Innovations, intentions and interrogations - Modern Times - Part 2 of 3

A sign of the times, Ferrier’s timeless watch (similar in certain respects to one from H. Moser & Cie) overshadowed almost all of the other spectacular propositions that were to be discovered elsewhere at the show. And there were lots, enough to satisfy all sorts of watch aficionados.
Among the other truly spectacular pieces was a watch presented this year by Jean Dunand. We are already familiar with the fastidious and uncompromising design standards of Thierry Oulevay, the driving force and inspiration behind the Jean Dunand brand, who works with Christophe Claret, the man who takes care of the technical design and fabrication. After the Orbital Tourbillon and the Shabaka, the Geneva brand plunged even deeper into its Art Nouveau and Art Déco roots with the Palace. Inspired directly from the construction principles of the Eiffel Tower, drawing from the mechanical imagination of Chaplin’s classic film Modern Times and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Jean Dunand’s Palace succeeds in intermingling and integrating, in a rather amazing manner, a mechanical construction with a case that is innovative while at the same time reminiscent of this era of splendour. The plates evoke the steel elements of the metallic bridges mounted on ten small pillars visible from the cut-out sides of the case whose arches also call to mind the Eiffel Tower. A tiny linked chain equipped with a minuscule tensioner, recalling the chains of vintage motorcycles, transmits the energy to the barrel. Everything, right down to the slightest detail and the smallest part, has been well thought out and designed in keeping with the major motifs of this historical period.

PALACE by Jean Dunand

On each side of the flying tourbillon, located at 6 o’clock and surmounted with a 60-minute chronograph counter on a sapphire disc, can be seen two linear vertical indicators each evoking an elevator. The one on the right displays the power reserve (72 hours) and the one on the left shows GMT. The 24 hours of the GMT are marked by an arrow that rises vertically. When the disc reaches the top of one scale, the arrow quickly rotates 180 degrees to chart the scale on the other side and moves down in 12 hours. We will come back soon, in more detail, to this imposing single-pusher chronograph, whose titanium case measures 48 mm by 49 mm. Each timepiece is also totally unique.

The great animations
The Palace is not the only watch to utilize a chain transmission system. The chain, in all its forms, seems actually to be quite popular (is this a post-V4 effect?). Hautlence, with its concept HL2.0, has pushed the spectacular a little bit further with its offer of a veritable kinetic sculpture, where it has structured the display—as we know, displays are this brand’s specialty—around a jumping hour on a 12-link chain moved by a connecting rod system. Like for the Palace, inspiration for the HL2.0 was drawn from the grand epoch of the industrial revolution, in this case by the steam locomotives of yesteryear.
Hautlence has gone even further by having the escapement assembly move with the jumping of every hour, thus jumping 60 degrees from its former position. Like Laurent Ferrier, the Palace uses a Straumann double balance spring, showing that the most traditional types of watchmaking and the most novel creations both draw from the same sources. To my knowledge, it is the first time that we are seeing the regulating organ not only jumping—balance, balance spring, palettes, palettes wheel, fourth wheel and third wheel all make a rotation in an axis parallel to the wrist— but, even more amazing, one that is driven by the display. Generally, the process is the other way around.

HL2 by Hautlence

Moreover, because of the positioning of the balance, the compensation for equilibrium errors of the balance spring is similar to that obtained by a tourbillon. We will come back to this watch also, since it is now in the prototype stage. But in passing, we might mention the consistency in the brand’s approach since Hautlence—which has come back from afar after the departure of one of its two founders—has always insisted on favouring research into various and different types of mechanical displays.
Yet, Hautlence is not the only one to dabble in spectacular displays. One of its Basel cousins, the very punk-rock brand, Ladoire, secretly showed us its next project. While we cannot provide any more details, we can tell you that it will be more than just a Grand Complication. It will be a veritable Grand Animation...

The pendulum swings back
On the subject of innovation, TAG Heuer once again made a big splash with its rather sensational announcement of the first mechanical movement without a balance spring—the TAG Heuer Pendulum Concept. For the moment, it is only a ‘concept’ because its definitive development has encountered an obstacle—a large one—that we will return to later in the article. The principle of this piece, however, is quite impressive and will probably open new and original avenues in timekeeping.
After having attacked, with its V4, one of the elements in the trilogy of classical mechanical watchmaking—transmission—by introducing the use of belts, TAG Heuer is today turning its attention to the second element—regulation—before perhaps moving into the third element, energy accumulation.
TAG Heuer’s objective is to create a mechanical oscillator that is totally different from anything we know today. Having chosen to maintain the same escapement and the escapement wheel, it was the heart of the system, the balance spring, that the brand’s engineers set their sights upon. This is because the balance spring, however well it performs, is nonetheless sensitive to gravity and to shocks, two fundamental problems that are not entirely solved by using other materials such as silicon, for example.

