Origine, Piece Unique, White & Pink Gold

This Origine is a piece unique with a specification unlike any other—making two-tone contemporary and undeniably attractive again. It was designed with the ambition of building on the Origine’s inherent asymmetry, extrapolating the offset dial through materials. Using 18k white gold for the case main and 18k rose gold for its bezel and caseback, this example is defined by contrast. Contemporary two-tone applications are few and far between, but Pinaud worked with his client to create a perfectly suited modern interpretation. 

In addition to creating a two-tone impression, this Origine varies in form as well. The lugs on this example were designed to be shorter than the standard Origine case with a steeper downturn, a request of the client to lend a more compact wearing proportion. Its guilloché pattern was inspired by a clock in Sylvain’s own atelier, which Sylvain worked with Comblemine to recreate. Pinaud enjoyed this pattern so much that he later applied it to his Only Watch creation also. This example was created with one sister watch, which inverts the application of rose and white golds. 

Sylvain Pinaud himself took the scenic route toward independence. Born in 1978 near Grenoble to a watchmaking father, Pinaud graduated from Morteau's Lycée Edgar Faure in 1998, then spent years on high complications at Franck Muller before restoring museum pieces by Breguet, Berthoud, and Janvier at Dominique Mouret's atelier, followed by prototyping at Carl F. Bucherer. In 2018 he opened his own workshop in Sainte-Croix; his 2019 monopusher chronograph won him the Meilleur Ouvrier de France title, and the Origine, unveiled in 2022, took the GPHG's Horological Revelation prize.

The Origine’s design itself is quietly ambitious. The Origine is dominated by the exposed balance and its details. Working closely with Voutilainen & Cattin for the case and Comblemine for dials, the remainder is Pinaud’s own craft. Bridges are sandblast-frosted with anglage full of sharp interior angles; the escape wheel and pallet lever sit under twin black-polished steel bridges with mirror-polished locating pins. The two-part ratchet wheel pairs a solar-grained rim with a black-polished hub, and every jewel and screw sink is polished—a rarity today. Its cleverest detail is easy to miss: a slender black-polished steel cartouche encircling both sub-dials, beveled along its entire length. The blued, chamfered hands—mirror-polished on every requisite edge—are made in Pinaud's own workshop about a day per hand. The three-armed, free-sprung balance is Pinaud's own design—13.2mm across, with gold variable-inertia weights and a Phillips overcoil—beating at 21,600vph with a 55-hour reserve. A subtle refinement lies in the hacking mechanism: pulling the crown swings a lever against the balance, its action smoothed by a black-polished tension spring hidden beside the barrel bridge.

This Origine represents contemporary independent watchmaking at its best, bringing dreams and ambition to reality between one client and the watchmaker. A result of clear vision, a sense of optimism, and experimentation, this two-tone examples dares to imagine a new type of modern bimetal aesthetic. Finished beautifully and designed carefully, it is unbalanced in materials, asymmetric in design, and yet completely harmonious in reality. 

This Origine presents in excellent overall condition. Its case bears only light signs of careful wearing. It comes with its complete set and all original documents.

This example is modelled on an average-sized 7-inch wrist.