With its 2014 collection, Maurice Lacroix tries to play against the current “downsizing” trend. While even “sporty” and “bold” chronographs either lose weight or burn their excessive muscle tissue, the Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Supercharged brings you the good old 2013 Pontos S diver in the supersized body. 48 millimeters in diameter, the diving tool is designed for a bodybuilder or a football player, not some sort of skinny hipster.
With this watch, Maurice Lacroix targets people that are looking for a bigger watch that doesn’t look just fat but also irradiates a sense of masculine presence.
While their potential customers are still not quite ready to buy a much more expensive Breitling, they would certainly have spare €4000 (the brand will reveal exact MSRP after Baselworld 2014, but currently the watch is listed in “CHF 3000-4999” price range).
Just look at this notched bezel and the crowns at 2 and 3 o’clock (the former for manipulating the inner diving scale and the latter for setting the watch) that are decorated with the same pattern and somehow remind us about the ultra-luxury Breitling for Bentley line.
To match such a Godzilla of a timekeeper, Maurice Lacroix needed a bigger chronograph movement because your average ETA 2894-2 would look too ridiculous powering such a monster.
The solution came in the shape of an ETA Valgranges caliber. The brand doesn’t specify the exact name of the mechanism, but it looks like model A07.211, the one that powered Invicta Men Subaqua Noma III, as well as the 2009 Edox Grand Ocean Chronograph I: another pair of luxury divers of gargantuan proportions.
Thanks to its impressive size, the watch offers a large dial with enough display of real estate not only for the three large sub-dials with wide (but still proportional) luminous hands but also for a date window at 3 hours and a trendy rotating unidirectional diving scale.
Many chronographs with such a design, but of smaller size look cluttered and hard to read, but the dial of this specimen is easily readable even in stressful situations when your field of vision narrows and everything blurs and, to be frank, this is one of a few luxury diving watches that can indeed be used as an actual diving companion (in case you don’t mind damaging the expensive timekeeper hitting it at some rock or a metal part of a sunken ship.)
As you can see there is a lot of Superluminova on all main dial elements. Looking white in normal daylight, the luminous compound emits an energetic blue glow at night.
Of course, compared to its smaller counterparts, the watch is not as versatile in terms of situations where you can wear it without looking ahem somewhat extravagant, but if you have a number of smaller watches in your rotation and plan to use the Pontos S Supercharged only in certain situations with a certain type of dress, this may be a good choice: the watch looks original and will certainly draw a number of envious looks from the crowd.
The price (starting from $3900 for the version in stainless steel and going to $4100 for the one in black PVD-coated steel) is okay if you take into account the value of the brand and the fact that is powered by a mechanism that is considered one of the best heirs to the legendary Valgranges 775x family of natural-born chronographs, although only time will tell as for its ability to hold its value on used watches market.
See also: Edox Grand Ocean Extreme Sailing Series
Photos: Maurice Lacroix
WWR verdict
Originality 3.5/5
Build quality: 4.5/5
Usability: 4/5
Legibility: 4.5/5
Value for money: 3.5/5
Maurice Lacroix Pontos S Supercharged specification
Price (MSRP): $3900 (stainless steel, ref. PT6009-SS001-330) / $4100 (PVD black, ref. PT6009-PVB01-330)
Movement: Automatic, Caliber ML 140, base ETA Valjoux, Swiss Made
Number of jewels: 25
Movement frequency: 28,800 vph
Power reserve: 46 hours
Movement decoration: Rhodium-plated, circular-grained, Cotes de Geneve
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, inner diving scale, chronograph
Case: Stainless steel (plain or anthracite PVD)
Shape: Round
Size: 48.00 mm
Dial: Black, sandblasted
Hour markers: Luminous
Hands: Luminous
Water resistance: 200 meters
Strap: Textured calfskin with rubber-look insert, red or yellow topstitching, steel buckle
Crystal: Sapphire, antireflective on both sides, cambered
Back: Transparent