The Black Widow collectionBASELWORLD 2011 Preview: Mr Race and the codes of the Black Widow
With Mr Race, Ladoire continues to explore a register rife with danger and seduction. The essence of fine watchmaking is distilled into just 12 pieces that taunt the onlooker to possess them. Arachnoid codes are set against a chili red ground. A hot new addition to the Black Widow saga collection, Mr Race adds a splash of red to the theme of the ensnaring web, adding a competitive, challenging dimension.
The suspense is sustained, faced with the threat of a nameless, potential danger, as fascinating as the risk is compelling. It is for those who want to play with fire, who stalk performance and rise to the bait, not for delicate wrists...
The Black Widow collection takes its cue from the symbolism of the compelling seductress, the highly venomous Lacrodaectus Mactans, aka The Black Widow, due to the spider's natural tendency to exercise the right of life or death over her fellow male. Amid acts of passion and ritual celebration designed to perpetuate her race, the Black Widow can either show mercy and turn away, or kill outright in an uncontrollable outburst of lust or ultimate gesture of possession. Who will dare to approach? Mr Race, undoubtedly.
A new take on time display, a nod to asymmetry.
A visionary poet of the cool, dark, underground scene, Lionel Ladoire takes the solid bastions of luxury and undermines them with subtle acts of rebellion and anarchy. Temptation sits in its evil snare, it leads the way and sets the style. Already, the GMT wheel and ratchet sport the symbolic spider's web. Threatening to wake the bad boy slumbering in every man's soul, its design and vision geared towards the destructuring of time with powerful, post-punk pheromones, Ladoire, let us not forget, is past master of the noble art of skilful complications in the field of high-tech fine watchmaking. Under the label Helvet Mechanic, it adds some surprising innovations, such as the hitherto unheard-of use of specially developed ceramic micro ball-bearings and the supremely successful automatic winding system driven by micro-rotor.
Helvet mechanic
Ladoire Genève timepieces bear the “Helvet Mechanic” label. They fulfil the most rigorous criteria when it comes to Swiss craftsmanship and knowhow. Ladoire Genève timepieces also defy the rules of traditional watchmaking and advocating the deconstruction of time displays.
In-house Movement
The components in Ladoire’s mechanical timepieces are entirely produced by craftsmen in the best Swiss workshops. Ladoire’s movements are designed, developed, manufactured, tested and lovingly pampered at Ladoire’s Swiss Manufacture. The concept of Ladoire’s complication is revolutionary: entirely set on micro ball bearings, it has no hands, besides the off-center hand for the GMT. Ladoire owns an international patent for this unique technology using micro ball bearings.
Exclusive timepieces
Creations by Ladoire Genève suggest a new relationship with time reflecting a resolutely avant-garde approach to Fine Watchmaking. Ladoire Genève timepieces are all manufactured in very limited numbers (unique pieces, 3-piece or 12-piece limited editions), price starts from 59’000 CHF exclusive of taxes.
The creators: Lionel Ladoire
Talented jeweller, rock drummer, professional “pro rider” snowboarder, Lionel Ladoire is above all a man who is both passionate and free, and who has excelled in each of these different “lives” with ardour and tenacity. In complete contrast to classical watchmaking, Lionel Ladoire is a conceptual watchmaker who loves nothing better than overstepping the mark and being part of the wave of young watchmakers of the 21st century.
Born into a family of four generations of jewellers, authentic passion drove Lionel Ladoire to become involved in this industry. A graduate of the SEPR in Lyon in 1989, where he came top of his class, he immediately joined “Les ateliers Lyonnais” (Lyon workshops), making ornaments for the great jewellery of the place Vendôme. After time spent across the Atlantic – mainly in New York – he opened his own workshop in Lyon where he worked in close collaboration with a number of French Fine Jewellery companies.
Having been surrounded by micromechanics since he was tiny, and after 20 years of working in the jewellery industry, the young talent gravitated quite naturally towards watchmaking which he remodelled to suit himself, adhering to highly avant-garde, exclusive industrial and design criteria. Father to little Louka and Arthur, Lionel devotes his creativity to products from the House of Ladoire which he founded at the age of 36 with his friend and partner, Richard Piras. Based at his Geneva “Helvet Manufacture”, the creator designs and develops sophisticated, exclusive mechanical timepieces.
The creators: RICHARD PIRAS
He is backed-up by kindred spirit and co-founder, Richard Piras, who is in charge of the development of the House of Ladoire in his capacity as Managing Director, and oversees the management, marketing and financial operations of the company. Holding a degree in physics and technical engineering from the Lyon Institute of Applied Science, since graduating in 1996, Richard has accumulated more than 15 years experience in the management and financing of technological projects.
This passionate student of astronomy and lover of beauty is a man of great precision, whose understanding of detail goes hand in hand with a global vision that drives him to explore a wide variety of professional worlds. From science to innovative technologies via management and finance, captivated by Lionel’s talent and creativity, in 2007, Richard joined the Ladoire adventure.
At 37 years old, led by an entrepreneurial spirit and highly particular taste for risk, he explores the exclusive universe of Fine Watchmaking with great passion, scouring the world in search of collectors and other lovers of beauty, and avidly sharing his passion with his team.
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