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GPHG – Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2012 Winners

Sol Solomon — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 09:40:21 +0000

GPHG – Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2012

The Winners

The 12th Prize giving ceremony took place this evening at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and the winners of the 12th Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève have been unveiled as

“Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix - Tag Heuer Mikrogirder

Special Jury Prize – Société Suisse de Chronométrie (SSC)

Ladies’ Watch Prize – Chanel, Première Tourbillon Volant

Men’s Watch Prize – MB&F, Legacy Machine N°1

Innovation Prize – HYT, H1 Titane Black DLC

Jewellery and Artistic Crafts Watch Prize – Chopard, Imperiale Tourbillon Full Set

Best Complicated Watch Prize – Greubel Forsey, Invention Piece 2

Sports Watch Prize – Habring2, Doppel 2.0

“Petite Aiguille” Prize – Zenith, Pilot Big Date Special

Best Watchmaker Prize – Carole Forestier Kasapi

Public Prize – MB&F, Legacy Machine N°1

SalonQP – The Watch Review Site Photo Diary – Part 4

D Constant — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 22:38:54 +0000

SalonQP – The Watch Review Site Photo Diary – Part 4

So for Part 4 of our Photographic tour of SalonQP 2012, and we promise you will see the Zr012 Experiment Nitro-Glycerine this time, along with the Gronefeld One Hertz and a little Hermes plus a few more individual shots….

So as promised here it is in the flesh as it may be…. the C3H5N3O9 or Nitro-Glycerine Watch by the guys behind URWEK and MB&F as presented to us at SalonQP by Ian Skellern or Under the Dial as you may all know him.

The first photo is of the C3H5N3O9 on my wrist if you couldn’t guess

and now for a few more different angles of the Experiment on the wrist and against the odds and looks it fits superbly and comfortable on the wrist even my small 6 3/4 inch wrist, which by chance is exactly the same size as Ian’s, this great fit is all down to the moving top lug and positioning, but more on this in the full article coming soon on The Watch Review Site.

Just look at how it hugs the wrist below.

and the strap is nice too, and it closes by itself effectively no pressure required

Enough of the WOMW shots, as need to keep some back for the article and onto a few other photographs of this limited edition masterpiece, oh and we are told a Rose Gold version is in the pipeline…

As for that wankle movement here is a clear one for you movement fanatics, and watching it turn and move is a sight, its so perfectly balanced and needs to be.

We nearly forgot the caseback of the Experiment ZR012 C3H5N3O9 an piece of work itself, whereas the face and top of the case is very space age, mechanical and heavy looking, the case-back has been made more subtle more organic and animal like, softer to contrast the front of the watch but compliment it also.

and a close up of the Power reserve

I think that is enough to wet the apetite and from one fantastic and strange movement to another great movement made by the Gronfeld brothers Bart and Tim out of the Netherlands and the Gronefeld One Hertz, well a version of… First lets show you a number of Gronefeld watches including the Rose Gold GTM-06 all on show at SalonQp before we move onto the Titanium and Orange One Hertz Fire to give it the proper name

Here is a closer look at the Gronefeld GMT-06

And now for the Gronefeld One Hertz Fire…. Apt name based on the colouring of the dial and markers

and now for the movement on the One Hertz Fire, which I have to say is a lovely sight… if you have not guessed I’m a fan of a nice looking modern stylistic movement.

and again

The obligatory wrist shot, yes we do try and wear the watches we photograph so we can get a feel for the weight and comfort factor.

Moving on from Gronefeld as we can’t just keep showing you photo’s of the One Hertz Fire, so now we move onto Hermes, starting with a little look at the Hermes stand at SalonQP and the latest movement which enabled them to begin making ladies watches as Mechanical Automatics and not Quartz.

Now on to the watches that Hermes have to offer

and just one more Hermes automatic watch

Now that is nearly the end of our SalonQp Photo diary, just one more article to post tomorrow and that will include the likes of Jaeger-LeCoultre, Guiliano Mazzouli, Schofield Watch Company and Speake Marin…

SalonQP Photo Diary – Part 3

D Constant — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:49:37 +0000

SalonQP Photo Diary – Part 3

Well this is now becoming a Saga is it not, the third part of our SalonQP visit (Part 1 is here, and Part 2 here) has some fabulous highlights, including our hands on with Meridian Watches brand new watches launched at the show, along with some time with Gronefeld’s Titanium Orange and Black One Hertz Watch and its in house movement with it’s exceptional quartz like second hand. We also had a very special time with the Experiment ZR012 Nitro-Glycerine or C3H5N3O9 amongst others…

