“This is what happens when you head toward the edge of imagination.”
This snippet of a sentence is one I vaguely caught someone in the Emmanuel Bouchet Baselworld 2016 booth saying as Ian and I stopped in to take a look at the latest iterations of the Swiss watchmaker’s ingenious Complication One.
Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One with gunmetal case and chalcedony dial
As you can read in Complication One By Emmanuel Bouchet Featuring A Giant Swiss Lever Escapement, we are big fans of Bouchet’s work in general and the ingeniously complicated Complication One in particular.
What we were shown at Baselworld 2016, though, was truly imaginative: funky new, definitely out-of-the-ordinary colors for such a serious and technical timepiece.
Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One in green color scheme
Quick recap of Complication One’s technical elements
You can read up on what this watch does in detail in Ian’s excellent article mentioned above, so I’m only going to provide a brief recap of its technical prowess here.
Bouchet has developed an auxiliary large, slow escapement that beats once every 15 seconds rather than multiple times per second like a conventional escapement.
Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One in gunmetal case with chalcedony dial
And for emphasis, he has placed its dual escape wheel – though it is hardly recognizable as two until you note the unusual lever running between them – smack dab in the middle of the dial for all to clearly see, making it – rather than the time display – the center of attention.
View through the curved display back to the curved movement of the Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One Blue
But Complication One’s movement also contains a conventional escapement on the back – with its own spring barrel to power the hour and minute displays: the minutes are displayed by two hands, one showing a retrograde tens of minute indication, the other “normal” single digit minutes.
Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One with blue case and dial
The second escapement on the front is “only” there to regulate the seconds. It also has its own spring barrel.
Vibrant colors
At Baselworld 2016, Bouchet debuted his interesting Complication One in a few new color schemes, beginning with a beautiful vibrant blue one. And this starts with the blue case, which is fresh and exciting thanks to a blue PVD coating on top of the white gold case.
Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One with blue case and dial
To achieve this level of crisp color, the white gold case underneath must of course be immaculately finished.
Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One with green dial
Another really exciting color scheme for this watch is green: by adding a green leather strap and a dial based on a light green chalcedony stone, the watch takes on a whole new look.
Likewise for an onyx dial paired with a red strap.
Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One with black onyx dial
You may also notice on these new versions that the Reuleaux triangle, which is part of the dial-side escapement, is now in synthetic ruby on several of the new versions rather than the synthetic colorless corundum of the original version.
This helps the viewer to notice the contrast and follow the beauty of its motions much easier.
Emmanuel Bouchet Complication One on the wrist
Though the Complication One is unique for its unusual technical elements and the quality of the individual components, it still has a classic feel to it. This is why the vibrant colors make for such a beautiful contrast.
I’m really liking that contrast. How about you?
Quick Facts Complication One Blue
Movement: manually wound Caliber EB-1963; 72 hours power reserve; frequency 2.5 Hz + 0.67 Hz; 485 components; secondary escapement dial-side; two independent gear trains with two spring barrels (55 hours power reserve)
Case: 44 x 11.2 mm, blue PVD-coated white gold
Dial: chalcedony or onyx base
Functions: hours, retrograde tens-of-minutes, minutes, seconds; day/night indicator; power reserve indicator on back
Limitation: 10 pieces
Price: $115,000
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I need to know the price of this watch. ..
Scroll to the bottom, we always post pricing if we can get it.
very expensive
I was so surprise with the price,expensive but base on the illustrated materials its really resonble and very good quality.
I want this watch
You have great taste!
How much this watch
The price is at the bottom of the article, at the bottom of the Quick Facts.
Regards, Ian