Keeping Track

Keeping Track

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Hiren Kumar Bose on the inimitable world of Swiss watchmaking as brands strive to outdo each other in originality, technical prowess and the use of new-age materials in their effort to offer an unprecedented variety of timewear

The world of fine watchmaking is an exhilarating portal for those seeking innovation, boundary-pushing technology, never-used-before materials and unprecedented movements; all these and more stuffed in a wristwatch makes the world of horology an exciting field. As fine watchmaking continues its forward march, thanks to its ability for innovation, its aficionados and collectors are also on the rise. Each year, the Manufactures spread across the Swiss cantons, represented at SIHH and BaselWorld, spring surprises with their greatest and newest feats of mechanical ingenuity.

What they have on offer isn’t just a passing novelty, but a source of fulfillment for a lifetime. In fact, we are witness to the new golden age of watchmaking as brands strive to outdo each other in originality, technical prowess and unprecedented variety.

NEW-AGE MATERIALS
The new materials developed by the brands have made watches stronger, lighter, and affordable. Rolex unveiled a strap made of a new material named ‘Oysterflex’, a material resembling rubber in look and comfort, but metal in its durability and robustness for its Everose Yachtmaster model. Rado introduced a ultra-light silicon nitride high-tech ceramic, called Si3N4, inspired by Formula 1, in its HyperChrome Collection; Greubel Forsey presented their GMT watch in a titanium case with ADLC coating, making the watch lighter and more durable. Bulgari’s Diagono Magnesium this year had a combination of magnesium, ceramic and PEEK, a material which brings rigidity and dimensional stability enabling it to withstand high temperatures and hostile environments. In the past we have had Hublot using AG5 and Magic Gold; Rolex creating its new blue Parachrom hairspring made from a new alloy to resist magnetism and increase shock absorbance; Omega’s Constellation Sedna Gold stunningly blending gold, copper and palladium; Zenith using Zenithium, and Harry Winston’s Project Z4 cases made in Zalium— a hard, light, zirconium alloy developed for use in jet engines. Richard Mille, the eponymous brand, has built bridges between the watchmaking industry and research in fields such as aeronautics, F1 and aerospace etc. featuring ultra-light and high-performance materials such as alusic (an alloy of aluminum, silicon and carbon), AG5 and movement made from titanium and Lital, a lithium alloy containing aluminum, copper, magnesium and zirconium.

Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Rendez-Vous Celestial

If luxury equates rarity, then no precious metal is as opulent as osmium. For the first time ever in the world of watchmaking, Hublot has incorporated osmium, one of the rarest metal elements on our planet, into a watch: the Classic Fusion Firmament. Osmium is found in platinum ores and is so rare that approximately 10,000 tons of platinum ore will yield a mere 28g of osmium.

Ceramic has been taken to the next level by Omega, evident in its Speedmaster ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. Nearly everything, other than the movement and hands, is made from their new Zirconium Oxide ceramic.

Arguably the most revolutionary material of our times, carbon fibre still recently used in sports cars, bicycles, airplanes and yachts has reached human wrists too. Weighing half as much as aluminum yet three times stronger, carbon fibre which has the highest weight to strength ratio of any material, and the year witnessed it in Richard Mille’s Rafael Nadal RM 35-0, Hublot’s Big Bang Ferrari Red Magic Carbon, IWC’s Ingenieur Automatic Carbon Performance Ceramic, TAG Heuer’s Monaco V4 Phantom and Panerai’s Luminor Submersible 1950 Carbotech 3, in which the parallel arrangement of fibres gives the surface a zebra-like effect, different for every piece.

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Rolex Oyster Perpetual Day-Date 40

Brands like Ulysse Nardin and Jaeger- LeCoultre are forging new identities in their latest, the former has used black granite from the Alps for its Hannibal watch while the latter has used meteorite stone on the dial of its Master Calendar.

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