Sneak Peek to Baselworld 2012 - HYT H1 - the first timepiece ever to combine mechanical and liquid engineering.
Published: January 10,
2012 | 15:11
What are we getting excited to see at the 2012 Baselworld Watch Fair in Switzerland? Topping our growing list is the HYT H1 Hydro-Mechanical watch from Vincent Perriard & co. (former CEO of Concord - and his obvious product predecessor, the C1). Prices are rumored to begin at $45,000 (for Titanium casing) which is considerably more attainable than other concept watches of this ilk.
Pistons in the movement move the bellows. As one expands the other one
compresses which moves the green Fluorescein liquid. Fluorescein even has applications in forensics to detect latent blood stains but this is likely a first and only use in horology!
We'll be showcasing live shots in early March 2012, stay tuned to The Watchismo Times!
Technical specs from HYT:
Movement: Mechanical hand-wound, exclusive HYT calibre,
28,800 vph, 4 Hz, 35 jewels, bridges hand-chamfered and adorned with
Côtes de Genève, rhodiumed bellows, 65-hour power reserve
Case: Titanium; diameter: 48.8 mm, thickness: 17.9 mm brushed, bead-blasted and satin-brushed finish, rubber-clad screw-lock crown, titanium crown guard, screw-locked added lugs, metal dome at 06:00
Crystal: Cambered sapphire crystal with glareproofed interior, screw-down sapphire back
Dial: Unstructured, silver-toned opaline, fluid hours, luminescent hands and hour-markers regulator at 12:00, small seconds wheel at 09:30, power-reserve indicator at 02:30
Strap: Hand-sewn leather-lined canvas, pin buckle
Other versions: Black DLC-coated titanium case, 5N 18K red gold case
The Horological Machine No 3 FROG from MB&F - Maximilian Büsser & Friends
Published: May 03,
2010 | 06:54
Seeing a sneak peek of this prototype at Baselworld had my eyes pop out quite similarly to the Frog's bulbous displays. Originally based upon the HM3 Sidewinder & Starcruiser released last year, this alternative version features innovative domes for hours and minutes.
MB&F is the only "haute" brand I know that doesn't take themselves too seriously. They build fascinating machines blending humor and style. Sure it's an exclusive club to belong to but the inspiration is free. MB&F will only craft 32 Frog movements this year: a limited edition of 12 pieces in black titanium (with green gold rotor) and 20 pieces of a non-limited titanium version (with blue gold rotor).
Haute horlogerie is (usually) a very restrained and serious business; however one of Maximilian Büsser main goals in creating MB&F was to bring a child's sense of awe and sense of playfulness into high-end watchmaking. There is no doubting that with the HM3 Frog, MB&F have certainly achieved that aim . . . and more! The protruding eyes of the (amphibian) frog enable it to see in many directions without having to turn its head. The bulbous domes of the HM3 Frog have the opposite, but no less important, feature of enabling the time to be easily seen from many angles without having to turn the wrist. The Frog differs substantially from HM3 in that it is the aluminum domes that rotate under the sapphire crystals in the Frog, whereas it is the hour and minute hands that rotate around their respective stationary cones on HM3.
Rotating domes of this size and shape posed MB&F with a number of technical challenges. The hour and minute domes are machined from solid aluminium - chosen for its optimal strength to weight ratio. The domes weigh in at just over 0.5g. They are milled first from the outside and then the inside to arrive at a paper-thin wall thickness of just 0.28 mm, which reduces their energy requirements to an absolute minimum.
Even the fabrication of the semi-spherical sapphire crystal domes was incredibly demanding and only recently even possible at all. This is due to the fact that any slight imperfection in the sapphire might introduce a disconcerting magnification effect. The sapphire has to be shaped and polished to be perfectly uniform.
