The DB25 Imperial Fountain series of 12 watches by DeBethune has been previously mentioned from their press release. Here are some live pictures of the watch, including closeups of the hand-engraved dials, each of which has all 12 zodiac signs.
| All 12 watches | |
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| closeup of Pig | Calibre DB2145 closeup |
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(Photos by Paul Boutros, source)
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Some of the earliest coins that are coins, rather then just weighted chunks of metal, are the late 7th century Lydian staters. These were struck in electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, which has a pale-yellow color. Recently the Israel Museum in Jerusalem had an exhibit of a wide selection of these, with quite an impressive online catalog. They also published a catalogue, White Gold: Revealing the World's Earliest Coins, bits available online.
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Michelle Ong, who works under the brand name Carnet (see previous), apparently had an exhibit of her jewelry at the Asia House in London in 2011. I'm clearly a bit late to this, but the pieces were striking enough to warrent it. Particularly of note is her use of usually cut stones, like the briolette yellow diamond in the pendent and her ability to blend stones within a single field, for example the pomegranate seeds.
| Pink Cloud pendent: Tourmaline, white diamond, blue sapphire, pink sapphire and amethyst set in platinum, white gold and titanium. | Yellow teardrop pendent: Pale yellow diamonds and white diamonds set in gold and platinum |
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| Precious Plume: White Diamonds and Coloured Precious Stones "Feather" Brooch in Platinum and Titanium. | 'Supernova' broach. Light Brown Diamond and White Diamond set in Rose Gold. |
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| Pear Clip: White, fancy vivid and intense yellow and brown diamonds set in platinum and gold. | Pomegranate broach: White, fancy yellow and brown diamonds set in platinum and yellow gold. |
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Last year HYT came out with the H1, the first watch with a fluid display. Powered by a Chronode movement, it used a ultra-thin glass tube and two bellows to move a pair or non-reacting fluids so that the meniscuc between them indicated the hour, while a standard minute hand rotated around the dial. For 2013 they have a completely different movement design, with smaller, angled bellows and some Renaud et Papi design elements the HNR indicator is a signature of theirs. I don't really like it, but the animations on their website are fun at least.
Specs:
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After some pretty weak years (see Type XXII, double Tourbillon, creepy reaching-hand Reveil, etc) Breguet(previously mentioned) is back to their strengths with some 2013 Baselworld releases.
First up is the Ref 5277, a 4 day manually-wound watch in a 1996-standard size case of 38×8mm. Movement is a modified F.Piguet, case is white or rose gold and dial is hand-guilloche (same for nearly all the releases this year). Personally I prefer the rose-gold case and could do without the "96" on the RdM, but it's a strong start.
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Next we have the Ref 7727 Chronometre. This was announced as a prototype last year but has finally made it to full production. What makes this watch unusual is the ultra-high-speed escapement 10Hz (normal watches run 3-4Hz) made entirely of silicon and the magnetic suspension. The tiny little hand at 2 o'clock makes 1 revolution every 2 seconds, making use of the high-speed escapement. The movement view through the display back is interesting, if not really attractive.
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The third piece is the first new simple tourbillon Breguet has put out since the Messidor, and the first new tourbillon caliber since they acquired Lemania. It's classic Breguet design, with a slightly-off-center tourbillon and an RdM at about 9 o'clock. On the reverse they implemented a peripheral rotor to keep the automatic winding without obscuring the movement. That style has been tried on and off for the last 40 years, without much success, but we'll see what they do with it. The escapement is partially silicon, partially anti-magnetic steel. The engraving on the movement is not to my taste, but better then the usual Baroque work they do on their skeleton pieces.
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Finally a new ladies watch, the Reine de Naples Day and Night. Named for a sister of Napoleon who supposedly received one of the first wristwatches as a gift, the Reine de Naples(see previous) is the high-end Breguet ladies line, always with the egg-shaped case. This one includes a Karrusel, a slow-moving balance platform, implemented to also be a 24-hour hand. The balance wheel acts as the sun and an engraved titanium disk as the moon on a lapis lazuli "sky" disk. Below are the usual hour and minute hands. The outer and inner bezel, as well as the crown, are set with diamonds, because apparently ladies watch == diamonds.
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(photos by Paul Boutros, source)
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Bulgari(previously mentioned) has released another watch based on their excellent Gerald Genta minute-repeater caliber, the Commedia dell'Arte. The Caliber BV 618 movement has been expanded to include automota on the dial, which do a little dance when the repeater chimes; however this necessitated reducing the number of striking hammers from 4 (Westminster chime) to 2 (regular repeater). In this case the moving characters are Brighella, Pulcinella and Arlecchino, in different configurations depending on the scene chosen for the watch. The dial and the moving parts are engraved 18kt gold and low temp enamel (baked at about 80C, not the 700C of Grand Feu enamel).
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Bulgari "Commedia dell' Arte" from Allucinazione on Vimeo.
Finally some pictures of the artisans working on decorating the dial
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Miniaturization has gotten to the point that there's now a complete Cesium based atomic clock module that's about the size of a matchbook (yes, 18th Century size reference). Based on that Hoptroff, a small British firm that makes high-tech electronic watches, has designed the first pocket watch with an internal Cesium reference. The Hoptroff 10 will be quite the beast, 82×25mm, and priced under, but nearing $100,000. Interestingly the dial, at least the sketch that they've released with the PR, is very much in the style of the great 17th and 18th C watchmakers, possibly harking back to the last time England was truly important in world horology.
For that you get all the following bits and pieces:
Internals:
Functions:
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Another addition to the DeBethune DB25 line (see previous) is a series of 12 watches commemorating the zodiac fountain that used to be housed in the Yuanmin Tuan (Old Summer Palace outside Beijing). While only 7 of the original 12 animal heads are still known, we know enough of the massive Clepsydra (water clock) from texts to know that it was built in the 17th century by a partnership of Chinese craftsmen and Italian Jesuit missionaries for the Qianlong Emperor. Each of the watches in the series has the same movement, DB Cal. 2145, a special deaign with hands that are on revolving disks, opening the center of the dial for the zodiac heads, hand-carved by Michèle Rothen. Below see one watch in its entirety and then closeups of several more heads.
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DeBethune(previously mentioned) has released another version of the DB25, this one with moonphase and tourbillon. The moon is the DB signature sphere, 1/2 palladium and 1/2 blued-steel, rotating against a starry sky. The movement is the DB 2619 caliber, 27 jewels, 36,000 bph (5hz), manually wound and a power-reserve of 4 days, and a 30-second tourbillon with silicon balance wheel, a DB specialty. Both the dial and movement are rose-gold, and the case is Platinum.
| Dial Side | Movement |
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Now some closeups of the details, first the moonphase and top of the dial
And now one of the movement, showing the unique construction of the 30-second tourbillon
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Carnet jewelers was started in 1990 by Michelle Ong in Hong Kong. About 15 years ago she started using rose-cut diamonds, an antique cutting style with many fewer facets, 24, then the current modern cuts. This means that the cut only makes sense economically for stones that are very flat in the raw state.
| Palm Tree Broach with white and brown diamonds | Dancing Acorn Broach |
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