The millionometer, from the French millionomètre, was developed in the watchmaking facilities of the Le Coultre brothers, Antoine and Ulysse Le Coultre, in 1844. Half a decade later, the two would part ways, Antoine LeCoultre agreeing to take on the company's debts and Ulysse setting out to establish a new company.

The millionometer is the earliest known instrument able to measure at the micron scale (one millionth of a meter, or thousandth of a mm). Only two are known to have been produced by the Le Coultre brothers. The one pictured above being the smaller of the pair, now owned by Jean-Maurice Le Coultre and on display at the Espace Horloger in the Vallée de Joux.

Bref, voilà un domaine qui reste un peu dans l’ombre pour offrir toute la gloire aux belles montres que l’on n’aurait jamais pu construire sans ces instruments de mesure si discrets.

To paraphrase, precise tools, despite being critical to the craft, remain in the shadow of the glory of all of the beautiful watches that could never have been built without these discreet measuring instruments.

A work-in-progress photo of the bridges for the movement in Yosuke Sekiguchi's Primevère timepiece, sawn by hand from a block of German silver.

An interesting set of custom watch hands that lend a different visual appeal to the customary ten past ten.

Painted by Gérald Genta and put into production by Audemars Piguet.

A composite of ceramic and bio-sourced material, derived from castor-plant oil, developed by The Swatch Group for its Swatch line of watches.

"Almost exactly the same but executed with more finesse, the pocket watch is a perfect tribute to turn-of-the-19th century watchmaking."

A delightfully in-depth look at Philippe Dufour's Grande Sonnerie Pocket Watch No. 1 by JX Su, Sheng Lee, & Richard Lee.

One thing that has perplexed me about Philippe Dufour's Grand Sonnerie in the past, which this article addresses tangentially, is how Philippe would go about letting down the power in each of the gear trains when working on this piece—both in development and later on each time it required service. As it turns out, the satellite ratchet system nested into each of the ratchet wheels is not the full story. The visible ratchet system solely governs winding direction, similar to the way a pair of reversers would operate in an automatic winding system. Beneath these ratchet wheels is another set of clicks, which are responsible for holding the power in the barrels, and it is these clicks that a watchmaker would disengage to let down the power in a controlled manner. It's a masterful solution to a complex problem, in a masterfully complex watch.

The sun indicator, crafted from a ferriferous mineral known as bronzite, lends this piece an extra bit of depth and character.

The creators behind a number of adjustable length clasps from different watch brands. Offering a variety of services to the watch industry in a plethora of material options, from simple, classical clasps to complete timepieces.

By Moran Goldstein.

Industry perspective from Anthony Schwab, director of Swiss sapphire supplier, Econorm. Touching on the history of synthetic sapphire, the innovation it's enabled, its future potential, and the present struggle competing with suppliers in Asia.