BASELNEWS 2011The Hublot Masterpiece MP-02 Key of Time
The MASTERPIECE collection is dedicated to complication watches and extraordinary movements, which are the fruit of cutting-edge research in the field of mechanics and engineering. The appearance of this new collection was made possible by Hublot reinforcing its manufacture's workforce in 2010 with a team of 30 staff of the highest level, entirely dedicated to Grand Complications.
The first piece in this collection, the MP-01, was presented in January 2011. It was a barrel-shaped titanium watch with a shaped chronograph movement offering a 10-day power reserve thanks to its three barrels working in series, and produced in a series of just 100 pieces.
The MP-02 Key of Time
With the advent of digital civilisation, the abundance of information has in a sense taken over from material abundance. In today's world with all these sources, not always legitimately ordered, we are faced with a constant barrage of information. We go from fascination to concern, from joy to disappointment or to sadness within a fraction of a second… In this limitless abundance, what is the ultimate intangible object, the one becoming ever scarcer? It is Time itself. Often defined as the true luxury of our age, time remains no less an abstraction: sometimes passing too quickly…. sometimes never-ending….
What if a watch, by means of its mechanics, gave you the ability to manage the passing of time as you wished? To really manage your own time? The mechanism driving the MP-02 Key of Time, thanks to a three-position crown, enables you to “modulate” the speed at which the hours and minutes pass, according to your wishes.
Position 1
If you want to savour every second of the passing of time: you can slow down the speed of the watch hands, dividing time by 4, whereby 1 conventional hour is represented as quarter of an hour on the MP-02 Key of Time display.
Position 2
If you want “real” time: select normal hand speed, to retain “standard” time, whereby one conventional hour equates to one hour on the MP-02 Key of Time.
Position 3
If you want time to pass quicker: you can accelerate the hand speed, multiplying time by four, whereby a conventional quarter of an hour is represented as one hour on the MP-02 Key of Time Key of Time display.
Hence with Key of Time, the wearer can make happy moments last four times longer or make difficult moments four times shorter, while retaining the option to “return” to real time at any moment. Three different indicators in a star arrangement on the dial each indicate the current speed of time, to avoid any confusion. You can leave this complex mechanism in position 1 or 3 indefinitely, and then, simply by returning it to position 2, watch the hands readjust to conventional time display. This performance is made possible by a genuine “mechanical memory” built into the movement. In addition to this exceptional complication, the MP-02 Key of Time boasts a vertical flying tourbillon cage, with the particularity of a seconds indicator on its edge.
All informations about the watch fair: BASELWORLD