This Dubai Watch Week, a taste of Italy punctuates Switzerland’s mass horological exodus to the desert. La Vallée – a discreet Italian maison from the Lake Como region – is introducing COSMO, an astonishing astronomical clock that does more than just tell time. It expresses the rhythms of the universe in a piece of horology that blends Italian craftsmanship with technical invention. And, it goes without saying, it elevates any room to the status of a gallery space.

La Vallée may not yet be a household name among collectors in the Middle East, but it has an intriguing history. Founded in Venice in the 1930s as a clock repair workshop, the company grew under the Quintavalle family into a specialist creator of bespoke timepieces for private clients. Now led by Massimiliano Quintavalle, the third generation, La Vallée continues to enchant its clients with limited pieces that showcase its heritage and forward-looking ideas… as well as the impeccable taste of those fortunate enough to adorn their living spaces with a La Vallee creation.

La Vallée COSMO

The COSMO is the latest time-telling sculpture to emerge from the La Vallée workshops. The mechanical movement sits safely within a large Murano glass dome – a nod to the glasswork heritage that is also synonymous with the region. Murano meets mechanical watchmaking – a clock, a piece of art, and a one of-a-kind masterpiece all in one. La Vallée developed its own system to cut and reassemble the dome almost seamlessly, and even designed a way to wind and adjust the timepiece simply by turning the outer glass shell. The aim is to make interaction feel smooth and intuitive, like the movement of celestial bodies.

The entire mechanism, in a feat of astronomical timetelling, rotates on itself once every 23.934 hours, mirroring the Earth’s sidereal day. Under the dome, owners can read the time, date, zodiac sign, sunrise and sunset times, and even the length of dawn and dusk; the timepiece is a miniature universe.

COSMO’s escapement can beat at the frequency of the owner’s heart at rest, creating an intimate, unique connection between the timepiece and its owner

COSMO places fundamentals of watchmaking centre-stage, thanks to newly designed escapement powered by a flexure-based one-minute remontoire. This allows it to run with remarkable efficiency, resulting in a 406-day power reserve – more than a year on a single wind. Its balance wheel, suspended magnetically, oscillates slowly and quietly, with barely a tick audible through the glass. There is also an unusual element of personalisation: the escapement can be adjusted to match the owner’s resting heart rate. For those who wish, the movement can be raised to touch the dome so its rhythm becomes more audible – making the watch literally beat in time with its owner. One has to assume though, that something as sleek and gorgeous as the COSMO would speed up the heart rate of anyone gazing longingly at its precise movement and architecture.

In horological terms, COSMO sits at the intersection of astronomy and high craft. Where many Swiss maisons have amply explored astronomical complications, La Vallée brings a distinctly Italian take on telling the time in style: a poetic design, artisanal materials, and epically audacious engineering. That kind of bold thinking defines La Vallee. Its head of R&D, Luciano Sasso, notes: “The important thing is not to find a solution, but that particular solution you would not expect.” The team of 15 artisans, technicians and engineers at La Vallée’s atelier busy themselves doing just that, releasing unexpected timetelling instruments that surprise with technical ingenuity and creativity. Its patents include remarkable innovations including a perpetual calendar comprising just seven moving parts – if Italian design is one thing, it is the mastery of simplicity.

The COSMO dome shows the position of the stars above a given location

As CEO Massimiliano Quintavalle, the third generation of his family to lead the company, puts it, La Vallée’s watches are intended to create “an intimate bond with their owner from evoking a personal memory to embodying something uniquely personal such as the heartbeat”. With COSMO, that bond is personal and cosmic.
In a year when many brands focus on anniversary editions, COSMO stands apart as uncompromisingly different. It invites collectors to think about time not as something to be measured, but as something to be experienced. The COSMO is not intended for mass production. Only three to five pieces will be made each year, but as a statement of what independent watchmaking can achieve, it carries real weight.

Cosmo will be presented during Dubai Watch Week on November 19th from 1.30pm to 2.30pm at the Collectors Lounge.

Tech Specs: La Vallée COSMO

Movement: Low-frequency escapement with a 72 mm balance wheel that is magnetically suspended. Delta T compensating system. Flexure-based one-minute remontoire. Completely redesigned escapement with pallet fork in one level only. Power reserve : 406 days thanks to the La Vallée patent (pending). The movement completes one rotation on itself every 23.934 hours. Start and stop system for the escapement. Beat crystal acoustic amplifier. Daylight saving. Selectable winding and setting via rotation of the outer dome.
Case: Outer dome made of blown Murano glass. 402 mm x 242 mm
Weight: 16kg approx Availability Three to five pieces produced per year