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Harry Winston’s new mechanical face
Baselworld

Harry Winston’s new mechanical face

Sunday, 30 March 2014
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Christophe Roulet
Editor-in-chief, HH Journal

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2 min read

Harry Winston puts on its first Baselworld since joining Swatch Group just over a year ago. The mechanical watches it unveiled there are a reminder of its new owner’s force.

It’s been all go for the teams at Harry Winston this past year, the first since the brand came under the Swatch Group banner in January 2013. The world-famous jeweller came to Baselworld with an armada of new models that add to no fewer than nine collections. These original creations train the spotlight on sparkling gems, in pure Harry Winston style, and on métiers d’art such as marquetry, engraved mother-of-pearl or pailloné enamel. Not forgetting, of course, finely executed complications. Harry Winston already had a partner in Greubel Forsey for its Histoire de Tourbillon, a collection whose interpretations of a complication that dates back to the early nineteenth century are nothing short of remarkable. This year’s version “5” presents a tri-axial tourbillon, a rarity in the watchmaking world. More generally, the new mechanical line-up clearly shows that Harry Winston can now also lean on Swatch, the world’s biggest watchmaker with a manufacturing capacity that defies comparison.

Base movements by Blancpain

Specifically, Harry Winston has turned to Blancpain whose calibres are the base for the new mechanical movements that equip many of its timepieces, for men and for women. Fitted with a flat silicon balance spring and beating at 28,800 vibrations/hour with a 68-hour power reserve, these movements and additional modules are assembled by Harry Winston in Geneva. The Midnight collection, Harry Winston’s major launch at this 2014 World Watch and Jewellery Show, is a strong example of its new offering. Driven by a self-winding movement, it comes in three versions: Diamond Second 39 mm, Retrograde Second Automatic 42 mm and Moon Phase Automatic 42 mm.

Midnight Diamond Second 39 mm © Harry Winston

The Diamond Second displays hours and minutes in an offset dial at 12 o’clock. Its particularity is a small seconds that repeats a floral motif from the Lily Cluster jewellery collection. As it rotates, it successively reveals three diamonds in a circular segment. While less complex than a tourbillon, which draws the eye into the movement, these small seconds share the same fascination of any element that brings the dial to life.

Priority to retrograde displays

The two 42mm watches feature retrograde seconds for one and, for the other, moon phases with a retrograde date by hand under offset hours and minutes. The Ocean Biretrograde and the Z8 Dual Time in Zalium, a zirconium alloy exclusive to Harry Winston, with a retrograde second time zone adjusting forwards and backwards complete this line-up of watches now on a Blancpain mechanical base. That there will be more to come leaves no doubt. Now that the “king of diamonds” has the mechanical foundations to fulfil its ambitions in time measurement, why hold back!

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