By giving a new face to our Rolling Stones Automaton, we have created a fun Masterpiece evoking all the wonder of children at play. The Stones’ instruments, hand-crafted from blocks of gold, sit beneath the offset hours and minutes display on a disc coloured to resemble a vinyl LP. The stage is surrounded by a second disc that rotates when the automaton is activated, while the iconic Stones tongue rises, falls, and moves from left to right. The power reserve is shown at nine o’clock by a cam made to look like the tonearm and stylus of a traditional record turntable. As it rotates, the brightly-coloured spiral creates an optical illusion just like a child’s spinning top, with each colour hand-painted to match the Only Watch 2023 palette. A second Rolling Stones tongue at the centre glows in the dark - recalling a child’s bedroom nightlight.
Only Watch was created in 2005 by Luc Pettavino and under H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco’s high patronage with one intent: CREATE BEAUTY TO DO GOOD and more specifically to raise funds for research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy by auctioning one-off timepieces especially created for this occasion. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a genetic disease that affects 1 in 3,500 boys. The consequences of DMD in young children are a progressive weakening of all muscles, including the heart, the loss of the ability to walk and global autonomy.