The Frog's unusual method of indicating time necessitated the development of a new gear train for the HM3 engine. This was because the aluminum hour dome of the Frog rotates in 12 hours compared to the 24 hour revolution of the HM3 hour hand. And as the oversized date wheel is driven from the hours, the gearing driving the date had to be reworked as well.
The Frog may portray the time in a playful manner, but there is nothing but serious and meticulous attention to detail and care regarding the fine hand-finishing of the high-tuned engine purring within its lightweight high-tech titanium case. A close inspection of the case is rewarded with carefully thought out detailing including a figure 8 engraved around the domes that mirrors the form of the display back(revealing dual ceramic bearings); distinctive clover-head white gold screws; and an engraved arrow discreetly indicating the easy to read over-sized date.
If the viewer's gaze manages to break away from the obiculate indications, it is likely to be arrested by the brightly-coloured 22K gold battle-axe winding rotor or the intricacies of the thoroughbred movement beneath. The HM3 Frog is available in Grade 5 titanium with blued rotor or a limited edition of 12 featuring mark-resistant black-coated titanium with green rotor.
Movement: Three-dimensional horological engine designed by Jean-Marc Wiederrecht/Agenhor; Girard-Perregaux oscillator and gear Balance oscillating at 28,800 bph. 22K blued rose gold battle-axe shaped ‘mystery’ automatic winding rotor Hour and minutes information transmitted via ceramic ball bearings to rotating domes. Number of jewels: 36 (all functional) Number of components: 304
Functions: Hour and day/night indicator on one dome (aluminium dome rotating in 12 hours) Minutes on second dome (aluminium dome rotating in 60 minutes) Date around the movement
Case: Grade 5 titanium/blue 22K gold rotor; limited edition of 12 black titanium/green 22K gold (black treated with mark-resistant silicon oxide) Screwed-down crown Dimensions (exclusive of crown and lugs): 47mm x 50mm x 16mm Number of case components: 53
Sapphire crystals: Domes and both display backs with anti-reflective treatment on both faces. Domes for indications: in aluminium, 0.58g
Dials: Rotating aluminium domes, stationary hands
Strap & Buckle: Black hand-stitched alligator with 18K white gold & titanium custom designed deployment buckle
Rebellion T-1000 Vertical Roller Timepiece with 1000 Hour Power Reserve
Published: March 23,
2010 | 06:27
"One of the horological highlights of Baselworld has to be the incredible rebellion T-1000 featuring 1000 hour power reserve, 6 mainspring barrels, two tiny chains, a double hairspring, titanium case and aluminum chassis."
Special thanks to Ian Skellern of UNDERTHEDIAL for his images and descriptions.
The 6 barrels are wound by this patented innovative (patented) lever that hinges upward from the case.
The winding lever clicks into place and looks integral to the case.
The force require to wind the T-1000 is very light and there is a tactile clicking ratchet sound as the lever is moved up and down.
On both sides of the T-1000 movement, a tiny chain distributes power between 3 barrels.
REBELLION T-1000
With a mind-blowing power reserve of more than 1,000 hours - that's more than 40 days - the T-1OOO doesn't simply push back the boundaries of the possible, it destroys them and creates its own reality.
Baselworld, March 2010 – After the successful presentation in January of The Predator, their first watch with a round case, Rebellion launched themselves into the creation of a never-before-realized challenge: creating a watch with a power reserve of more than 1,000 hours!
The T-1OOO – birth of a challenge It was in June 2008, after the famous 24 hours of Le Mans car race, in an atmosphere rich with the smell of motor oil and hot engines, that the team at Rebellion thought, "If we can transform these fine-tuned racing thoroughbreds into 24-hour long distance endurance racers, why not do the same with a watch? Why not see just how long the power reserve could be?" Sporting a body of pure design The body of the T-1OOO was designed in a collaboration of Eric Giroud and Rebellion. The case was developed concurrently with the movement to ensure completely harmonious integration. There is a sensation of flying as the viewer gazes down through the massive opening to the vertical roller-borne time indications below. Attention then plunges towards 6 o'clock, where the inclined double balance releases the immense power at a precisely controlled rate. A window in the side of the case reveals one of the mainspring barrels, with markers providing a natural "Fuel Gauge" of the state of the power reserve.