Ooh we forgot the Robert Loomes timepieces we spent a little time with, have to say Robert and his partner were very open and honest about their timepiece and its resilience a great team and would love to visit the manufacture soon to get an insight in the watch-making process of a pure breed fully British Watchmaker and thats even down to the movement an original adapted Smith… I think this is a good starting point for Part 3 of our Photo diary and here goes with the Robert Loomes Stand at SalonQP

and here is the men’s watch, known as the Robert Loomes Robin Watch as we said British from its heart all the way to the tips of the strap…

and for the ladies version, with a lovely striking purple strap

On to the movement, this has been hand engraved by Robert himself, he didn’t like the machine engraving which is present in his literature and was at odds to mention that to us… and he is right and as for his engraving work he has been self taught, yes.

As we said at he heart of the in watch is a 1950s English movement. Originally made by Smiths, this is the same mechanism that Sir Edmund Hillary famously carried to the summit of Everest entirely re-worked for the Robin watch.

Oh and the obligatory on the wrist shot

Sticking with the English or British theme lets get on to the Photographs with Meridian Watches, the New British based watch maker, who prides itself on everything being hand made in Great Britain, well everything except the base movement which is undoubtedly Swiss.

There are white or black dial variations, and Stainless Steel, Meridian Black ( not PVD, IP or DLC but a special formulated Meridian Black) and a Meridian Black Aged Version Case which is probably my Favourite. Just one more thing you have some with small seconds at 6 o’clock or 9 o’clock.

and here is the Meridian Black Aged Case Version on my Wrist

and the SS case white dial on Simon of Meridian Watches Wrist too

and a little touch we like is the Crown which can be seen here…

As we are on the British theme we thought it may be appropriate to show you a little more of the Schofield Watch Company Stand and will issue Part 4 later with the ZR012 Experiment and a few more highlights of the show.

So here are some Schofield shots

Giles Ellis of Schofield with our Competition winner

Now for a couple of shots of both Giles and Matt doing what they enjoy at SalonQP

and we cant leave without having a shot of the watch itself, this is the Signalman DLC on the Wrist, not my wrist but Giles’s

Hope you enjoyed Part 3 and look out for Part 4 very soon with the ZR012, Gronefeld, Speake Marin to name a few… I think we have some JLC and Hermes too.

Experiment ZR012 by C3H5N3O9 Watches a MB&F & URWERK Masterpiece???

D Constant — Sun, 26 Aug 2012 20:44:48 +0000

A Wankle Movement Timepiece by C3H5N3O9 – The ZR012

C3H5N3O9 is a new company/marque created by the conglomeration of Felix Baumgartner & Martin Frei of URWERK and Max Büsser & Serge Kriknoff of MB&F with the sole purpose of experimenting with different and more far fetched ideas, concepts and creations without imposing on their respective brands. It’s not often we see such a collaboration between competing watchmakers, but the outcome of this collaboration may mean its the way forward for maybe some other luxury brands that want to push the boat out and try something new without detriment to their own brand.

Yes it may be a costly excercise to launch a new brand just for concepts and ideas, but its minute compared to the cost it could have by derailing an existing well known and reputable high end luxury brand. Don’t forget the costs of designing, engineering and creating the timepieces would be the same under the brand name or new company so the only additional costs are brand marketing and awareness, which can be high but again C3H5N3O9 have also taken a new stance on this too, by simply setting up a website, utilising their existing teams I assume and then touting the watch out to a number of their contacts within the watch world and watch writing world. Then they sit back and watch it roll…..

So is this the way forward for high end Swiss Marque’s or is this just the boys of MB&F and URWERK Experimenting…

So C3H5N3O9 was born (Oh the name is the chemical make up of nitroglycerin) and the result has been the Experiment ZR012 and RG012, both the same model with the only differential being the material used for the case ZR being zirconium and RG being 18k Red Gold, and yes they call the watches Experiment ZR012 nad Excperiment RG012.

Experiment ZR012 by C3H5N3O9 features Wankel engine (most popularly known for its use in the Mazda RX8) inspired hour and minute indications in an asymmetrical zirconium case with articulated and compound lugs. As can be seen the watch has taken influences from both marques, we see elements of both brands in both the case and movement.

The press release says “At first glance the time appears to be indicated by centrally rotating triangular rotors; however, the triangles are actually Reuleaux polygons; they rotate eccentrically rather than centrally and track complex epitrochroid curves rather than circles. The system was inspired by the Wankel engine, which features orbital Reuleaux polygon rotors rather than the reciprocating pistons that power the majority of our cars and machines today.”

