Three exceptional watches

Creation, design, research, complexity, development, invention … master watchmakers have no shortage of imagination to make fans of beautiful mechanics dream. The proof by three with Girard Perregaux, Roger Dubuis, and Van Cleef & Arpels.

Risky talking about exceptional watches and great prices. The comments are sometimes scathing. “It is indecent to present watches that are worth several hundred thousand euros when people are starving with indifference,” I was told recently. To which I replied, “What is indecent is that people are dying of hunger in our time. ” What? A watch is not about politics!

That being said, we can legitimately ask the question of price when an object as “banal” as a watch can cost as much as a castle or an apartment in Paris! This is the problem with watches in general and exceptional watches in particular. It can be worth a few euros or millions. Few modern objects find such a high price point. Perhaps jewelry, noble materials, and precious stones more easily explain an astronomical price. And yet, when it comes to fine watchmaking and knowing the manufacturing requirements, the prices are not as “indecent” as they seem.

To begin with, we must take into account the investments in research and development. This constant quest – and which might seem futile – for the infinitely small, the ultra-thin, the ultimate in precision, absolute lightness, and non-alterability. It is also hard to imagine the considerable sums that are dedicated, for example, to researching new materials or new oils so that they retain their quality and fluidity over time. What then of the days and nights spent developing a new complication, a new combination of cogs, or a new caliber architecture? In this world where brilliant madmen talk to improbable Geo Trouvetou, we have not finished going around the dials.

This is how. The caliber of a watch is sometimes a masterpiece and its dial a masterpiece. From a master watchmaker. Thank them for the hundreds of hours that they spend with their eyes riveted to the magnifying glass to assemble, assemble, adjust, align, fit, apply, dress, decorate, emboss and adjust this curious object of lust that will once be worn on the wrist, the simple witness of the passage of time. For the pleasure of a few, of course, but to make so many others dream. So let’s take advantage of the mechanical genius and don’t miss an opportunity to watch the fascinating spectacle of a tourbillon watch to give time to the champions of self-righteousness.

This is why on the Frank Sans C channel, we will continue, again and again, to present you pure wonders, and hotties as I like to say. Incredible, astounding, bluffing watches. Some will find them sublime, others horrible, indecent, whatever. They stand out as witnesses to that human nature that can speak on familiar terms with a genius when it comes to mastering the unstoppable: the passing of time. Watch or timepiece, the choice is yours. My choice is made.

Girard Perregaux Tri-Axial Planetarium

Be careful, it takes your breath away! We never tire of watching this whirlwind moving in three different dimensions. We look at it in front, behind, and even on the side since the manufacturer had a good idea to cut a window in the middle part. Three axes of rotation with three different speeds: one minute, 30 seconds, and two minutes. These people are crazy! And even more when you know that this mechanism, which brings together 140 different parts, weighs only 1.24 grams! Add to that a terrestrial globe as a day/night indicator and an astronomical moon phase and you will understand that this is an exceptional watch.

 Girard Perregaux’s Tri-Axial Planetarium combines a watchmaking spectacle with technical prowess.

Characteristics of the Tri-Axial GP Planetarium

• Rose gold case cut out on the side.
• Diameter: 48 mm – Height: 18.66 mm (21.52 mm domes included).
• Sapphire crystal: anti-reflective with 2 domes to highlight the tourbillon and the terrestrial globe.
• Dial: blue aventurine.
• Needles: Dauphine type.
• Water resistance: 30 meters (3 ATM).
• Power reserve: 60 hours.
• Hand-sewn black alligator strap.
• 320,000 euros.

Roger Dubuis Excalibur 45 Excalibur Original Carbon Quartet watch

“Dare to be rare”, the slogan of the Roger Dubuis manufacturer found its perfect illustration with the Excalibur Quatuor Carbon watch produced in a limited series. You now understand why I often say that with master watchmakers, we have not finished going around the dials. Seven years of research and here is an illustration by example. It took imagination – and a bit of madness – to symmetrically place four sprung balances positioned at a 45 ° angle all around a dial. Those who are most attentive will have understood that this configuration simulates a sort of “fixed vortex” since working in pairs and positioned differently, the four sprung balances compensate every second for any deviations in a rate that the earth’s attraction could cause. This eight-piece limited edition features a carbon dial with an atypical design, to say the least, and obviously falls into the category of exceptional watches!

 The atypical face of the Roger Dubuis Excalibur 45 Excalibur Original Quatuor carbon watch with its four sprung balances at 45 °.

Characteristics of the Excalibur Quatuor Carbon

• Limited edition of 8 pieces.
• Carbon housing.
• Diameter: 48 mm.
• Hallmark of Geneva.
• 16 Hz frequency (4x4Hz).
• 4 pendulums.
• 5 differentials.
• 40-hour power reserve.
• Manual winding caliber.
• 422,000 euros.

Lady Arpels Emerald Musical Ballerina Watch

Van Cleef & Arpels is the creator of the concept of the poetic complication watch. And we must give back to César what is in Van Cleef & Arpels, it is in the collections of this house that we find the most beautiful achievements in this field. The Lady Arpels Ballerine Musicale watch is a fine example because it is the perfect marriage of fine watchmaking and fine jewelry. It calls on many crafts since one can admire the dial sculpted, engraved, and hand-painted draperies, which will reveal, on-demand, air ballerinas in miniature painting. The work of the master engravers is also expressed by a ballerina dancing in front of the windows of the Van Cleef & Arpels boutique on Fifth Avenue in New York, which can be admired on the back of the instrument. Instrument … the word is well chosen since, on request, the watch will interpret for you, in addition to the animation, a particular melody.

Hand painting of the Lady Arpels Ballerine Musicale Rubis watches disc.

When the curtain slips aside to make room for five ballerinas, the melodies are heard simultaneously. They are played by two instruments with crystal clear sounds: a music box and a carillon. The themes are different depending on the model: Gabriel Fauré for “Émeraudes” (that of Frank Sans C’s video), Igor Stravinsky for “Rubis”, and Piotr Ilitch Tchaikovsky for “Diamonds”.

The Lady Arpels Ballerine Musicale Émeraude watch, curtain open and closed.

Characteristics of the Lady Arpels Ballerine Musicale Émeraude watch

• White gold case 44.5 mm in diameter set with diamonds, white gold bezel set with diamonds, and white gold crowns set with an emerald and diamonds.
• Dial-in carved white gold, diamonds, miniature painting.
• Interchangeable bracelet in shiny green alligator, interchangeable folding clasp in white gold set with diamonds.
• Mechanical movement with manual winding, retrograde hours/minutes function, music-on-demand animation, and 54-hour power reserve.
• Numbered edition.
• 456,000 euros.