Controlling the power Housed three on each side of the body are the six mainspring barrels providing T-1OOO with its colossal energy reserve. The over-sized winding lever endows the T-1OOO with a strong and virile identity as well as an ergonomically tactile pleasure while "filling the tank". The streamlined downward taper of the case from the centre to 6 o'clock furnishes further evidence of Rebellion's car racing pedigree. A pedigree reinforced by the fact that a patented time-setting clutch activated by a push button in the crown makes setting the time as simple (and as pleasurable) as changing gears. The three rounded structures each side of the case provide a hint to the complex engineering within, while the innovative architecture of the majestic case is in perfect tune with the demand for exceptional contemporary horology. A true racing machine The power reserve of more than 1,000 hours is possible thanks to the six mainspring barrels that provide the T-1OOO with its exceptional capacity. In a patented system of energy distribution, six barrels are wound in parallel via a central prop shaft driving two chains, but they discharge in series (2 x 3) to optimize a regular power supply to the regulator. The technical ability behind the realization of this elegant technical solution came directly from Rebellion's long experience in endurance car racing and the Rebellion Racing team.
T-1OOO - TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Limited edition: 100 pieces
Calibre: REB T-1000, manual winding with integrated winding lever
Jewels: 14 ceramic & 22 rubies
Balance: double hairspring inclined at 39°
Winding system: Patented system of six mainsprings wound in parallel by chain and prop shaft.
The barrels discharge power in series to provide an optimal torque curve.
Indications: hours and minutes displayed on rollers
Power reserve: 1'000+ hours provided by six (2 x 3) vertical mainspring barrels
Number of components: 693 for the chassis
Balance frequency: 18'000 bph (2.5Hz)
Material: case in titanium and chassis in aluminium
Dimensions: 46,7 mm X 46,9 mm / 19,5 mm
Crown: time-setting mechanism using patented push-button clutch system
Water resistance: 50 metres
Strap: black alligator leather
Buckle: patented folding clasp with micrometric push button regulation allowing easy adjustment of length on the wrist.
CELSIUS X VI II MICRO-MECHANICAL REMONTAGE PAPILLON TOURBILLON MOBILE PHONE - APPROX $275,000 EACH
Published: March 11,
2010 | 04:46
If you won't be in Switzerland next week for the Baselworld watch fair for the world's first public viewing, don't worry, The Watchismo Times has an exclusive sneak peek of this über-gadget, the CELSIUS X VI II micro-mechanical tourbillon cell phone!
Celsius is a French company founded in 2006 by four young entrepreneurs. In March 2010, after three years of research and development with icons like Richard Mille and controversial movement maker "Confrerie Horlogere Hublot" (formerly BNB Concept), Celsius X VI II are launching a range of high-end micromechanical phones featuring some exceptional patented mechanical complications.
The first creation, a cell phone merged with a tourbillion watch featuring a patented Remontage Papillon mechanism, heralds a new generation of objects with high emotional value. CELSIUS X VI II reinvents micro-mechanical applications to humanize the future of communication: pushing the boundaries of established watchmaking, each creation will be a significant step towards the dream of a completely mechanical mobile phone: a phone in which every function will operate mechanically, solely through human energy.
Celsius X VI II has developed its first papillon item as an accessory for the contemporary aesthete. The successive design sketches reveal a quest for perfect elegant - skilfully contoured lines, fine materials and subtle details - through a functionalist approach, beauty without excess. The quality of the manufacture hints at a fine watchmaking influence. The pieces of the case are of the best workmanship, and most of the roughly 547 mechanical components are hand-finished. The aesthetic design plays with transparency to reveal the magic of the technology, to an even greater extent than would be allowed by the butterfly design alone.