In laymen’s terms you can read the hours using the lower red marker with markings between 0 and 12 and minutes on the smaller and upper red marker on the two triangularish shaped cogs or discs, with marking 0 to 60 and individual minute markers inbetween. The photo below shows the time as 8.28

As we understand it the movement was the brain child of the URWERK part of the collaboration, as they had the wankle concept sitting on the drawing board without taking it further, which they have done in the ZR012 this C3H5N3O9 initial offering.

As for the case a little space agey maybe, well this was the MB&F concept with independent designer Eric Giroud, It is 55mm long, 44mm wide and 17mm deep, throwing in the lugs it is 75mm long, 47mm wide and 25mm deep. The lugs are articulated at the front and compound on the rear to wrap ergonomically around the wrist and ensure a greater comfort level on the wrist.

Moving onto the caseback we have a power reserve indicator which adds to the llok and feel of the timepiece. The movement is manually wound and has a 39 hour power reserve. We also see a large screw down crown present for the watches winding and time setting as normal.

Are we seeing a new luxury brand in the watchmaking fraternity or is this just an Experiment of grand scales….

Both parties state that “C3H5N3O9 is an experimental platform, not a luxury brand”.

For those interested the ZR012 and Rg012 are available direct from C3H5N3O9 and are being made in limited editions of 12 pieces each at a price of 110,000 Swiss Francs, thats approx. £72,500 GBP and $115,000 USD. To order you need to place a 33,000 Swiss Franc Deposit. For more info why not visit the C3H5N3O9 website

C3H5N3O9 Experiment ZR012 – Technical Details

Experiment ZR012 is an edition of 12 pieces in zirconium
Hours and minutes are indicated by two Wankel engine inspired Reuleaux polygon rotors tracing epitrochoid curves

Case
Dimensions without lugs: 55mm x 44mm
Case and lugs: Zirconium case with titanium lugs
Number of case components: 60
Compound front lug, articulated rear lug
Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment both side
Water resistance: 30m – 100’ – 3atm
Strap and buckle: Brown calf leather strap. Titanium and white gold folding buckle.

Movement
Movement dimensions: 32.65mm x: 41.35mm: 11.55 mm

Number of components: 328

Number of jewels: 42

Manual winding

Power reserve: 39h

Balance frequency: 28’800

Finishing: satin finishing, sandblasted, circular graining on movement, black PVD treated components, black ruthenium treated components

Number of plots to create epitrochoids for hours and minutes: 180

Tolerance between hour and minute indication rotors and inside of epitrochoids: 0.20mm

MB&F HM3 Frog – MOONMACHINE

Meehna Goldsmith — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:21:44 +0000

The MB&F HM3 Frog Goes to the Moon with Sarpaneva

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Written By Meehna Goldsmith

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We all know the crazy groundbreaking designs of MB&F, like the Legacy Machine 1, HM4 Thunderbolt, the HM3 Rebel Yell and the HM3 Purple Frog. Every so often MB&F brings in another artiste to interpret one of the Machines. They’ve worked with Boucheron for the awesome JWLRYMACHINE, which was a wise choice. Now they’ve decided to take a decidedly Finnish approach by giving Stepan Sarpaneva a crack at the HM3 frog and came up with the MOONMACHINE.

Sarpaneva is no slouch in the talent department. He can find his way around a movement with the best of them. Consider that he worked alongside Kari Voutilainen, Vianney Halter and Christophe Claret, watchmakers known for their talent in high complications such as Claret’s 21 Blackjack.

Sarpaneva is known for his moody moon, the northern stars and constellations and the distinctive Korona case, characteristic elements in all his watches. All appear in the MOONMACHINE.

Here the hand-finished moons indicate the moonphase through a Korona-shaped opening. The swing of the winding rotor comprised of steel and 22K gold represents the star-filled sky, accomplished by a laser piercing, which allows light to reflect through the movement.

If you find yourself over the moon for the MOONMACHINE, then you better get moving because it’s in 3 limited editions of 18 pieces each in titanium, black titanium and red gold.

Enjoy a short video on the MOONMACHINE produced by MB&F.

