Jurassic watch by Louis Moinet made from real dinosaur bone

Jurassic Watch. Courtesy Louis Moinet

Louis Moinet is a watchmaking house that likes to do things a little bit differently.

Independent and in Switzerland, it has made its name creating high-end timepieces that are limited-edition and often use rare and exotic materials.

The Jurassic watch is one such piece. With a 43.5 millimetre case in 18k rose gold, it features a chronograph with an exclusive movement. The LM34 caliber offers a 48-hour reserve and a frequency of 28,800vph, and is finished with a alligator leather strap.

Oh, and it has a dial made from the fossilized bones of a 150-million-year-old dinosaur.

Authenticated by Dr Andreas Stucki in conjunction with the Aathal Dinosaur Museum in Zurich, the bone belonged to the family of large herbivores that includes the Diplodocus, and is dated to between 144 and 200 million years old. Time and luck are the main factors needed in creating fossils (and even more so in finding them).

In this case, our hapless herbivore died somewhere with sediment (perhaps, water), and settled into the mud. Protected, the bones slowly began to leave behind minerals such as calcium, while additional minerals such as iron and calcium carbonate leeched in from the surrounding water or sediment. Then, in a process that took millions of years, the minerals saturated every microscopic space left by the dissolving bone, eventually strengthening and solidifying into rock.

Now unearthed, this unique material has been fashioned into a Louis Moinet dial. Creating the watch is a delicate task, as the fossilised stone needs to be sufficiently dense to be worked, and requires specialised skills. Despite being rock, fossils are fragile, and when completed the final thickness is just 0.65mm.

The Jurassic watch is limited to only 12 pieces, but presents a unique chance to carry a piece of history wherever you go.