Initially conceptualised by Louis Cottier for Patek Philippe over 5 decades ago, the worlds first linear mechanical wristwatch never actually worked, hence wasn't put into production. Just over a decade ago, Frei & Baumbartner successfully manufactured 50 functioning, linear wristwatches consisting of 25 in white gold & titanium plus 25 in black gold & titanium. They also made 1 'Albino' example shown here with a white dial rather than standard black hence the 'Piece Unique' case back designation. Inspirered by 1970s automobile instrumentation, the timepiece is as technical, historical & funky as they come. The piece unique brother to this example in black coated gold was recently sold for £275k at auction. I consider that to be an inferior example to this, due to the fact that one should never black coat gold due to its softness.