UK-based French watch entrepreneur Alexandre Meerson shows his fledgling brand is not just about dress watches.

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Launching a successful luxury watch company is supremely

tough endeavour, but Alexandre Meerson is making it look

distinctly easy. The French designer and entrepreneur, based

in the UK, introduced his eponymous brand at last year’s

SalonQP, where his seriously elegant Altitude dress watches

were one of the surprise hits of the show. Since then, Meerson

has been quietly gathering clients, selling watches and

building his brand.

Eight months on, he has now unveiled his very different follow

up: an angular but sporty GMT watch called the D15 MK-1.

Though a more casual affair than the Altitude watches, it

displays the same obsessive attention to detail and

unconventional – but not too unconventional – design.

The Meerson D15 is 44mm in diameter, but feels smaller, despite

a hugely complex case – there are over 10 facets to the lugs alone

(lugs being something of a speciality for Meerson).

The watch is relatively slim even though its uses a modular movement.

That’s a high-spec caliber from the Parmigiani-owned Vaucher

manufacture, with a GMT module created by complications

specialist Dubois-Depraz. As with the Altitude watches, the

case-back displaying the movement is subtly curved.

As it happens, it’s the first time that a GMT module has

been applied to this caliber, and it works a treat. The two

chronograph-like pushers easily move the hour hand

backwards and forwards in precise one-hour jumps,

while the skeletonized, red-tipped GMT hand is operated

from the crown. At 9 o’clock a day/night display is sunk

into a dial that has a noticeably 3-D quality. It’s not a

sandwich dial, by the way, though the sunken numerals

do at first make it look like one.

The Meerson D15 is waterproof to 100m. There are three

dial options – blue, silvered or black – while the watch

is available cased in lightweight, high-grade titanium

or grey gold.

The Meerson D15 is priced from £13,000.