"Cathedral" Minute Repeater Tourbillon and column wheel Chronograph
Power reserve: 120 h, 21600 vph
"Cathedral" Minute Repeater Tourbillon and column wheel Chronograph
Realised in 100% carbon fiber, as well as its movement bridges: This piece is a World First.
“More watchmaking, more mastery, more innovation, more daring, more fusion!”... This was the encouragement that Jean-Claude Biver, CEO of Hublot, gave the new Complications department which reinforced the Hublot Manufacture in 2010.
To mark the 2011 Basel Fair Hublot is presenting a world first, with a minute repeater watch featuring two “cathedral” type gongs, a tourbillon and column wheel chronograph, with carbon fiber bridges, in a case made from carbon fiber. This is a perfect illustration of “Fusion” between great watchmaking tradition and the technology of the future
It is a timepiece with a sophisticated mechanism, featuring three major Haute Horlogerie complications particularly prized by connoisseurs and collectors, but revisited in a resolutely contemporary spirit: The main particularity lies in the fact that the three complications are visible from the dial side.
Besides the carbon fibre, the case is also fashioned with materials such as titanium and rubber, which is a perfect illustration of the Art of Fusion key to Hublot.
From a design point of view, the minute repeater bolt is ingeniously integrated into the King Power case middle, just like the chronograph control push-piece subtly integrated into the watch's crown. The minute repeater, activated by means of a lever situated between 8 and 10 o'clock, sounds the hours, quarter-hours and minutes. Its two “cathedral” gongs (one for hours and the other for minutes) are double the length of a regular gong. The whole design aims for a very uncomplicated overall effect for a piece of this level.
The manual-winding mechanical movement boasts a 5-day power reserve. The hour and minute indicator is situated centrally, for a conventional readout. The flying tourbillon – with suspended cage – is situated at 6 o'clock, and features an unusual structure of very high quality: indeed, the cage rotates without a ball bearing, and has a Swiss lever escapement.