Manufacture Royale Androgyne Pure GlacierManufacture Royale is relatively new to the scene of independent watchmakers, having begun operation in 2010.
The unabashedly-designed cases could well be described as steampunk in appearance, with its articulated lugs and a bezel set with screws (that double as hour markers). The fact that you can see the nicely designed in-house movement through both the front and back of the watch adds to the industrial aesthetic.
Calibre MR02, the hand-wound movement inside the Androgyne, consists of 178 components and measures 30.9 mm in diameter by 6.26 mm in thickness. From a technical standpoint, the movement isn't groundbreaking, but it is well constructed and detailed.
The brass plates feature Côtes de Genève finishing, observable through the sapphire crystal case back. Additionally, the bridges (which you can see directly from the dial-less face of the watch) feature a minimal sand-blasted finish, which is beautiful in its simplicity. The bridges are also outlined with hand-polished chamfers that contrast the sand-blasted finish in a modern and elegant fashion (even within this industrial-leaning design context).
Manufacture Royale is (perhaps unexpectedly) committed to using high-quality, in-house movements inside of its attention-getting watches.
The 2/3-plate construction of the movement and use of sapphire crystal on both sides of the watch facilitate the visually dynamic placement of a 60-second tourbillon. The bridges holding the tourbillon cage are attached to the movement at two points seemingly sandwiched between the mainplate and bridges (on the upper portion of the dial).
http://www.manufacture-royale.com/#voltaire
