A Pen More Dangerous Than a Sword

The brand Manufacture Royale honors and carries on the name of the watch workshop founded in 1770 by the French Enlightenment thinker, Voltaire. He was also an entrepreneur who established this workshop to support artisans who possessed skills but lacked employment, selling watches to royalty and nobility. He then used this capital to provide economic aid and inspiration to the impoverished masses moving towards revolution.



Captivated by such a powerful spirit, this workshop aims to carry forward Voltaire's achievements into the modern era, and its capabilities are exceptionally high.

At the new product launch event held at a city hotel during SIHH, previous creations were also on display, featuring exquisite complications such as tourbillons and minute repeaters, and even their own proprietary constant force mechanism. The cases boast a unique joint structure, with some models convertible into desk clocks when removed from the wrist. The lineup is so captivating, one could lose track of time simply by admiring it.

From this collection, we would like to introduce a piece that is both basic to the brand and exceptionally unique.

The Escapement on the Dial

"I believe the pen is more dangerous than the sword," Voltaire often said, and his words, "To take up a pen is to fight," are recorded in several letters. While this may seem confrontational, it reflects a thinker's commitment to articulating his ideas and underscores the importance of freedom of speech. Voltaire, known for his fierce debates with Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is celebrated for his spirit of free discourse, which is expressed in the '1770 Voltige Plum Noir'.

The model name "Plume" is French for "feather," which in Voltaire's era was the writing instrument itself – the quill pen. "Noir" means "black," symbolizing the color of ink. The watch's all-black color scheme symbolizes the "pen more dangerous than the sword."

A striking feature of the mechanism is the layout from 9 to 12 o'clock on the dial. Watch connoisseurs will recognize this as the escapement, the source of the watch's regular, isochronous motion. Typically located on the movement's underside, the escapement consists of the pallet fork that engages with the fourth wheel driving the seconds hand, and the balance wheel with its hairspring oscillating at 12 o'clock. In this watch, the pallet fork is positioned at 9 o'clock, with the pallet lever and balance wheel following.

While open-worked dials, which reveal the escapement through an aperture in the movement, are often discussed, this mechanism achieves something far more ingenious – a true 'Columbus's egg' moment.

The '1770 Voltige' is functionally basic yet serves as the brand's signature model. This all-black iteration is a powerful reminder of its striking individuality.