The fact nonetheless remains that, tucked away inside its hinge, the item conceals a patented system that is activated when the wings are unfolded. Based on complex micromechanics, this innovation has its name - "Remontage Papillon" (butterfly rewinding) - spelled out on the top wing. Its presence has much to do with making this creation a favorite among enlightened enthusiasts. This ultimate appeal is an asset that opens up new horizons, as Celsius X VI II begins to explore mechanical functions that will revolutionize the world of communications, things never before seen or heard that in the future will become a major sector of the prestige market.
Celsius X VI II is fundamentally an innovative brand that combines mobile telephony with prestige watchmaking in creating nomadic objets d'art.
A dream that embraces a concept that is still impossible today but may one day come true: an entirely mechanical cellphone!
It will be unveiled next week at Baselworld 2010, starting price will approximately €200,000 ($275,000)
MB&F HOROLOGICAL MACHINE NUMBER 4 "THUNDERBOLT" Sneak Peek into the engine of the HM4
Published: March 11,
2010 | 03:55
In July 2010 MB&F will unveil its most radical Machine to date: The HM4 - Horological Machine No4 - "Thunderbolt".
As this image of the Engine of "Thunderbolt" reveals, Horological Machine No4 will feature a calibre that is a complete departure from any watch movement known today.
Max just forwarded me these early images of the movement and mentioned:
"I think people will start finally understanding why we call our movements “engines”.
I wanted to present the Engine alone so that all attention can be given to this amazing piece of machinery/horology. The whole idea of MB&F being about creating “kinetic art which gives time”, this HM4 engine symbolizes pretty well our creative philosophy."
MB&F (Maximilian Busser & Friends) was founded in 2005 by Maximilian Busser, former Managing Director of Harry Winston Rare Time Pieces and creator of the revolutionary Opus series. By harnessing the power of the Friends, dedicated collectives of the top independent artisans and watchmakers in Switzerland, MB&F creates contemporary time-telling mechanical sculptures. Each MB&F Horological Machine represents the best of the best in the world of watches. By giving full credit to the all star team creating each Machine, the pieces become a showpiece for the most cutting edge designs, the best finishing, the integration of new technologies, in all the highest quality possible.
The 4N MVT01 Four Numbers Disc Watch by François Quentin
Published: March 09,
2010 | 06:22
An interesting new concept watch from new brand 4N is being developed by François Quentin, one of the co-founders of the very cool independent watch brand HAUTLENCE.
4N was born from the desire to create a simple digital display and propose a mechanical alternative to analogue timepieces with moving hands. The name of the brand is derived from "4 Numbers", which refers to the four digits on a digital counter which represent the tens of hours, hours, tens of minutes and minutes. For more, visit the official 4N website.
Limited edition of 16 in 18-carat white gold and 16 in platinum
"Thomas had a problem: How to make the visibility of the tourbillon even better than his present watches. The solution: Just tuck everything except the tourbillon out of the way."
"A vision. That is normally the beginning of a time sculpture manufactured by Thomas Prescher. Guided by the idea to improve the perfect visibility of the central elements of his multi Axis Tourbillon Thomas Prescher composed a new breathtaking piece of art.
Only time, Tourbillon, calendar and oscillating weight are visible. The movement is completely hidden.
Place to hide the movement was found left and right in the case, hidden by the bezel. Because the space is very limited the parts of the movement had to be located on both sides.
Later, resting in a hammock the idea was born to create an automatic movement with horizontal swinging oscillating weight. To crown this exceptional piece of art, it was a logical decision to choose something special for the heart of this watch. The escapement with its beating balance has to be a flying Double Axis Tourbillon with constant force.
The idea to add a calendar to this creation came while observing some people entering a giant swing. They could move on the surface of the swing. Why not create an oscillating weight with integrated calendar indications and let the gravity take the calendar on the oscillating weight remains always horizontal.
