technique is never completely naked, it always includes a part of its own style, and even a part of poetry. And Cvstos is not short on lyricism. But even the tenors sometimes need to look for other tessituras. For the Masters of Time Event in Macau, Label Noir has been summoned to perform the most technical piece in Cvstos’ repertory into a unique piece: The Double Flying Tourbillon with a Differential.

The Label Noir involvement is refined, subtle, and highly sophisticated, as a response to the watch’s high technicality. This watch already exists in several variations, however, it is on this masterpiece that Cvstos has chosen to break with usual habits allowing an another watchmaker to express his vision. This is the first collaboration between Label Noir and Cvstos and it is basically the first collaboration conducted by Cvstos.

What about the challenge? Obviously, it was essential to avoid a formal style exercise. So, in order not to confuse matters, Emmanuel Curti, founder of Label Noir, started by turning everything off, and in the night, he switched on a light. This light flowed, diaphanous, to the heart of the mechanics, went through the different levels in a chiaroscuro language asserting its quintessential meaning: two tourbillons, which focus on us, like a nyctalopic animal in a headlight.

Then, out of these light spots, Label Noir has created a range of black vibrations, matt and glossy, to provide just the right degree of contrast, so as not to lose any of the depth of the architecture - and, of course, to ensure that the time remains readable. The same treatment has been reflected on the case, whose technical nature is also highlighted by a mix of matte and glossy blacks.

This combination sounds natural, perfectly matching the original design. Antonio Terranova, co-creator of the Geneva brand Cvstos and Creative Director, has also been playing on the fine line between technique and aesthetics. And if aesthetics and style necessarily define the final destination of any creation, his starting line is definitely in technique: “The design comes from a need. I am obsessed with performance and technicality. My background is in engineering... but I also have Italian roots.”

The Double Flying Tourbillon is a technical milestone (for now, because the quest for optimization and improvement has no limits) and however an achievement could be advanced, it’s just a step forward in an ongoing process, Antonio Terranova says.

Nevertheless, this model is already expanding the limits of a renowned complication: the tourbillon. This model is not a trial run for Cvstos, as the brand was born in 2005 with a vocation: to create hyper complication watches for daily use. So the tourbillon was quite naturally on the roadmap. In 2006, Cvstos produced its first shock-resistant flying tourbillon, which was coupled with a 100 m waterproof minute repeater - which could be heard on the wrist - and then with a split-seconds chronograph in 2010.

The Dual Flying Tourbillon with Differential is the obvious follow-up to this quest: to strengthen the accuracy and control the tourbillon’s natural running fluctuations. The solution has given birth to an original architecture (developed with the Télôs motor manufacturer, in La Chaux-de-Fonds), which entails connecting two calibers, each with its own flying tourbillon, and then averaging both.

Aesthetically, the result is a mechanical millefeuille in which each level seems to hang on the previous one. Above, the hour and minute display (by hand), then the seconds (a disc on the differential - or torque limiter), then the two tourbillons and the four barrels, up to the base plate, on the reverse of which is the cog system. Note that you need to turn the watch over to see it.