The Maurice Lacroix AIKON Master Grand Date features a new self-winding manufacture movement, the ML331 Calibre. Courtesy of its ingenious blue dial plate, the wearer is indulged with pockets of openworked delight. However, as its name implies, this model’s pièce de résistance is the large date display located just above 10 o’clock. Angus Davies takes readers on a guided tour of this new innovative timepiece.

Maurice Lacroix is based in Saignelégier, a town nestling within the verdant landscape of the Swiss Jura. Its residents speak French, albeit many of them are multilingual, a fact I find very humbling as an Englishman with few linguistic skills. Thankfully, the Swiss watch firm is very kind to unilingual Brits, often employing English words for the names of its products eg the Master Grand Date.

The inaugural AIKON model was released in 2016 and has gone on to enjoy huge commercial success. Indeed, the AIKON collection has grown exponentially with Maurice Lacroix adding additional references over the years, some encompassing new materials or complications. After five years of AIKON production, the Swiss marque has become very adept at naming each new AIKON variant with a highly descriptive English nomen.

As its name implies, the Maurice Lacroix AIKON Master Grand Date is endowed with a large date display. However, when dissecting the product name linguistically, other meanings come to the fore. For example, while thumbing through my well-worn dictionary, I disocvered that ‘Master’ has several meanings, including ‘having or showing very great skill or proficiency’. Likewise, ‘Grand’, is defined as ‘magnificent and imposing in appearance, size or style’.

Recently, I had the opportunity to affix the AIKON Master Grand Date to my wrist. I could not help wondering was the name of this new model apt or merely a classic piece of overstatement?

Dial architecture

The dial resembles a vast canvas, painted in a bewitching shade of cerulean blue. Should the wearer expose the watch to sunlight, the dial will repeatedly flit between light and shade.

A mere glance at the AIKON Master Grand Date and it is clear that its display does not subscribe to watchmaking convention. The hours and minutes are presented off-centre, adjacent 2 o’clock. Rhodium-plated hour and minute hands sit above a sea of blue Clous de Paris and converse with matching indexes and a steel-toned minuterie. Both the hands and indexes are coated with white Super-LumiNova, enhancing readability in dim light.

An openworked small seconds display overlaps the hour and minute display. A lone second hand, with a cheery red tip, points to a second track marked with a combination of Arabic numerals and fine black strokes. The openworked design affords sight of the fourth wheel in motion. 

Throughout this composition, Maurice Lacroix has cleverly exposed the AIKON’s many thought processes. At 6:30, the escape wheel is partially shown, while between 7 and 9 o’clock, a large aperture reveals the balance wheel oscillating to and fro.

The balance bridge is secured at each end, granting superior stability over a simple balance cock. Despite the modernity of the watch, the screwed balance wheel doffs its hat to traditional watchmaking, while the large index, positioned atop the balance, facilitates ease of regulation. As a self-confessed horological voyeur, I love seeing the pallet lever repeatedly kissing the teeth of the escape wheel. Indeed, the Maurice Lacroix AIKON Master Grand Date repeatedly delivers an extraordinary degree of theatre.

The eponymous date indication resides at 11 o’clock. By employing two date discs instead of just one, the display proves larger, hence easier to read. One disc indicates the ‘tens’, while the second displays the ‘units’. 

Accommodating the large date mechanism with the new Manufacture Automatic ML331 Calibre

Maurice Lacroix appraised the movement, the Manufacture Automatic Calibre ML230, within its existing Masterpiece Gravity model. On this movement, the gear train is centrally aligned and features a module for the off-centre hour and minute display. However, with the AIKON Master Grand Date, the Swiss marque wanted the movement to be thinner, thereby better suited to the new model’s design. By repositioning the gear train, the watch brand was able to remove the module for the off-centre display and have sufficient room for the large date indication, a function not found on the Masterpiece Gravity.