This mysterious watch with its transparency led automatically to the wish to wear it from sides, front and back. With the calendar located on the flat side of the oscillating weight this indication is always facing upward. It can be read regardless of which side of the watch is up.
Respecting the aspects of harmony was an important point. Two crowns were used to keep the beauty of symmetry with. One crown is used for winding and the other for setting time and calendar. Both crowns build the main symmetry axis. Now it was necessary to build the optical balance between the oscillating weight on one side and the indication of time on the other side. For that reason a three dimensional moon was placed between the two barrels, indicating the hours and minutes.
Finally, placed on a turning axis, held by a carrying arm the carriage is rotating around itself. These two synchronized motions create a gyro scoping image immediately taking full attention.
"Thomas had a problem: How to make the visibility of the tourbillon even better than his present watches. The solution: Just tuck everything except the tourbillon out of the way."
"A vision. That is normally the beginning of a time sculpture manufactured by Thomas Prescher. Guided by the idea to improve the perfect visibility of the central elements of his multi Axis Tourbillon Thomas Prescher composed a new breathtaking piece of art.
Only time, Tourbillon, calendar and oscillating weight are visible. The movement is completely hidden.
Place to hide the movement was found left and right in the case, hidden by the bezel. Because the space is very limited the parts of the movement had to be located on both sides.
Later, resting in a hammock the idea was born to create an automatic movement with horizontal swinging oscillating weight. To crown this exceptional piece of art, it was a logical decision to choose something special for the heart of this watch. The escapement with its beating balance has to be a flying Double Axis Tourbillon with constant force.
The idea to add a calendar to this creation came while observing some people entering a giant swing. They could move on the surface of the swing. Why not create an oscillating weight with integrated calendar indications and let the gravity take the calendar on the oscillating weight remains always horizontal.
This mysterious watch with its transparency led automatically to the wish to wear it from sides, front and back. With the calendar located on the flat side of the oscillating weight this indication is always facing upward. It can be read regardless of which side of the watch is up.
Respecting the aspects of harmony was an important point. Two crowns were used to keep the beauty of symmetry with. One crown is used for winding and the other for setting time and calendar. Both crowns build the main symmetry axis. Now it was necessary to build the optical balance between the oscillating weight on one side and the indication of time on the other side. For that reason a three dimensional moon was placed between the two barrels, indicating the hours and minutes.
Finally, placed on a turning axis, held by a carrying arm the carriage is rotating around itself. These two synchronized motions create a gyro scoping image immediately taking full attention.
Mile Projects of Japan - Rays of Light "Good Afternoon Clock"
Published: August 24,
2009 | 05:32
From the Japan Design team Mile Projects comes this simple concept clock with rays of light for hands. The beams shine from thin holes in the inner bezel and appear to light the negative space dial (whatever the ring is hanging from). Mile Projects from Japan via The Design Blog
By now, many are aware of BNB Concept and their work – after all, it was only a matter of time before people started to wonder where the likes of Romain Jerome, De Witt, Hublot, Concord, Jacob & Co. and Bell & Ross acquired their blisteringly innovative tourbillons all of a sudden. Jorg Hysek’s HD3 visionaries were the only ones to freely admit the origins of their gothic-tech complications from the start, but once people started spotting BNB’s trademark spiral-spoked escape wheel all over the place, the cat was out of the bag. Once was a time when people were reluctant to reveal the minds behind their rent-a-calibres – now everyone's falling over themselves to get a piece of the BNB action and the instant provenance it brings. As BNB attests:
“BNB wishes not to become a new watch brand, but rather a label of quality. Should BNB create its own brand, it would inevitably become a competitor to its customers.”
