A Closer Look At The New Chronoswiss Open Gear Tourbillon
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of its world-first, serially-produced regulator tourbillon, Chronoswiss pulls out all the stops for this new limited edition in electrifying shades of blue.
This year marks 20 years since Chronoswiss unveiled the world’s first serially-produced regulator tourbillon, the Régulateur à Tourbillon. What better way to celebrate this achievement than with a new anniversary edition?
Shades Of Blue
This isn’t the first time Chronoswiss has created a blue timepiece. Earlier this year, the brand introduced its Open Gear ReSec in blue and gold, and it quickly sold out. Now, the new 44mm Open Gear Tourbillon takes the blue aesthetic even further with ten different shades of blue coming into play thanks to a coating vapor deposition (CVD) treatment. From the guilloché dial to the stainless-steel case, from the lacquered hands to the Hornback crocodile leather strap, this all-blue design elicits a “wow” at every turn.
“It is an electrifying, blue but it is also elegant,” shared Oliver Ebstein, Chronoswiss’ CEO. “All the tourbillons we know are classic. This one, with its blue color scheme and regulator, is for the watch connoisseur who probably already has tourbillons in his collection, but is looking for something different.”
Guilloché Magic
Chronoswiss is one of only a few watch brands to master hand guilloché in-house, and this traditional horological craft has become a signature feature of the brand’s timepieces. The guilloché on the Open Gear Tourbillon was particularly challenging to execute due to the shape of the upper dial.
“We normally come up with 20 different guilloché patterns before we find the right one,” noted Ebstein. “If you go with a design that is too complicated, you can lose the balance. The difficulty with this dial was the fact that the guilloché starts on an edge rather than on a round dial.”
The complexity doesn’t stop there as the dial is made up of an impressive 42 different components on two levels.
New C.303 Movement
Designed in-house, the new hand-wound C.303 half-skeletonized tourbillon movement with a 60-hour power reserve is on full display in the traditional six o’clock position. “Nobody else makes a tourbillon like ours, with a regulator set-up, open gears, and handmade guilloché,” said Maik Panziera, Head of Design at Chronoswiss. “This half-skeletonized flying tourbillon is completely designed in-house, and it is exclusive to Chronoswiss watches,” he continued.
Diving Into The Details
The further you delve into this timepiece, the more there is to discover. Among the elements to note include the brand’s “Trigono”-shaped hands (which are lacquered blue and enhanced with blue Super-LumiNova) and the hour and minute indices (which are created using a combination of blue-hued luminescence and zirconium oxide to provide excellent readability at night).
Also, take note of the iconic onion crown and knurled bezel. Both are signature design features of a Chronoswiss timepiece that bring elements of the past into the present.
The Chronoswiss Open Gear Tourbillon is limited to 15 pieces and is priced at $39,000. The latest creation from Chronoswiss shows just how far the brand has come in 20 years, which is something definitely worth celebrating. Learn more on Chronoswiss' website.
(Images © Chronoswiss)