An engine for your wrist

Economy

CR - Not content with signing partnerships with the leading automakers, some Swiss watchmakers have gone further still, creating movements that resemble car engines. Prepare to be amazed…

Parmigiani Fleurier Bugatti Type 370 /Bugatti Veyron Type 370 © Parmigiani Fleurier / Bugatti

TAG Heuer SLR for Mercedes-Benz / Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 édition © TAG Heuer / DaimlerChrysler

Not content with signing partnerships with the leading automakers, some Swiss watchmakers have gone further still, creating movements that resemble car engines. Prepare to be amazed…

For some watchmakers, the automotive world isn’t simply a means of promoting their brand. They have applied their ingenuity not to designing a watch whose exterior recalls the grille, radiator or instrument panel of this or that prestigious car, throwing in a few useful complications along the way… no, they have focused on the very basics, on the movement itself which they re-imagine as though it were an actual engine. This approach is all the more original as nine times out of ten it results in a concept watch, in the exact same vein as the concept cars automakers develop to showcase the high-tech features that may one day equip their range. The difference being that whereas automakers use concept cars essentially to promote their expertise with no real follow-through, virtually all these concept watches go into production, albeit as limited editions.

Richard Mille and Michel Parmigiani

Richard Mille undoubtedly belongs in this category, given his numerous incursions into Formula 1 racing for his collections. Alongside his latest models, the RM 014 whose reference are the yachts built by Perini Navi of Viareggio, and the RM 012, inspired by the tubular forms of architecturally-engineered structures, the RM 009 tourbillon was jointly developed by Richard Mille and Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. As well as being the lightest watch in the world - less than 30g for the case plus movement versus 100g to 150g for an identical watch made from standard materials - like a Formula 1 car it is designed to endure vibrations, accelerations, decelerations and substantial shock. The secret, after six years of development, is the ALUSIC (Aluminium AS7G-Silicium-Carbide) case, a material used primarily in the space industry and which has exceptional density, rigidity and resistance.

Michel Parmigiani, now at the head of his own Manufacture, has carried off a similarly dazzling feat. The master-watchmaker pulled out all the stops when he imagined the watch that would accompany the launch of the new Bugatti Veyron Type 370, the most powerful car in the world whose 1000-hp engine peaks at over 400 kph. The result is a totally crazy watch with a vertically-oriented dial for comfortable side viewing and whose "transverse" movement is there to admire. Michel Parmigiani explains: "Basically, we’ve made an engine block that tells the time based on a four-barrel movement with a ten-day power reserve and five vertically-positioned plates with the gear-train in the centre. You could say this collection is the "joker in the pack" as we really, really let ourselves go…" With more than 80 orders when the first deliveries were made two years ago, and annual production peaking at 50 watches retailing at €170,000 each, Michel Parmigiani came in right on-target. In the world of cars and watches, you can’t put a price on love.

TAG Heuer goes all-out with concept watches

When it comes to concept watches, if there is one brand that has pulled all the right strings, that brand is TAG Heuer. First of all the brand worked hand-in-hand with Mercedes-Benz for its famous SLR Mac Laren. This led to the TAG Heuer SLR for Mercedes-Benz collection, which this year welcomes a chronograph into the fold. As if this weren’t enough, year after year the brand has pulled off the remarkable feat of presenting a veritable technological breakthrough at the Basel fair. the Microtimer in 2002 (the first quartz wrist chronograph to 1/1,000th of a second), the Sixty Nine in 2003 (reversible, with one mechanical and one quartz movement), the Monaco V4 in 2004 (with drive-belt transmission and linear oscillating weight) and the Calibre 360 in 2005 (the first mechanical wrist chronograph to 1/100th of a second). Virtually all these concept watches were brought to market: one year after Basel for the Microtimer, two years for the Monaco Sixty Nine, and one year for the Calibre 360. As for the Monaco V4, patience is in order… And for good reason. The V4, which derives its name from the movement’s four barrels mounted on a V-shaped main plate angled at 15°, like the cylinders in a high-performance racing engine, is one long list of innovations: 13 drive belts replacing the traditional movement’s pinions for transmission, a linear rather than rotary oscillating weight, 39 ball-bearings instead of synthetic jewels, and the famous four V-mounted barrels providing energy. TAG Heuer didn’t break this much new ground by skimping on resources. Of the 2% to 3% of revenues which the brand invests in R&D, half is allocated to new concepts. The teams working on these projects know the score: forget cost, forget timeframes, forget tradition; all that counts is a concept that embodies the brand’s DNA of "precision, performance and avant-garde." The results speak for themselves. (CR) ■

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