Unlike Renaud & Papi's selective austerity or Christophe Claret's mercenary dictatorship, BNB is a genuinely cool, relaxed community of eager young things with genuinely new ideas about how watches should work – with no less than five facilities in Duillier, Crans-près-Céligny, La Vallée de Joux, La Chaux-de-Fonds and Nyon at their disposal, all crammed full of the latest tools, CNC machines, electroplating and engraving machines, and rank-upon-rank of sterile assembly lines. What’s doubly impressive about BNB is that they make complete WATCHES for their 25-or-so clients – not just the multi-plane/dual-axis tourbillon movements they’re famous for. For a five-year-old outfit, that’s serious progress.
Members of the Confrérie Horlogere 2008-2009 and Mathias Buttet (CEO and founder BNB Concept ; founder Confrérie Horlogère).
From the left: David Rodriguez, Ranieri Illicher, Clara Bise, Mathias Buttet, Ken Koshiyama, Sabitry Montandon, Gabriel Salgado-de Arce, Brigitte Carneiro.
It was therefore inevitable, despite the abovementioned pledge, that as a fully verticalized entity, BNB would eventually indulge in its own vanity projects – albeit under an alternative banner, "Confrérie Horlogère". (Perhaps reminiscent of Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey’s Complitime factory, which bankrolled proceedings before they unleashed their eponymous double tourbillon).
Confrérie Horlogère is a bit Opus, a bit Maitres du Temps, a bit Time Aeon – only the emphasis is on nurturing youngsters with ideas beyond their usual means. And in this first year, no less than seven talents and four almost-complete watches have been put on pedestals by BNB’s effusive CEO Matthias Buttet (one of the "B"s in BNB - the others being Barbasini and Navas, all of them formerly of Franck Muller’s Watchland - Buttet as a micro-technical engineer, Navas and Barbasini as prototypists).
In Buttet’s words:
“The Confrérie Horlogère, far from being a product, is an ambitious project to promote such values as work, creativeness, craftsmanship, community spirit, respect and above all freedom of women and men moved by the will to express themselves through excellence, as well as unexpected design.”
And I’m pleased to report that every one of Buttet’s fresh-faced prodigies have come up with equally amazing movements and watches... It really is quite incredible to see such a tranche of brilliance emerge all at once.
Every year, Confrérie Horlogère will select a maximum of 7 “graduates” to develop their own watch, produced on a very small-scale – no more than 10 pieces each. And unlike many flash-in-the-pan pantomime projects, which run the danger of costing more to fix and service over a lifetime than the watch itself (if indeed you find a capable-enough and willing watchmaker in the first place, once the flash-in-the-pan brand has gone belly-up) the CH timepieces will benefit from a lifetime’s guarantee. Buttet trusts his kids that much.
This year’s 7 “companions” are:
1. David Rodriguez, a Peruvian watchmaker, whose “la Résilience” tourbillon demonstrates sublimely anarchic finishing with Punk overtones that actually reveal through its scars and stitching the difficulties Rodriguez faced as an abused orphan on crutches who, finally, found in Switzerland and watchmaking a refuge. Metaphorically biographical watchmaking – surely a world first?
la Résilience
2. Brigitte Carneiro, watchmaker, with “la Face Cachée”
la Face Cachée
3. Ken Koshiyama, watchmaker, with “Racines japonaises”
4. Ranieri Illicher, watchmaker, whose la Passion à l’italienne micro-brand debuts with the “Bel Canto” minute repeater tourbillon – a chiming watch literally suspended in a bell, which also serves as the watch case – why didn’t anyone think of this before?!
Bel Canto Minute Repeater (thanks to DonCorson Watchprosite.com)
5. Sabitry Montandon, watchmaker
6. Clara Bise, watchmaker
7. Gabriel Salgado de Arce, engraver and chaser of watch components, whose coral reef ImmenSEAty just defies all watch-finishing convention. Words can’t do this justice.
