The Roger Dubuis Hommage collection has produced exceptional pieces, but one has stood out to me as a masterpiece worthy of a deeper look because of its sheer awesomazingness. That piece is the Hommage Minute Repeater Tourbillon Automatic. Because with the Hommage Minute Repeater you can see virtually everything!
In many machines, there is always one, or yes, maybe a few, components without which the machine becomes something fundamentally different. And so it goes in a wristwatch. You might have noticed that I do not say “watch” and instead say “wristwatch.” This is entirely deliberate as a pocket watch and a wristwatch are two different machines. They share a large amount of components and are definitely related, but one “function critical” component sets them apart. You can see where I am going with this: it’s the watch strap.
The Breguet Reine de Naples collection launched in 2002 following the historic description of an “oblong (repeater) for bracelet.” This now-iconic feminine shape was resurrected 190 years after Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, commissioned Abraham-Louis Breguet to make the repeater for her royal wrist. The Reine de Naples’ oval-shaped case is a rare sight in watchmaking, but it serves to make one of the most memorable watches in production today.
When you think of fantasy and science fiction, what do you think of? I sometimes allow my imagination to drift into the paranormal and early twentieth-century years of discovery. This is the world that inspired the creation of Frank Buchwald’s latest creation for the M.A.D. Gallery, which is, of course, the Nixie Machine, a fantabulous clock featuring rare and giant Nixie tubes produced in the 1960s by the state-owned RFT in East Germany. I can imagine this clock in a variety of fictional settings from the worlds of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and even Isaac Asimov.
Imagine that you are stranded on Mars. That’s the premise of ‘The Martian,’ a novel by Andy Weir. The watch by Cyrus that will bring us to the red planet is the Klepcys Mars, an awesome dual retrograde timepiece with a miniature rotating Mars beneath the crystal. Though you’ll have to read the book or wait for the movie to know how Watney deals with his situation, one of the cool details of this Klepcys is the three-dimensional Mars that makes one full revolution in a Martian day.
This is the first installment in a new series of articles focusing on a single concept. I’m calling it “Here’s Why.” Here I explain here’s why a watch is more like a motorcycle (and an iPod) than a car. To help me find the answers, I spoke to a few serious motorbike riders who also love mechanical watches, such as Bremont ambassador Charley Boorman and motorcycle enthusiast and watch journalist Keith Strandberg. The answers will surprise you.
Calculating large numbers is a pain if all you have handy is your brain and a pencil. This is why people have created systems and objects to make the process easier. The Greubel Forsey Quantième Perpétuel à Équation has a mechanical computer that calculates the dates for the perpetual calendar and equation of time. This is a complete departure from the traditional perpetual calendar mechanism.
Ulysse Nardin’s Stranger burst onto the scene in 2013, the first wristwatch with a visible music box mechanism. It plays 16 seconds of Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night.” The latest is a Stranger for the 2015 Only Watch auction, which is a one-of-one unique example that plays “We are the Champions” by Queen.
Yup, I would wear a women’s watch. The Arceau Temari is Hermès’ incredible take on embroidered Japanese temari balls combined with hard stone marquetry and diamond snow setting. The result, clearly, is a mesmerizing visual feast!
Waxing poetically about moon phases has gotten me excited to take a trip through certain “phases” of engineering excellence to discuss the most accurate moon phase complications in a wristwatch today. Here we bring you the eight most accurate moon phases fitted into a wristwatch. These are examples that far exceed the norm when it comes to engineering, precision, and finely toothed gears. Join us on this odyssey through space and time.