”Everything has already been done in the realm of the mechanical timepiece.” Who dared say that just a few years ago? There were many, in fact, who either thought it or proclaimed it loud and clear. Oh, but how wrong they were! Actually, over the last few years, quite the opposite has happened. The annals of timekeeping will certainly remember the current period as being one of the richest in the already very long history of the mechanical watch. However, the hybridization between mechanical tradition and computer-aided machining and robotics of the 21st century is taking the mechanical watch to vast new heights. It is also permitting the art of time to transcend certain impasses that tradition, limited by the means of its actions, was locked into. Let’s take a look…

Audemars Piguet has re-invented and surpassed the Robin escapement; a system developed in 1791 but, having exceeded the technical capabilities of the era, was soon relegated to the dusty drawers of history.

Seiko, pushing even farther the envelope of hybridization between the mechanical approach and the ‘tri-synchro’ escapement whose energy comes from an automatic winding device, is proposing a ‘sonnerie’ that is totally new. Not only is it activated by the ‘viscosity of air’ (thus no mechanical contact), but also its tempo and sound quality resonate with Japanese serenity.

Greubel & Forsey, thanks to their E.W.T. (Experimental Watch Technology) research, have succeeded in developing, in just a few short years, a Double Tourbillon 30°, which is now functional, a Differential Quadruple Tourbillon (in the construction phase), and a 24 Seconds Inclined Tourbillon (in the development phase). All of these have crossed new barriers in timekeeping.

Kari Voutilainen, with his veritable one-man manufacture, working in collaboration with an ingenious artisan who has taken refuge in the South of France, equips his completely handcrafted chronographs with a revolutionary balance spring, which is anti-magnetic and insensitive to thermal variations. The result is exceptional chronometry.

We can continue in the same vein, citing in passing the research conducted by TAG Heuer with its highly anticipated V4, or its recent mechanical 360 chronograph, capable of measurements to 100th of a second, a performance never before attained by a gear train system. We can also mention the advances in the domain of materials such as the use of silicon by Patek Philippe. We must also not forget the original research into chronometry carried out by François-Paul Journe, or the new solutions he is proposing with his Sonnerie Souveraine. The list goes on and on.

The examples are legion. And, they do not concern only the mechanical heart of the watch, but extend to its aesthetics as well. Timepiece styling is undergoing profound changes, and a striking illustration is the ‘tri-dimensionality’ design inaugurated by the aptly named ‘Tradition’ model by Breguet.
That this ‘uncontrolled race’ for technology and design should contribute to an ‘uncontrolled economic’ situation for pricing is another story, one that we will return to later. But for now, let’s savour the time of the present. It has never been so exact, and rarely so beautiful.


Source: Europa Star August-September 2006 Magazine Issue