Quest for Innovation: de GRISOGONO Meccanico dG

The innovative de GRISOGONO Meccanico dG is the first wristwatch to display both analogue and digital time by mechanical means. The timepiece, featuring two distinct time zones, houses one of the most intricate mechanical movements, a Haute Horlogerie wonder composed of 651 elements.

Fawaz Gruosi, founder and president of de GRISOGONO, wanted to mark his company's 15th anniversary, by breaking new grounds and exploring a never-ventured-into area - a digital time display provided with an exclusively mechanical power supply, another patented innovation of the brand.

The de GRISOGONO Meccanico dG represents a combination of micro-systems featuring sophisticated cam and gear assemblies. The timepiece spotlights an analogue display of the hours and minutes in the upper part of the dial and a digital display of the second time-zone in the lower part.


The mechanically powered digital display of the second time zone shows tens of hours, single hours, tens of minutes and single minutes, all displayed by mobile micro-segments driven by an assemblage of 23 cams linked to a set of gears and a triggering and synchronization system.

An array of mobile 23 micro-segments, displaying the time information, consists of vertically positioned segments (9mm high, weighing at most 25 milligrams) and horizontally positioned segments (2.90mm long, weighing only 10 milligrams).

The micro-segments may be compared to four-sided pillars laid out flat in the face. Two sides of the 'pillars' are black, while the other two sides are fitted with colored strips. Required segment or segments perform 90 degree rotations on tiny spindles, making the color of each spindle change from “lit” to “unlit”, thus lightning time changes.

The intricate mechanical systems of the de GRISOGONO Meccanico dG may be admired through the transparent dial plate. The hour markers of the analogue time display, also fitted with colored strips, seem suspended in the air, revealing the underlying mechanism.

Hand-wound DG 042, exclusive De Grisogono calibre, is meticulously finished and has components blackened. The movement offers a 35-hour power reserve, presented through a cambered sapphire backplate on a 90 degree sectoral display on the reverse side of the movement. The words 'de GRISOGONO' and 'Swiss Made' are inscribed right on the movement. The case back of the watch has a nameplate with the name 'MECCANICO dG'.

The 56 x 48 mm case of the watch is 30-meter water-resistant. It has been created in a choice of styles: titanium, red gold, titanium and red gold, titanium and rubber, and titanium and platinum. The correctors and the crown guard are produced from vulcanized rubber.

The crown opposite 3 o'clock is used for setting the analogue display, while the correctors are used for setting the second time zone. The timepiece is secured to the wrist with a vulcanized rubber strap, fitted with a deployment clasp buckle featuring the de GRISOGONO crest.

The de GRISOGONO Meccanico dG is being produced in a limited edition of 177 pieces.