2. Third time is a charm... Watchmakers, of course: A short retrospection back in time... the history and the technical challenges of this watch
"THE
MOST COMPLICATED WRIST WATCH OF THE WORLD
ACCOLADE FOR LOUIS-ELYSÉE PIGUET, LE BRASSUS
FRANCK MULLER, GENEVA AND PAUL GERBER, ZURICH
Louis Elysée Piguet of Le Brassus has towards the end of the
19th century produced three pocket watches containing Minute Repeater,
Grande et Petite Sonnerie, Hours, Minutes and Seconds. The watches were
extremely small (32 millimeters or 14 Parisian Lines) with a thickness
of 8mm."
Ok, let’s stop here for a little technical break: What do the above mentioned features mean in data? It means that 491 hand finished parts are packed into 6.4 cubic centimeters in a movement beating at 18000bph. Without the help of computers or automated precision machining, this was and is – today maybe even more than ever – a historic feat. Please keep in mind that the idea of serial production with interchangeable parts was yet a fantasy. Even watches with the "same" movement were not identical at all. The construction of the movement was the same, but the parts for each watch were optimized to fit the specific movement they were intended for. Because of this the watches often came along with their spare parts.
)
)
)
)
)
"Two of the three watches have gone astray and are missed since many years. The remaining one with the number zero has become property of FRANCK MULLER, GENEVA, watchmaker, in 1989. Franck Muller, then a practically unknown watchmaker except to some insiders, had looked for a sponsor to make the most complicated wrist watch based on the movement of this watch. Some manufacturers of watches were quite ready to sponsor the watch, but only if their brand name was chosen for the dial. This did not please Franck Muller who wanted to become known using his own name on the dial and the watch.
He finally found a watch collector who had confidence into Franck Muller
and acquiesced to sponsor (finance) the watch. Franck Muller then produced
a wrist watch embedded in Platinum, containing a Breguet-style dial.
The watch came out with the original Minute Repeater, Grande et Petite
Sonnerie (silence/strike/Grande Sonnerie or Petite Sonnerie thanks to
2 levers). Furthermore, the watch contained the hours, minutes, seconds,
a perpetual calendar with a retrograde month, weekday, date, 24-hours
indication, 4-years cycle indication, moon phases (the moon being upside
down) and a thermometer for the internal temperature of the watch, as
well as a retrograde monthly equation indication."
Exit Franck Muller, Geneva. Enters Paul Gerber, Zurich.
The collector and owner of the most complicated watch was now ready for much more and this rather sooner than later. To his great fortune he knew Paul Gerber, watchmaker in Zurich. Albeit Paul Gerber hat hitherto never made a Tourbillon, he and the owner were confident, that Paul Gerber was not only willing but also able to build the most coveted piece for the watch: A FLYING TOURBILLON. Since the owner wanted to keep the original balance and size, the Flying Tourbillon was the only solution.
)
We might as well mention that Paul Gerber has made some world exclusivities, such as a Miniature Wooden Movement Wall Clock in 1977. Then 1989 his smallest wooden wheels movement clock which entered proudly into the Guinness Book of Records. He furthermore made a "Mysterieuse" which found an echo at Faberge's Manufacture, who make table watches (the well known Faberge Eggs). Ever since 1996, Paul Gerber produces the mechanic for their watches. As from 1997, Paul Gerber constructed an alarm wrist watch for Fortis with Chronograph and Alarm, a world novelty. He then constructed an own Gerber wrist watch with a retrograde second at 6 o'clock and added a Retro Twin Automatic device for self winding, another world novelty."
)
Not so for the owner of the watch. He wanted to have an even larger gap between the second most complicated wrist watch of the world and his and dreamed of more complications. Paul Gerber was supportive and could be gained to continue to expand the complications.
Now he undertook to insert a split second chronograph with a jumping minute counter. The whole chronograph is laid out as a "Fly-Back" chronograph, thus giving the options Start-Stop-Zero, Start-Stop-Continue with Fly-Back, Start-Zero and all options accompanied by the split-second function with a second chronograph hand. Furthermore, he inserted a power-reserve indicator for both spring houses, indicating the power reserve for the movement and for the chimes."
)
)
)