If you like the idea of futuristic watches why not look at these too Futuristic Watches – The Watch Review Site

Article provided by Meehna Goldsmith you can also follow Meehna on Twitter @thewatchlady

Original article can be viewed at http://www.watchmatchmaker.com/brands/mbf/the-mbf-hm3-frog-goes-to-the-moon-with-sarpaneva.html

Futuristic Watches – The Watch Review Site

Meehna Goldsmith — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:39:16 +0000

In a Watch World Far, Far Away: Futuristic Watches

The Watch review site presents articles written by Meehna Goldsmith The Watch Lady

Written by Meehna Goldsmith

Watch Review Futuristic Watches

From Time Machine and Brave New World to Star Wars, Blade Runner and The Matrix, we are fascinated by the future. Usually, these worlds are portrayed as post-apocalyptic nightmares where the human species is undone by their own doing. An everyman, our hero or heroine, bucks against the evil system in power to save humanity. Win some, lose some.

In these universes, technology plays a big role. All matter of machines and gadgets, including computers, weapons and automobiles have surpassed our current state-of-the-art. This alternate reality represents progress or regression, depending upon your point of view. But that’s another matter altogether. Within all these scenarios notice that we still cling to the concept of time. Can’t get away from the pesky idea. The ticking bomb always makes its appearance somewhere.

We’re always running out of time or trying to keep up with it whether we’re racing to beat the boss to the office or decimating the alien before he sucks our face off. And the gadget used to tell time? The watch, of course!

Watchmakers aren’t immune to dreaming the future. There are several out there who take inspiration from science fiction. Their timepieces provide a canvas of exploration and imagination. In some fashion these watchmakers break with tradition to synthesize a new dynamic of capturing the hours. A time not yet past…

Urwerk is the company piloted by Felix Baumgartner and Martin Frei. When they founded the brand in 1997 their main mission was to defy convention. As Baumgartner says, “Watchmaking is not a dead science.” The two found inspiration in a centuries-old encyclopedia edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert published in the 18^th century. The text talks about imagining alternate methods and devising new machines.

Urwerk’s watches look like little spacecraft that flew out of another dimension and landed on the wrist. The unconventional curved shape of the case plays right into a popular image of future transportation.

For each new model released, Urwerk keeps the DNA of the brand intact using the revolving satellite complication, but interprets the watch in a slightly different way. Most recently, Urwerk brought their vision to a pocket watch called the Zeitwork UR-1001 that actually needs a custom suit to rest in its proper place.

An American brand, Devon Works stunned the watch world with the introduction of the Tread 1 last year and more jaws dropped when it was nominated at the 10^th Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in the Design and Concept category, though it didn’t win. It was beat out by the MB&F Horological Machine No4 Thunderbolt, another qualifier in the category that I’ll discuss too. The Tread 1 uses a series of belts to show the hours, minutes and seconds. It was almost unheard of for the Americans to punch through the Swiss curtain of the Grand Prix, but more so because they did it with a battery operated timepiece.

The recently released Tread 2 still runs on a series of belts but is in a simplified form that doesn’t eat up as much energy by getting rid of the running seconds. Though pared down from the Tread 1, the Tread 2 still maintains its rough and tumble look that would travel well to the future. I can see it on the arm of Colin Farrell in the upcoming remake of Total Recall. Open your mind…

Since its founding in 2002, DeBethune, founded by Denis Flageollet and David Zanetta, has experimented with different designs to showcase their advanced mechanics. They’ve already developed 12 different calibers and have 9 patents. Plus, they make everything themselves. Nope, they don’t outsource. Unbelievable for any company let alone one that only makes about 100 watches a year. After a decade, DeBethune has settled into an aesthetic that is nothing if not futuristic.

Most of the DeBethune watches foresee other worlds, like the DB27 Titan Hawk. The DB28, which won the Aiguille d’Or at this year’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, perhaps most reflects a time afar. It has a crisp modern case in polished grade 5 titanium. Looked at from the profile, the DB28 appears to be a foreboding tank or perhaps even a sentient machine on the prowl to crush disobedient humans. The top view reveals a three-dimensional moon nestled in the case below 6 o’clock lighting up an undiscovered landscape of the sparse dial, composed of the plate featuring the DeBethune stripes. Another perspective conveys the image of a rocket ship poised for takeoff to find other cosmos.

DeBethune DB28

Located in Neuchatel, the historical capital of watchmaking, Hautlence honors the region by taking its name in anagram form. The company functions from the premise that several minds can break the time barrier to come up with technical and design breakthroughs. The team in the “college” comes together in a brain huddle and emerges with a construct. The latest creature to emerge from the laboratory is the HL2.0, a piece that took over 3 years to develop.

On a technical level the HL2.0 is fascinating. Without using a tourbillon, the watch accomplishes the same feat of keeping the balance and escapement in a revolving motion. You can read more about the mechanics here.

