In the next days I will present you my favorite watches of the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) in Geneva in three categories. Today let me start with the top oft the end.
What you will see and discover on the following five pages are my personal five high-end watches of the SIHH 2015 in alphabetical order. As always on such occasions I want to let you know that this reflects my very personal taste and no one gave me anything to write and present this. I hope you like them as I do! I know these watches are expensive and most of us will probably not be able to afford one, but still you should have a look and see what this industry is able to do and make people dream.
CURTAIN UP FOR GREAT HOROLOGICAL CINEMA!
Page 1: A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater
Page 2: Cartier Rotonde De Cartier Grande Complication Watch Calibre 9406 MC
Page 3: Jaeger-LeCoultre Duometre Spherotourbillon Moon
Page 4: Montblanc Tourbillon Cylindrique Geosphères Vasco da Gama
Page 5: Vacheron Constantin Harmony Ultra-Thin Grande Complication Chronograph Caliber 3500
A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minute Repeater:
The concept of the Zeitwerk is simply stunning. This is the only high-end watch showing the time in digits and now the Zeitwerk Minute Repeater chimes exactly what you see on the dial. It is a small revolution in the field of minute repeaters… And this is the coolest of its functions: The switching of the numeral discs is delayed until the chiming sequence has ended. This takes about 20 seconds for the maximum succession of tones at 12:59. The acoustic time indication therefore always corresponds to the time displayed on the dial.
WOW!
By pushing the push-piece at “11 o´clock” position you will activate the minute repeater and it will not as usual indicate you hours, quarters and minutes, but the three digits shown on the dial.
This means: You hear what you see!
The minute repeater mechanism of the A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Minuterepeater will now, after pushing the push-piece, sound you the following: Seven strokes on the lower tuned gong (dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong) then you will hear five strokes on both gongs, the lower and higher tuned gong, (ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong) ant last but not least two strokes on the higher tuned gong (ding, ding).
Once again:
dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong = 7 o´clock
ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong + ding, ding = 52 minutes
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ZEITWERK MINUTE REPEATER Ref. 147.025F |
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Movement |
Lange manufacture calibre L043.5, manually wound, crafted to the most exacting Lange quality standards, decorated and assembled by hand; precision-adjusted in five positions; three- quarter plate made of untreated German silver; balance cock engraved by hand; constant-force escapement |
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Movement parts |
771 |
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Jewels |
93 |
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Screwed gold chatons |
3 |
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Escapement |
Lever escapement |
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Oscillator |
Shock-resistant balance wheel with eccentric poising weights; balance spring manufactured in-house, frequency of 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour; precision beat adjustment system with lateral setscrew and whiplash spring |
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Power reserve |
36 hours when fully wound if the striking mechanism is not activated |
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Functions |
Time display in hours and minutes with precisely jumping numeral discs, subsidiary seconds with stop seconds, power- reserve indicator, decimal minute repeater |
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Operating elements |
Crown for winding the watch and setting the time; pusher for activating the striking mechanism |
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Case dimensions |
Diameter: 44.2 millimetres; height: 14.1 millimetres |
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Movement dimensions |
Diameter: 37.7 millimetres; height: 10.9 millimetres |
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Crystal and back |
Sapphire crystal (Mohs hardness 9) |
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Case |
Platinum |
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Dial |
Solid silver, rhodié |
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Time bridge |
Black rhodiumed German silver |
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Hands |
Rhodiumed gold |
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Strap |
Hand-stitched alligator leather strap, black |
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Buckle |
Lange deployant buckle in platinum |
I think you provided us with the finest pictures of timepieces from SIHH 2015, thanks a lot!!!