ImmenSEAty
8. An eighth Companion has already been selected for the year 2009- 2010. His name is Jérôme Siegrist, a watchmaker who is already involved in an ambitious project that focuses on recreating and scaling down to wristwatch dimensions an extremely complex mechanism built, anachronistically, two centuries B.C. and salvaged from a shipwreck in 1901. Antikythera will be presented by the end of 2009, but you can get an inkling of what to expect-->here.
The ANTIKYTHERA mechanism wristwatch concept
Beside these individual “Complications” watches, the Companions will all be collaborating on joint Confrerie Horlogère projects, either as small-series “Classiques” or one-off “Masters” pieces. So far, there’s Masters Clef du Temps – an ornately skeletonised vertical tourbillon movement (presumably derived from the one developed for Concord, but as usual completely original and unlike anything seen before) – and Classiques Chronographe Tourbillon Pulsion 1 (I’ve run out of superlatives….)
The Confrérie Horlogère’s Only Watch 09 (by BNB Concept) is “La Clef du Temps” (the Key to Time) – a watch created by Buttet in collaboration with the brand’s R&D team. It is the first timepiece created in the “Les Masters” collection. It is a working prototype of a sophisticated timepiece called “La Clef du Temps”, which will be produced in small series after the Only Watch 09 auction. It is an innovative tourbillon watch featuring a hand-wound mechanical movement with hour and minute indications, a 3-day power reserve indication (PRI) in a 120° sectoral indicator at 8 o’clock and retrograde running seconds at 4 o’clock. The retrograde seconds of 0, 30, 60 depict the rhythm of time as it passes, and the power reserve reminds you when to rewind the piece as it makes its 0, ½, and 3-day passage. Like a body, if you don’t eat properly your body doesn’t function properly, and so with the watch if you forget to rewind it.
“The funds from Only Watch are there to indirectly help the children suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy,” says Buttet. “So I thought: what is it that everyone hopes for? Everyone hopes that these children will live longer than expected. I wanted this watch to express this dilemma.”
Buttet wanted the piece to convey two very important and thought-provoking concepts associated with being a parent: Firstly, the idea that however rich you are, true luxury lies in the freedom to manage one’s time as one wishes; secondly, the watch has a sophisticated mechanism that allows the wearer to “adjust the speed” of his personal time by adjusting a simple three-position lever that alters the running speed of the hours and the minutes.
Hence Position 1 the pace of time slows by half so that the true value of one hour is displayed as a half-hour on the dial. Position 2 the pace of time stays at true/standard time. Position 3 the pace of time runs at double speed so a true/standard half-hour becomes a full hour on the dial of the watch.
As Buttet says, “This way, pleasant moments can be made to last twice as long while unpleasant ones can be shortened by half while the ability to ‘return’ to true time is always there.” The watch’s extremely sophisticated mechanism allows the watch’s time indications to remain in positions 1 or 3 as long as its wearer wishes, since a simple turn of the lever to position 2 (the watch’s memory) resets the hour and the minute hand to the real time of day.
As Buttet sees it, it’s his way of extracting some form of balance from a seemingly unjust world that makes us feel that when life is good, time flies, but it slows to a crawl during the rough patches. As with a child with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the pleasure of the good times passes all too fast and the painful moments all too slow.
The movement is shaped like a stylized human brain because, according to Mathias Buttet, “Time is a sort of “state of mind” which is the result of the will of any single person. Not to have time to do something is, at the end, a personal decision and it is not at all something imposed by someone else. Every person decides if he or she wants to have the time to do or not to do something.” Moreover he adds “If you look at the figures on the dial you will see that they are mirror images of themselves. Some numbers are reflected face-to-face, showing the moments that are the result of the one’s will; others are reflected back-to-back: in this case, it is fate that controls your life.”
The futuristic case is shaped like a spaceship – ever searching for a better life, and the strap is composed of four rubber-clad steel strands. Lifetime warranty and the totally Swiss-made provenance of its every part and component are other characteristics of the “La Clef du Temps”.