But beyond that, the HL2.0 is just amazingly cool to look at. A moving hours chain, which drives the balance wheel and escapement, shows the hours through an aperture, while a retrograde minute hands flips every hour across half the dial. The mechanics are very Fritz Lang Metropolis.

Of course, a piece on futuristic watches wouldn’t be complete without including Max Busser and his company MB&F. Together with his “friends” Busser captures his visions in a watch. Calling his creations horological machines, he draws upon the sci-fi memories of his childhood, presenting a vision that can inhabit both the present world and one yet to come.

Though the HM4 and Legacy Machine 1 could certainly be counted, it’s really the HM3 Frog that stands out with its googly alien eyes that tell the time. We covered the Purple Frog here. Like all of the machines, the HM3 breaks the two-plane barrier giving a three-dimensional context to the timepiece. The “eyes” are actually indications of the hours and minutes rotating under the domes. An amphibious, otherworldly piece… Finding it on the arm of Sigourney Weaver’s character Grace in Avatar wouldn’t be unlikely at all.

Enjoy the journey!

Article provided by Meehna Goldsmith you can also follow Meehna on Twitter @thewatchlady

Original article can be viewed at http://www.watchmatchmaker.com/brands/mbf/in-a-watch-world-far-far-away-yet-so-close-futuristic-watches.html

Urban Jurgensen & Sohner – Danish Anyone?

Meehna Goldsmith — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:46:52 +0000

Danish anyone? A new recipe for accuracy by Urban Jurgensen & Søhner

Written by Meehna Goldsmith

The independent company Urban Jurgensen & Søhner gets its name from the talented Danish watchmaker who was famed for his pocket watches and precision timekeepers for navigation and astronomy. He was so good that Danish King Frederick the VI appointed him to supply his court with watches and the Admiralty with chronometers.

Though the company has remained in existence since the 18^th century, it was Peter Baumgartner who resuscitated its original spirit when he took stewardship of the brand in 1979. He was in the process of developing a very cool in-house movement before he sadly passed away before he could see his work realized. Fortunately, auctioneer and watch connoisseur Dr. Helmut Crott took over where Baumgartner left off and premiered in 2011 the Chronometer P8, the first detent escapement designed specifically for a wristwatch and qualifying for COSC certification. Moreover, the movement was conceived as a base calibre that only requires adding on a complication.

You usually find detent escapements in marine chronometers because of their supreme accuracy. The normal Swiss Lever has two points of contact on the balance wheel with the palette stones, while the detent only has one, reducing inertia as well as the need for lubrication. The detent escapement differs from the Swiss Lever through its characteristic forward tick of the seconds hand.

So if this escapement is so great, how come we haven’t seen them in watches before? The big chink in the armor are shocks, which knock it out of whack. Marine chronometers compensate for this via a gimbal, which isn’t exactly a practical solution in a wristwatch, though Zenith did a nifty one in the Christophe Columb. Urban Jurgensen & Søhner had to figure out how to steady the mechanism in a much smaller space.

Bring in the big guns. Like MB&F, Urban Jurgensen & Sonner gather exceptional watchmakers, mix them together and come up with a delightful new horologic dish. You know that game where you’re asked which famous people you’d like to dine with? When Baumgartner brought in the late Derek Pratt, Jean-Francois Mojon and Kari Voutilainen to Urban Jurgensen & Sonner’s table, he hit the jackpot. You can’t get any better. Ask any watch geek, and they’ll confirm these guys are stars. They are the ones responsible for the Chronometer P8 Detent Escapement.

Who are these dining partners? Derek Pratt built exceptional bespoke pieces on his favorite canvas of pocket watches that bring hundreds of thousands of dollars at auction, while Voutilainen is a magician when it comes to finishing—and he’s no slouch at movement design either. Mojon runs the company Chronode. You know what he’s capable of if you’ve seen Harry Winston’s Opus X, the IWC Siderale Scafusia and the jaw-droppingly gorgeous MB&F Legacy Machine 1.

Though the bigger story of Urban Jurgensen & Søhner broke last year, they do have a modified one for us this year. The new reference Reference11 C now has a lovely guilloche gold rotor turning it into an automatic. The movement continues to have a little over 3 ½ days of power reserve provided by two barrels with a patented differential system.

Looking down from the big watch workshop in the sky, Peter Baumgartner would be proud.

Article provided by Meehna Goldsmith you can also follow Meehna on Twitter @thewatchlady

Original article can be viewed http://www.watchmatchmaker.com/1_mens_watches/danish-anyone-a-new-recipe-for-accuracy-by-urban-jurgensen-sohner.html