Review: Christophe Claret Baccara Dragon

If you follow the announcements from the big watch fairs, chances are you’ll have come across the term ‘novelty’. A novelty is a manufacturer’s chance to show off its skills, usually with something a bit fun, and most often with something extremely, eye-wateringly, wallet-shrinkingly expensive. Christophe Claret’s Baccara Dragon is a benchmark example of a novelty. Limited to just nine pieces—that’s not a typo, it really is limited to nine—it takes the concept of a fun, expensive complication to another level. So what’s Christophe Claret’s game? Well, it’s just that—a game. Baccarat to be specific.

If your initial reaction to this watch is anything like mine (read: mildly bemused), you probably don’t fully understand the ridiculousness of this prospect; when I say this watch plays baccarat, I mean it in the fullest sense of the word. It’s not like that SuperMario watch you had as a kid, the one that promised a full level of the eponymous game, but in reality was little more than a few flashing lights—no, this is the real deal. There’s a banker, a full deck of cards and everything to play for. Forget Monte Carlo; now the most expensive hand you’ll ever play can be worn right there on your wrist.

The instructions are simple: press the pusher at nine o’clock to shuffle (with Swiss precision no less), the pusher marked ‘Banker’ at ten o’clock to deal for the banker, and the pusher marked ‘Player’ at eight o’clock to deal for yourself, with each press sounding the gong hidden in the case side at two o’clock. Then, (assuming you know the rules to baccarat), play begins. There’s even the option to draw a third card, just like the real game. And when that gets boring, there’s a roulette wheel on the back and a pair of miniature dice hidden in the case side at four o’clock. It’s the perfect way to pass the time when the media server on your private jet packs in.

And that’s the crux: there are 538 parts in the Baccara Dragon, and each one’s going to cost you—about £230 each, to be precise. This watch fulfils the ‘expensive’ part of the novelty criterion very well indeed, costing a whopping (for those that can’t be bothered to work it out) £125,000, or in normal money, a decent-sized flat in the south east of England. Just as well there are only nine of them, then.

But that’s not the point. Like the concept cars you see at Geneva every year, this watch is a showcase of what’s possible when the best watchmaking minds in the world put their heads down and their budgets up. Despite the amusement arcade-style nature of the Baccara Dragon, the complication that powers it is not only ingeniously clever, but also extremely elegant: all that functionality, and in a case no bigger than an Omega Planet Ocean’s.

To be honest I think the category ‘novelty’ downplays the achievements of this and many other watches like it, almost to a fault. Novelty? Take a second look, and don’t let first impressions fool you: what we have here is no-holds-barred watchmaking. No-holds-barred watchmaking that encourages gambling, of course…

Watch Spec | Christophe Claret Baccara Dragon

Case | 18k white gold Dimensions | 45mm Crystal | Synthetic sapphire Water Resistance | 30m Movement | Calibre BCR09, automatic Frequency | 28,800vph Power Reserve | 72 hours Strap | Leather Functions | Time, baccarat, roulette, craps RRP | £125,000, limited to 9 pieces