The main dial of this 39-millimetre gold or platinum watch shows – unsurprisingly – hours and minutes, and the subdial at 06.30 is a night and day indication made of two superimposed 24-hour discs; one featuring stars and sun, the other night and day colours. Again, no surprise. But then it becomes unique. On the bottom right half of the dial, you will find three pointy, mirror-polished platinum pillars, clad with precious stones. Just like everything ranging from electrons to planets, these pillars, or cones, spin at various velocities. The fastest, at 05 o’clock, moves at a second pace, making a full revolution in 60 seconds, ‘whereas the next one at 04 o’cock takes 24 hours, followed by the 12-hour-pillar at 03 o’clock.

“These triangular pillars could also be seen as mountain peaks, or fir trees growing on the mountainsides. To me they represent the roots of timekeeping, and with these pillars I have symbolised the deconstruction of time. Two of them are moving so slowly that you can barely notice that they are moving at all. And yet they do – it is at this slow speed that all important changes and developments occur,” mused Emmanuel Bouchet about Source Aleph.