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Built for speed, crafted for emotion. Every detail reflects the bond between man and machine. This is more than a chronograph; it’s your story on the wrist!

There are very few brands in the world of haute horlogerie that fuse artistry, mechanical innovation, and motorsport adrenaline quite like Louis Moinet. This is one of my favourite brands when it comes to this side of horology, purely because when I look at the timepieces in their lineup, I’m in pure amazement. I personally love skeletonised timepieces, and they are a brand that has mastered this craft.

Louis Moinet is an independent Swiss watchmaking atelier founded in 2004 by Jean-Marie Schaller. The brand was named in honour of the legendary 19th-century horologist and inventor of the chronograph in 1816, Louis Moinet. Louis Moinet aims to carry forward Moinet’s pioneering spirit by creating watches that bring together high watchmaking artistry with technical innovation and storytelling.

Their Time To Race collection, as expected are simply more than just a watch. It a celebration of the bond between man and machine. For Watches & Wonders 2025, Louis Moinet has updated their existing Time To Race collection with two new models, infecting even more horsepower into a star studded lineup. This collection perfectly embodies the brand’s philosophy of high-end personalisation and mechanical artistry.

Unlike traditional motorsport-themed timepieces, Time To Race focuses, as Louis Moinet puts it “not just on the aesthetics of speed, but the very soul of racing: precision timing, personal significance, and emotional thrill.” Each timepiece in the Time To Race collection is a unique creation, tailored specifically to show the wearer’s “lucky number” in classic car racing number styling, where it’s a white circle with large black numerals.

What Louis Moinet does well with their skeletonised timepieces, which I like, is the use of colour to make only certain aspects of the movement stand out. Unlike conventional openworked/skeletonised dials, where it’s a uniform colour throughout the movement, Louis Moinet tend to keep the skeletonised movement grayscale, while highlighting certain moving parts like the gears in a different material (in the case of Time To Race its rose gold), while the adding colour to bring the artistry of the piece to the forefront. What this does is draw your eyes to these details immediately while also creating a less “cluttered” look on the dial, something skeletonised timepieces tend to fall victim to.

The two new models being presented are the “Rush” and “White Fuji”, stunning renditions in a beautiful blue and white that certainly liven the design of these timepeices even more!

Case Design

The case of the Time To Race models is bold, sleek and sporty, with certain elements like the crown and chronograph pusher standing out immediately. Both the new Rush and White Fuji editions are presented in a lightweight 40.7mm case, which has been crafted for polished and satin-brushed Grade 5 titanium material, weighing just 18 grams. The case has been designed to hug the wrist like a bespoke racing glove!

The case’s architectural form extends to the openworked lugs, tipped with Louis Moinet’s signature four black zircons, housed in chatons secured by screws, an elegant detail with industrial edge. The redesigned crown base and bright rubber strap complete the racing aesthetic, offering comfort, grip, and a splash of color that ties into each model’s unique personality. This is a watch designed to perform at speed, whether behind the wheel or simply turning heads!

Louis Moinet also has a unique glareproofed sapphire crystal, which the brand states is “embodied by a powerful chevé sapphire dome that occupies almost half of the lateral surface. This solution places the mechanism front and center of the design. The raised chronograph mechanism sits flush with the crystal, allowing for a panoramic view of the movement. This ingenious and original design has given rise to a new type of inner bezel ring, dissociated from the crystal. It also makes it possible to combine two different readings of short-time measurements: a tachymeter scale and a 60-second display.”

Dial Design

The dial of the Time To Race collection is where the timepieces truly shift into high gear. A woven carbon fibre mainplate provides a dark, textured stage for the star of the show: the fully exposed column-wheel chronograph mechanism. This is where the skeletonised manufacturing experience of Louis Moinet comes into full display. Unlike traditional chronograph movements where the mechanism isn’t shown on the dial side, Louis Moinet have done just that, to show the wearer all the elements such as levers, hammers, column wheel, etc, being engaged and working when the chronograph pusher is activated. A true work of mechanical art displaying the beauty of the chronograph mechanism.

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“The chronograph offers the most interaction with its wearer. TIME TO RACE dramatically increases this pleasure, as it is 100% visual. All it takes is one smooth press on the single pusher to make a unique choreography unfolds before your eyes. The various elements – levers, clutch, hammers, column wheel, springs and wheels – are set into motion and interact with the ultimate goal of activating the chronograph and measuring time.”
Louis Moinet

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(FIX THIS UP) What makes these two new models stand out in the Time To Race collection is the places in which colour is used. By this, I mean that, for example, on the Rush model, the blue is used on the “hour track” on the offset time dial, whereas in other models of the collection, this is kept the same material colour of the movement. Then, for the White Fuji model, the majority of the tachymeter scale is done in white, which is a first for this collection.

As mentioned previously, the personalisation of the timepieces involves the wearer selecting their own personal number to display proudly on the offset time dial, framed within a metallic ring reminiscent of a racing car bore, a nod to the motorsport spirit that drives the collection. The chronograph hands, especially the bold central seconds hand. pop against the woven carbon fibre backdrop, adding a burst of colour and contrast. One smoked sub-dial tracks the elapsed minutes, while the other keeps the running seconds in check.

Movement

The engine sitting inside these racecars for the wrist is Louis Moinet’s Calibre LM96 movement. The mechanical choreography of the Calibre LM96 movement features 311 components, 147 dedicated to the chronograph mechanism visible on the dial side, and 164 that drive the self-winding movement ticking beneath. The movement is able to push out a decent power reserve of 48 hours, with a frequency performance of 4Hz (28,800 VpH). Engaging the pusher at 2 o’clock kicks the engine into gear, with the dial becoming a theatre of gears, levers, and cams springing into action. Louis Moinet has turned the chronograph into a performance, where every act unfolds beneath the panoramic sapphire stage.

Initial Thoughts

Louis Moinet is one of my favourite brands when it comes to skeletonised watches, and these timepeices show precisely why. For them, it’s simply not just about having an openworked dial that shows the movement. It’s much rather about displaying mechanical artistry, showing the wearer the different mechanisms of the movement in full action. These newest additions to the Time To Race collection tell this story in more vivid, eye-catching colours.

In a world of cookie-cutter chronographs, Time To Race is a refreshing rebellion. The timepieces are emotional, technical, beautifully crafted, and truly unique. These are watches that don’t just keep time but rather tell a beautiful story. Whether you’re drawn to its striking visual architecture or the opportunity to make it your own through colour and number, this timepiece celebrates individuality at full speed.