Creating a Grande Sonnerie is not for the feeble minded. This is an undertaking which sits within the holiest of the holy within the ranks of complicated watchmaking. The ultimate complication. The big Kahuna. The Grande Sonnerie. Greubel Forsey, famed for their inclined tourbillons now join these rarefied ranks, and announces their own Grande…
Many watches hold a special significance for their owners. The watch I am chronicling here didn’t just change someone’s life, it changed MY life: the Jean Daniel Nicolas Two-Minute Tourbillon by Daniel Roth.
Many watches hold a special significance for their owners. The watch I am chronicling here didn’t just change someone’s life, it changed MY life: the Jean Daniel Nicolas Two-Minute Tourbillon by Daniel Roth.
The accuracy of a watch is always subject to the influences of gravity. Changes in position can have significant effects on how effectively a watch keeps time, particularly disturbances in the balance wheel isochronism. Traditionally speaking, watchmakers have tried to counter the negative effects of gravity by using rotating devices to average out positional errors: the tourbillon – patented by Breguet in 1801 – and the carrousel – patented by the Danish horologist Bonniksen in 1892. Today, Monochrome goes hands-on with the stunning Blancpain Tourbillon Carrousel, which for the first time combines both systems, coupled by a differential gearing mechanism.
At Baselworld 2015, an icon was back; the Corum Bubble – a watch that first came on the market in 2000, a watch with a unique bulb shape, large and thick, full of distortions but a watch that served a major role in the brand’s recent history. It seems that what is now the main cool factor of these older versions, meaning the countless and all unexpected limited to unique editions, is back – see this version for illustration. Today, the Corum Bubble send a fatal message to gravity, with the unique piece Flying Tourbillon Skull.
While a conventional tourbillon is already mesmerizing to watch, a multi-axis tourbillon only multiplies this pleasure. Let’s take a look at some of the
El Primero: two words that spell out a legend. Zenith’s high-frequency chronograph movement has been around for over 40 years, yet still, has no problem
As watch journalists, one of the most recurring questions we have is how a small wrist accessory (a.k.a a watch) can have a 5 or 6-digit price tag? And clearly, for those who are not entirely into watches, that’s an entirely justified question. In order to draw an answer to this highly complex and delicate question, we took Davide Cerrato, Managing Director of Montblanc Watch Division, apart for a properly interesting discussion. Davide will guide us inside the Montblanc Villeret Manufacture, the haute-horlogerie sanctuary of the brand, to discover the beauty of real hand-finishing as it’s executed by Montblanc’s watchmakers. Polishing, Anglages, Tourbillon… Let us bring you in this fascinating world of hand-decoration through a long, in-depth video.
A universe on the wrist: there is simply no other way to describe the Astronomia by Jacob & Co. This watch is a testimony to the development of watchmaking, not as a practical science, but as a form of art. Yes, the Astronomia tells time. But that becomes a mere detail lost in the visual impact that this watch provides.
We examined the Arnold & Son Constant Force Tourbillon and chatted with Dr. Sébastien Chaulmontet Head of Innovation at the watchmaker to discover what makes this watch special. …