Monochrome Watches
An online magazine dedicated to fine watches
Women’s Watch Wednesday

Claude Meylan Tortue Lady “La Pointe de Sable”

A stylish tonneau-shaped watch for women fascinated by true mechanics and skeleton movements.

calendar | ic_dehaze_black_24px By Xavier Markl | ic_query_builder_black_24px 1 min read |

Specialized in skeletonized watches, Claude Meylan is an independent watchmaker based in the Vallée de Joux, in l’Abbaye, to be precise. The brand’s latest women’s watch is a special edition of its Tortue collection named “Pointe de Sable”. This stylish creation stands out with is openwork movement fully decorated by Philippe Narbel, a watchmaker and craftsman also based in the Vallée de Joux. Its movement and dial are engraved with a representation of La Pointe de Sable, a romantic sandy beach on the “Lac de Joux”.

Fashioned out of stainless steel, the 31mm tonneau-shaped case has elegant and delicate curves. In its heart beats the richly decorated skeletonized calibre 7.75CM17, fully exposing its mechanics. This automatic movement is an extensively modified ETA 2671. In particular, the hours, minutes and seconds indication is off-centred and the central oscillating weight has been replaced by an elegantly engraved micro-rotor located at 6 o’clock. Beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour, it boasts a 38-hour power reserve.

The mainplate, bridges and other components have been hollowed out, meticulously engraved and decorated. The movement is inverted plunging you into the heart of the mechanism and allowing you to admire the micro-rotor and balance wheel on the dial side.

The other side of the movement of this Claude Meylan Tortue Lady “La Pointe de Sable” also reveals a beautiful execution, with nicely shaped bridges that are finished in an elegant way. The bridges are straight grained with hand-polished bevels and manual engravings. Altogether, the execution is very pleasant and delicate.

The Claude Meylan Tortue Lady “La Pointe de Sable” is presented on a white satin strap with a steel pin buckle. Price is set at CHF 15,500. For more information, please visit www.claudemeylan.ch.

https://mowa.dev/claude-meylan-tortue-lady-la-pointe-de-sable-review-price/

4 responses

  1. Why did they feel the need to print the water resistance on the sapphire caseback?

  2. This is actually very nice. I only recently learned of CM’s existence and very nearly bought one of their pieces, but as I had no idea who they were I did not. Can the bods at monochrome offer any opinion on value/quality?

  3. Philippe Belais, the owner of the brand is a friendly, passionate, straightforward person that seems to enjoy doing things his way. CM is a niche indie watchmaker, quite atypical (but that’s probably what it takes to run an indie brand) with different types of products ranging from these skeletonized Tortues to refurbished vintage Valjoux chronographs or more creative special editions… I suppose the appreciation of their different watches is very much a matter of personal taste. I think the Tortue Lady watches are really nice. And I like their refurbished chronograph movements too.

  4. So, definitely legit and they give a damn.
    That’s good enough for me!
    Thanks Xavy. 😉

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