TAG HEUER PENDULUM CONCEPT

TAG Heuer’s research centred on a totally original technique: a device made up of four magnets. Two of these magnets, a positive and a negative, magnetized in one single direction, are maintained face to face on the inner edge of a fixed rounded support in soft iron, thus forming a sort of Faraday cage. At the centre, in the axis of the balance wheel supported by a traditional bridge, are two magnets on a rotating mobile whose positive and negative poles alternate, thus creating a magnetic field on each part of the device.
To make this work, it was necessary to create a special shape for the magnets in order to make their force ‘linear’ (since one of the problems with magnets is that their strength decreases very rapidly, inversely proportional to the square of the distance). It was also necessary to place them in a precise position in order to control them in three dimensions, therefore allowing them to furnish an adequate linear return torque for the alternating oscillations of the balance.
What are the advantages of this system? There are several. The magnetic fields are not sensitive to gravity or to shocks, which eliminates two of the major problems of the traditional balance spring. In addition, the simplicity of their assembly greatly facilitates the work of the watchmaker. On the other hand, there is a serious stumbling block, as was openly acknowledged by Stéphane Linder, Vice-President in charge of marketing and design—the magnets are very sensitive to temperature, a problem that has not yet been resolved.

The first incarnation of the 1887 movement in the TAG Heuer Carrera 1887 chronograph, which, with its very classic design, favours readability, ergonomics and security (double push-pieces with lateral pressure).

The challenge for TAG Heuer then is to find a type of magnet that is the least sensitive to temperature variations as possible. (In a similar way, it is the same problem that watchmakers faced with the balance spring before the invention of Elinvar by Guillaume in the 1920s.) Once this challenge has been met—who knows when that will be—the Pendulum, with its 6 Hz, 43,200 vibrations per hour, no loss of amplitude, and the possibility to modulate its frequency without overburdening the power supply, we will see significant advantages in terms of precision and performance.
On its industrial side, TAG Heuer this year presented its already famous calibre 1887, a column-wheel chronograph with an oscillating pinion. This was developed, as we officially know now, based on the TC78 by Seiko Instruments. The initial communication ‘bug’ having been promptly corrected (see more on this subject in Europa Star 1/10), the brand was able to then concentrate more serenely on this import-ant realization. TAG Heuer invested 20 million Swiss Francs to develop this original piece along with its industrial production tool, which was configured to manufacture several tens of thousands of movements per year. Clearly, this investment was done within the framework of creating its own movement, assuring TAG Heuer a vital independence in this sector.
The 1887 is a robust movement, designed to be easily serviced while offering high quality performance, thanks notably to a new version of the oscillating pinion invented by Edouard Heuer in 1887, which when associated with the column wheel allows for the ‘coupling’ of the chronograph to 2/1000th of a second. We will also return to this movement in more detail in our next issue.

Zenith in tenth heaven
Speaking of chronographs, Zenith—another brand in the LVMH portfolio—presented its highly anticipated calibre, the El Primero Striking 10th. This innovative piece, which allows easy reading of 1/10th of a second, remarkably demonstrates the re-orientation of Zenith being carried out by its new management under the direction of Jean-Frédéric Dufour.
Zenith is returning to its historical roots, where precision is a cardinal horological value, something ignored by the flamboyancy of the previous years. At the same time, the brand is being repositioned economically to offer real content and value for a ‘correct’ price. In this case, the price is around €8,000 for a steel case and leather bracelet, which competes directly with the all steel Daytona for €7600.
With the Striking 10th, Zenith was ‘simply’ intending to display the natural performance of the El Primero movement. With its 36,000 vibrations per hour, it requires its chronographic hand to make ten jumps per second (remember that one hour has 3,600 seconds). Up to the present, this particularity was not readable in tenths of a second on the dial. The questions Zenith’s engineers asked themselves were how to transmit them in order to display them?
The classic sweep seconds hand, making either one rotation of the dial in one second, or depending on the case, four or five jumps per second, does not allow for an easy division of short periods of time, for example divisions of 1/8th or 1/5th of a second. Zenith’s solution was therefore to graduate the periphery of the dial into 100 divisions, which the hand would cover in ten seconds, with each division corresponding to so many 1/10ths of the total.

