringing the French Renaissance into the watchmaking world, Trilobe has produced timepieces that have defied the conventional norms of displaying time. Founded in 2018 by a young entrepreneur Gautier Massonneau, Trilobe means anything with three lobes which are displayed passionately in their watches.
With years of research and development, the brand launched Les Matinaux, their first timepiece with a wandering time display. A wandering hour is a highly unique and complicated horological complication in which the time is displayed with an hour ring fitted at the peripheral, an off-centre minute disc, and a second disc.
Les Matinaux (French for ‘The Morning Ones’) is a warm tribute to a renowned French poet René Char. Due to its artistic presence and mechanical dexterity, Les Matinaux garnered positive reviews and drew a path for future creations by Massonnaeu.
After the success of Les Matinaux, the second verse of Trilobe’s horological poetry came under the guise of the Nuit Fantastique collection. Inspired by the works of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, this collection defined the postmodern approach towards watchmaking with an abstract form and ingenious function. For its deep-rooted artistic approach, the Nuit Fantastique won the coveted GPHG Petite Aiguille Prize in 2022. Based on this collection is a picturesque motion of time called The Secret; a personalised version of the Nuit Fantastique, which replaces the Clous de Paris dial with a star-spangled one. The time display in these timepieces is a little bit different from its predecessor. The hour disc remained at the perimeter, but the minutes disc was confined to an off-centre aperture with a larger and exposed seconds disc underneath (forming a figure-eight).
Ending its tercet, Trilobe fills its latest collection with nostalgia. Called the Une Folle Journée (French for ‘a wild day’), this line carries traits from Les Matinaux and Nuit Fantastique collections. Conjoining the art of fine watchmaking with its signature designs, the Une Folle Journée displays its in-house X-Centric, an automatic movement powered by a micro-rotor, for the first time. Trilobe offers the Une Folle Journée in four variations, Black, Blue, Dune, and Dune Rose Gold.
The High-Jewellery Saga
After conquering the peaks of aesthetics and mechanics, Trilobe decided to break into the arena of Haute Joaillerie (High Jewellery). One year after releasing the Une Folle Journée, Trilobe decided to beautify the already priceless timepiece with precious stones. Inspired by the Paris Opera House, the three rotating discs are fixed with 150 baguette-cut diamonds. These diamonds were fitted by expert craftsmen from Rue de la Paix which required a complete overhaul of the rings.
To guarantee the reliability and performance of the movement, the X-Centrix movement was constructed from an aluminium-silicon-magnesium alloy instead of titanium. The replacement of titanium was required to compensate for the weight of the diamonds, resulting in better functioning of the movement.
With less than a decade of experience in the watchmaking industry, Trilobe has garnered attention for its unique and innovative timepieces. One such timepiece is the Reconciliation specifically created for Only Watch 2023.
Be it standing out in GPHG or creating timepieces for Only Watch, Trilobe has mastered the art of blending fine watchmaking with innovation.