SpotlightLife In Technicolour: Introducing The Vivid New Maurice Lacroix Aikon Master Grand Date Technicolour
Four vibrant, summer-ready Aikon Master Grand Date Technicolour timepieces are an exemplary example of how Maurice Lacroix meld fine watchmaking with fun aesthetics
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Marrying their Masterpiece collection, which highlights quality Swiss watchmaking, with their Aikon line—dedicated to sporty, urban and functional timepieces—Maurice Lacroix first introduced the Aikon Master Grand Date in 2021. Last year, they followed through with a stunning all-black version. This year, the Swiss watchmaking brand release four new variants of the Aikon Master Grand Date Technicolour, in bright, beautiful, ‘flashy summer colours’, offset by the darkened manufacture movement. With an off-centred, coloured timekeeping sub-dial, and skeletonised inset below, the large-format date indication gets pride of place between 10 and 11 o’clock on the dial. The highlight of this watch, though, is the open-worked flying balance wheel placed between six and nine o’clock, showcasing Maurice Lacroix’s watchmaking prowess.
The Flashy New Summer Hues Of The Grand Date Technicolour
In hues of bright blue, green, yellow and orange, the timekeeping dial is decorated like the brand’s Aikon automatic timepieces—with the embossed clous de Paris pattern, which brings out the bright colours quite beautifully, adding overall depth and dimension to the watch. Facetted hour markers and timekeeping hands are coated with Super-LumiNova, aiding legibility, while the minute track around is in the same colour as the patterned dial.
Right under this coloured timekeeping dial sits the open-worked small seconds sub-dial with numbers marked in intervals of 10 in a matching coloured ring. Here, the small seconds hand—also in the colours of the dial—is tipped with a ‘splash of red’. The double date disc features the eponymous Grand Date, also in the colours of the timekeeping dial.
A Peek At The Seriousness—The Grand Date Technicolour Movement
Flying under the sapphire crystal glass is the large balance wheel and skeletonised balance bridge between six and nine o’clock, cleverly displaying the ‘seriousness’ of the timepiece, while also highlighting the fun that comes with the flashy, summer-coloured dial. The canvas on which these elements come together is a contemporary 45mm black DLC (diamond-like carbon) sandblasted and polished stainless steel case, which houses the brand’s automatic manufacture movement ML331—first seen in the 2021 Aikon Master Grand Date—also visible through the exhibition caseback on these new Technicolour variants.
These new Master Grand Date Technicolour timepieces feature the Aikon line’s instantly-recognisable arms on the bezel and the shortened lugs that heighten ergonomics and also integrate with the strap. The timepieces come mounted on matching electric blue, green, yellow or orange rubber straps and an alternate, more subdued black one. Muting the strap’s tone may actually brighten the pop of the dial’s hue. With the Maurice Lacroix logo embossed on the strap, the strap is also equipped with the brand’s easy-change system, which allows the wearer to switch easily between straps, without extra tools.
Against the black of the rest of the watch, these four bright new colours in the Aikon Master Grand Date Technicolour all but scream ‘fun’. While previous versions of this, partially open-worked timepiece were more subdued, highlighting the stunning manufacture movement, these new models showcase the brand’s livelier, contemporary, urban persona.
