French watchmaker Trilobe has come a very long way in a short space of time since its foundation in 2018 thanks to a single movement and watch architecture that has captured the imagination of collectors.
Rather than rotating hands, Trilobe watches display the time with three rings — the largest for hours, the middle one for minutes and the smallest for seconds — rotating around a central point at 8 o’clock on the dial.
The dial can be flat, as in the GPHG Award-winning Nuit Fantastique collection, or raised to three dimensions under a domed crystal, as seen in Une Folle Journée watches.
Along with winning awards like the Petite Aiguille prize for the Nuit Fantastique Dune at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie in Geneva, Trilobe also secured a berth at Watches and Wonders in Geneva in March/April this year and is being snapped up by prestige retailers including Art in Time in Monaco, Les Ambassadeurs in Switzerland, Cellini in New York and Manfredi in Greenwich, Connecticut.
A collaboration with Grail Watch, a Singapore-based specialist in rare independently-made watches, led to the creation of the Trilobe Une Folle Soirée; the ‘wild night’ following on from the ‘wild day’ Folle Journée watches.
The €22,000 watch sold out in under 24 hours after Revolution magazine founder Wei Koh threw his influence behind the Grail Watch limited edition with its night time feel.