Gabriel Vachette founded Trilobe in Paris in 2018 with a clear technical premise: replace the conventional hour, minute, and seconds hands with three rotating discs around the dial periphery, freeing the entire central dial space for artistic interpretation. The user reads time via three small reference markers on the case bezel: each disc displays its respective time unit (hour, minute, seconds) and the user reads where the marker overlays each disc. The result is a wristwatch where there are no traditional hands obscuring the dial, allowing the central area to display anything from minimalist guilloché patterns to elaborate hand-painted miniatures.
The first reference, Les Matinaux, launched in 2018 with the rotating-disc display in 40.5mm steel and gold cases, with various dial executions ranging from austere minimalist to decorative artistic. Subsequent references include Nuit Fantastique (with hand-painted artistic dials, often with celestial or abstract themes), Une Folle Journée (with a moonphase complication added to the rotating-disc base architecture), and L'Heure Exquise. The mechanical engine driving the discs is a modified Sellita SW260-base movement with Trilobe-designed disc-driving complication module developed in-house with Le Cercle des Horlogers in Switzerland.
Trilobe is one of the more commercially successful new haute-horlogerie indie brands of the late 2010s and early 2020s. The Paris HQ and French founder give the brand a distinct positioning compared to the Swiss-dominated indie tier (alongside Akrivia, Voutilainen, Laurent Ferrier); pricing starts around EUR 15,000 for the entry references and rises to EUR 50,000+ for hand-painted artistic dial variants. Annual production is small (estimated low hundreds of pieces) and the brand has built a following among collectors who want a visually distinctive alternative to the conventional dress watch architecture.
