The Mosaïque by Barbier-Mueller is one of the 40 interesting watches that are going to be auctioned off for charity at the upcoming Only Watch 2017 event, a timepiece that manages to stand out of a crowd due to the simple fact that it bears the name of a prominent family in Geneva, famous for their eponymous museum of tribal and primitive art.
The Barbier-Mueller Museum in Geneva displays a world class collection of over 7,000 objects, among which you could also find the masks with which Vacheron Constantin created the miniatures found on the wonderful Metiers d’Art Les Masques quartet.
On the other hand, Stéphane Barbier-Mueller is an accomplished collector, particularly of historical European coins, as well as very special F.P. Journe wrist watches – the source of inspiration for this ravishing watch.
Mosaïque is actually an F.P. Journe timepiece, based on the Chronometre Souverain, with the same impressive hand-wound cal. 1304 found inside the Chronometre Souverain and now housed within a unique 41 mm case. Inspired by Eastern mosaics, the case is tiled with four colors of jasper – red, black, white and green – on its sides, back and even the top of the crown.
The gold surface of the case has been engraved with over 130 stone inlays and the special mosaic dial, or the solid gold hour and minute hands can’t be ignored either. Originally conceived as a limited edition of 10 watches, only two examples of Mosaïque were produced to date, which is why the Mosaïque carries an estimate of $115,000 to $208,000 – we’ll find out for how much it will sell on November 11th, 2017.