EL PRIMERO Striking 10th by Zenith

Still, for the display, it was necessary to find a technical solution to capture these ten div-isions per second. At the heart of the system is a double wheel made of silicon that turns at 36,000 vibrations per hour and is directly connected to the coupling wheel. This drives the 100-toothed chronograph wheel corresponding to 100 1/10ths of a second per rotation around the dial completed in 10 seconds.
When the stop is activated, the coupling gear moves precisely into the silicon double wheel. The hand—via the 100-toothed chronograph wheel—stops instantaneously before one of these 100 divisions. Contrary to comments heard here and there, this very lovely realization is not the first mechanical watch to indicate 1/10th of a second. Among others was a Longines chronograph in the 1970s that util-ized the Vernier scale (a principle that bears the name of its inventor who described it in 1631, and that is found, for example, in the calliper rule). The hand is directly extended by a minuscule movable scale ranging from 0 to 9 that, by alignment on the seconds scale, indicates the 10th. Another example, closer to our time, is TAG Heuer’s Grand Carrera Calibre 36 Caliper Chronograph, which uses the same Vernier principle but integrated into a mobile scale inside the dial.
On the other hand, this is really the first time that the principle of sweep seconds has been used at the 1/10th level, one that only an oscillation of 36,000 vibrations per hour would allow. Whatever the case, the Striking 10th is certainly emblematic of the new path being followed by Zenith. And beyond that, of our era?

The serenity of two temples
Not far from Zenith, at the most preferred location in the show, the booths of the two watch behemoths stand facing each other on either side of the large central corridor: Rolex and Patek Philippe. These structures are, in a certain way, like two temples. One is in the form of an impregnable fortress complete with an esplanade leading to a grand stairway. The other is white, with softer lines, a bit reminiscent of the Guggenheim Museum.
At these two temples, the often-touted slogan of ‘return to basics’ is not applicable. Why? For the simple reason that neither of these two brands has ever (or nearly ever) deviated from this premise. When you enter into their imposing stands, you know what to expect and, in the midst of the Basel maelstrom, I can assure you that this is very reassuring and welcoming.

SUBMARINER DATE by Rolex

At Rolex, the presentation was very pragmatic. The latest models were brought out—no startling news, no rupture with the past. It is always the same thing, but it is always better, and therein resides the secret of Rolex. With some discreet touches—a few small improvements, the use of different materials, notably Cerachrome, the play of colours—the models become more sophisticated and, as always, are impeccably motorized. Rolex is to watches what German cars are to the automobile—a sure value.
At the same time as we were shown the watches, we were told their prices. The new and lovely Submariner Date with a bezel in Cerachrome and blue Chromalight costs 7,600 CHF. What about its green version with a green gold dial? For this, you are looking at 8,100 CHF. As for the new 39-mm Explorer with a Parachrom balance spring and Paraflex shock absorbers, it has a price tag of 5,900 CHF. Then there is the new 31-mm DateJust Lady with a choice of dials in chocolate, olive green, or purple that ranges from 6,500 CHF to 14,000 CHF depending on how many diamonds you want. These prices are a simple way to demonstrate that, in the price/quality/prestige equation, Rolex has no competition—and is not about to have any in the near future. Why? Contrary to the image of ‘supreme luxury’ that Rolex has acquired and due to the fact that Rolex is obviously out of reach for the majority of the population on the planet, we can nonetheless still say that it is the most affordable of the prestige brands.
In terms of frivolous luxury of the last decade, even if it is not in the best shape these days, we were still able to find great examples of it in the colourful corridors of the big BaselWorld powwow.

Rolex seems firmly decided to promote its second brand, Tudor, and give it the means to finance its new ambitions. We have seen over the last few months the increase in the brand’s communication that multiplies the initiatives in the domain of sports and other publicity events. This renewed drive for Tudor, led by a young team, is based on two major lines, Grand Tour and Glamour. Emblematic of the current vogue for ‘going flatter’, the lovely Tudor Heritage Chrono, as its name indicates, draws inspiration from the historic brand’s past (founded in 1929). It has reworked and modernized the forms and proportions of the case, bezel, horns, and bracelets of its 1970s timepiece dedicated to car racing. Surfing on the ‘vintage’ vogue, which highlights even more the black, orange and grey cloth strap, this Tudor piece is quite attractive and is priced around €3,000.

• Part 1 of 4 – The watch industry’s big powwow
• Part 2 of 4 – Modern times
• Part 3 of 4 – Cleansing the eyes
• Part 4 of 4 – More Japanese and more global

Source: Europa Star June - July 2010 Magazine Issue