December 10, 2018

CURATORS OF TIME

by AHMED SEDDIQI & SONS

Superbrands may dominate the narrative, but often it’s the watchmaking independents that give watch appreciation its colour.

The temptation when considering the global mechanical watch industry is to think of it in geographical terms. Switzerland is the hub, Germany and Japan play a pivotal role, America and China do mass production, and then countries such as Britain, France and Holland make up the supporting cast.

Another way, and perhaps a smarter way of looking at it, is to see it as a network of big groups and smaller independents. The groups, such as Swatch, Richemont and LVMH, own the lion’s share of the traditional watch industry (add in Rolex and Patek Philippe and you have the majority) and dominate the story with their volume and marketing dollar.

But the footnotes are just as if not more interesting. This is where you’ll find a swathe of colourful independents, whose creativity and appetite for experimentation give watchmaking so much of its personality. Here are half a dozen that make the point.

Urwerk UR-105 CT Kryptonite

Urwerk’s wildly imaginative collection now includes this, the UR-105 CT Kryptonite, a watch that shares its name with the green material Superman finds so poisonous. The link is in the luminescent material applied to the watch’s numerals, which emits a vivid green light in darkness. Urwerk’s signature wandering hours system is in play here, as is the brand’s Art Deco-inspired, grooved, octagonal case, this time coated in black AlTiN.

Christophe Claret Maestro

The dial of Christophe Claret’s Maestro has a three-dimensional form, its hands, bridges and indicators brought together like a small city. They’re housed under a bulbous glass dome that spans the entirety of the watch, which viewed side-on looks a bit like a snow globe. Its standout functions are its conical big date display at 5 o’clock, and its equally conical but smaller display between 3 and 4 o’clock dubbed MEMO, a mechanical reminder function.

Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Edition Historique

The brilliance of Greubel Forsey would take a lifetime to fully appreciate, but a glimpse of it comes through the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Edition Historique, an asymmetrical watch with a tourbillon that completes a full 360-degree turn in just 24 seconds (normally tourbillons complete a full turn in a minute). It also has a sectorial power reserve indicator between 2 and 3 o’clock, and a small seconds disc at 6. Greubel Forseys’s Editions Historiques sign off a collection – the last 22 of these produced will be split 50/50 between platinum and red gold.

F.P. Journe Chronographe Monopoussoir Rattrapante Titane

The florid French name of F.P. Journe’s sports watch might need some translation – in plain(ish) English, this is a watch with a monopusher double chronograph. Translated again, that means two things. One, the standard chronograph function is started, stopped and reset via a single button (at 2 o’clock). And two, the chronograph has two central seconds hands that can be stopped and started independently (via the button at 4 o’clock) for recording split times. This watch also has a big date, and its 44mm case and bracelet are made of Grade 5 titanium.

Christiaan van der Klaauw CDVK Planetarium

The Dutch watchmaker’s poetic micro-mechanical masterpiece has a simple, although prodigious claim – it contains the smallest mechanical heliocentric planetarium in the world, showing the real-time orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn around the sun. Remarkably, that means it’ll take almost 30 years before Saturn makes a full tour of the subdial at 6 o’clock. It also shows the date and month, and has a sparkling, star-like blue aventurine glass dial. Believe it or not, this extreme complication is housed in a steel case.