Each date disc sits atop its own gear train and employs a star wheel, allowing both gear trains to rotate. By locating the two gear trains at the centre of the star wheel, the brand has been able to increase the size of the windows, improving legibility. Moreover, the company has been able to optimise the position of the display, thereby, contributing to the model’s harmonious mien.

The Jura-based brand has never been afraid of employing cutting-edge technology. On this occasion, it has used laser technology for the fabrication of complex components and their subsequent assembly. By adopting this approach, Maurice Lacroix attests that the date complication is more reliable.

The case

Measuring 45mm in diameter, the Maurice Lacroix AIKON Master Grand Date may sound large, but when worn it appears much smaller. I suspect this can be attributed to the lugless union between the watch head and strap. Unlike most watches that have horns protruding noticeably from the case, the strap on this model integrates neatly within the watch head. Moreover, the strap is predisposed to point downwards, thereby enveloping the wearer’s wrist. 

The AIKON’s proven design language is alive and well. The six gleaming claws, synonymous with the AIKON line, straddle the bezel and contrast wonderfully with the adjacent satin-brushed surfaces. Brand disciples will already know that Maurice Lacroix has a penchant for juxtaposing polished and satin-brushed surfaces. For example, the angled vertical flank of the bezel has been enlivened with a polished finish.

Whenever a watch brand places two contrasting finishes in close proximity it increases production time and costs. The best practitioners ensure the finishes are consistently applied and there is clear delineation between both forms of surface treatment. Throughout this composition, the Maurice Lacroix design team has endowed the case with several instances of muted brush and gleaming ebullience. Having scrutinised the AIKON at close quarters, I am pleased to report the execution of the case is beyond reproach.

A pane of sapphire crystal, positioned to the rear of the case, grants sight of the Manufacture Automatic ML331 Calibre.

Unusually, the watch is supplied with both a 5-rows steel bracelet and a blue Cordura strap. Consistent with other AIKON timepieces, this model features the brand’s Easy Strap Exchange, an ingenious system that allows the wearer to easily switch between the bracelet and strap without the need for tools.

The movement

The word ‘Master’ appears within this model’s nomenclature, signifying it is equipped with a manufacture movement. As previously mentioned, the self-winding ML331 Calibre perfectly demonstrates Maurice Lacroix’s watchmaking expertise. Beyond its ingenious large date display, the movement is enriched with various refined finishes. 

The AIKON Master Grand Date eschews a conventional dial, employing a dial plate instead. Movement components are affixed to the dial plate which also serves as the façade of the watch. Steel-toned parts feature vertical brush, while the remaining sections of the dial plate are dressed in blue PVD.

The balance bridge is rhodium plated with a sun-brushed finish. Other movement surfaces are sandblasted. The oscillating weight is openworked, affording partial views of the bridges below, and embellished with snailing and brushed detail. 

The balance has a cadence of 18,000 VpH (2.5Hz) and the movement features 43 jewels. Assuming the watch is fully wound, it will run autonomously for 50 hours.

Closing remarks

The Maurice Lacroix AIKON Master Grand Date features some interesting stylistic choices. While the Swiss firm already makes skeleton versions of the AIKON as well as three-handers, the advent of the Master Grand Date has led to an interesting niche, few, including myself, would have thought of. Indeed, it has avoided making a facsimile of a rival’s model, preferring to employ a sizeable dose of blue-sky thinking and create its own highly original composition.

The danger of being highly original is that in the pursuit of style, some practical considerations can be overlooked, however, no such issues afflict this model. The AIKON Master Grand Date displays the hours, minutes, seconds and date in a clear, intelligible form. With some ingenious engineering, Maurice Lacroix has endued this watch with a highly legible large date display. Furthermore, the watch delivers a spectacular theatrical performance with the pallet lever and escape wheel in conversation and the balance wheel pirouetting clockwise and counterclockwise.  

Another endearing characteristic of this model is the optimised arrangement of each dial element. The Swiss marque has positioned each indication such that it delivers a harmonious appearance. Moreover, a benefit of the 45mm case is that it affords sufficient room for each of the model’s indications.