written by:
the eclecticum

published:
2020-09-07

categories:
4N, Renaud & Papi, snapshot, watches

“Guy’s Eclectic Choice of The Week”: François Quentin’s 4N MVT01 D01 Digital Watch

Photographer Guy Lucas de Peslouan shares his images and thoughts on François Quentin's 4N MVT01 D01, a watch with a kinetic digital time display



A few thoughts by Guy:

The 4N MVT01 D01 watch was created by François Quentin, a French designer who amongst other things designed the first watch of Hautlence. 

The idea of 4N was to have a dynamic digital presentation to read time, using rotating disks driven by a mechanical movement. For this he partnered with APRP (AP Renaud & Papi) to develop an original and fantastic movement with kinetic time disks and 10 days of power reserve.

The animation on the dial is amazing and impressive specially every hour, but also each minute.

The watch is limited to 16 pieces which includes a few unique piece, like a black version or sapphire box version. 


Additional context by the eclecticum:

When we met François Quentin in Geneva 2013 for the first time, we were quite taken by the mechanics of this piece: the carefully poised disks orchestrated by fixed ring gear at the center, jumping after they accumulated the required energy over time – to minimise impact on rate – and the 10 days power reserve.



The design was quite fresh at its time – the boxed shape, the unusual crown positions, and the semi-openworked bridges also on the front.

Yet we never quite warmed to it – it lacked the refined wrist-fit we noticed with similar shaped MB&F cases, for example, and we missed also a compelling reason for the boldness of the design.

That of course is our personal opinion only, and should for sure not distract from the mechanical ingenuity of watch.

the eclecticum

More “Guy´s Eclectic Choices of The Week” you will find here, every Monday.

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