[BaselWorld] Harry Winston Opus Eleven, time bomb.

Pifpaf

Considering the environment of crisis,it would have been more logical that BaselWorld had been poorer thanthe SIHH, but paradoxically, one assisted on the exact opposite event- an exciting BaselWorld - multicolored, wooow, a watchmaking full ofcreative explosions. While the SIHH would have sunk in the abysses ofannoy without the excellent tribute of Panerai.

BaselWorld was the true opposite of theSIHH, a real festival; in spite of 9 intensive days of my presence, Icertainly missed many things, but I couldn’t skip the Opus Eleven,incontestably the watch the most “wow” of the entire exhibition.I followed the news of Gregory Pons in Business Montres on thissubject and actually after not easily readable Opus X which was notvery segmented compared to the rest of the collection, Harry Winstoncomes back with Opus Eleven – their idea of the watch inspired meto create these exceptional series.

Harry Winston called on a formercollaborator, Denis Guiguet, who returns together with Eric Giroud- adesign consultant, the person in charge of the most original Opus –Opus IX that had a phenomenal success.




The initial idea of Opus XI was to makeburst the time. With the presence of Internet, the globalization,tendency to be less social, more digital when the rhythms are brokenby the jet-lags, by things to be finished in urgency, by the foremanof Chinese work, the idea of “temporal explosion” makes absolutesense then. Traditional time reading, with i.e. grande date, itsperpetual calendars (in particular Sundays posted in red) etc, refersto a time paradigm (or the rhythms, the seasons, the days of theweek) that was codified by a traditional society, religions, feudalcodes – all that firmly fixed for centuries. The approach ofpost-capitalism, financial world, ultra-liberalism and globalizationdoes not tolerate any more these regrettable losses of productivity.
Our moments are daily fragmented to thepieces of communication with every world corner- a call from Germany,Japanese communicator, a hysterical email from the USA. 11:00 pm apanic phone call from a technician, a server failed, there is anurgent need to restore all data. As a result of this fragmentation oftime, continual incentive of all new digital gadgets, one must livethrough the moments of leisure and family gathering more effectively,more quickly, more intensely. It’s becoming more and more difficultto take time to read essays, to play with own daughter one evening. Icould go on in thoughts concerning the temporal explosion of therhythms imposed by our lives 2.0 on at least twelve further pages,but as I wish to continue to explode the audience, I will return tothe Opus Eleven.




Opus XI does not finally cover morethan one percent of all philosophical, society, economic andwatchmaking questions; rose by the fabulous paving stone launched inthe backwater of the Western time paradigm over twelve hours and 7days. However, this watch and its creators trew this paving stone.



The concept of time reading developedby Denis Guiguet on Opus XI differs completely from its work at MCT,whereas Opuses, the preceding ones, took again existing complications(with the notable exception of the Opus IX which opened the way tothe Opus XI from all points of view). The Opus XI integrates a newcomplication, each satellite carries 3 mini-satellites comprising 2metal discs marked on double face, one has thus, 4*3*2*2 = 48 metaldiscs, as it needs 4 metal discs to read the exact time, the watchshows the time over 12 hours (and not 24 like we would have initiallyexpected).



The element that makes the work ofGuiguet on Opus XI completely different from the one on SequentialOne is that reading of minutes is made on a secondary counter, withdouble discs, ten, unit. We can find the disc at 45°, I don’t dareto use the term at position of two hours since this concept does notcorrespond to anything on this watch, at 135° in the third disc wecan find the large titanium balance-wheel.



It was developed of completely newenergy chain  to be able to propel the heavy system of satellites,unfortunately the system was so powerful that finally it wasnecessary to increase weight of the satellites and the metal discs inorder to consume enough of energy and not to cause chronometricdivergence. Altogether a heavy industry assisting to theultra-liberal time, what a beautiful image of crisis!!

An essential illustrative video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDu0V-OtBTQ&feature=related

Denis Guiget:





A bursting of time is dimensional inthis watch, too. We can observe the trend through watches ofindependent high-end watchmaking brands like the HL, HL 2.0 ofHautlence, or the one of MB&F - HM3; they put the time reading involume. But no watch so far has been pushed in its concept ofdimension to perfectionism like Opus XI, because it brings with itsvolumes the third dimension which supplements 2 usual time readingdimensions, temporal dimension, the fourth thus coming to finish thesquaring of dimensions.
There is as well an aestheticperfection, whereas Sequential One MCT is rather prudent, slightlybent square case, the aesthetic standards are fragmented by circularradicalism of Eric Giroud. While his work on Opus IX - resolutelyradical in general - was moderated by very soft lines, non-existentangles, and harmonious proportions, on Opus XI, there is nothingreminding it, on the contrary, he goes till the to the extreme inthis explosive design.



The great aesthetic power of this watchcomes in evidence that it perfectly suits on the wrist. The work onthe lugs is very serious, while it seems completely unbalanced on theplate, the lugs anchor completely on the wrist. Anyway, I amconvinced that to understand profoundly the esthetics of this watch,one should test it on own wrist – that explains quite a few wrists’shots in this subject.



In certain respects, by seeing it, Ithink about Antiqua from Vianney Halter, Steampunk watch, if it isso, here, one would rather have the wrist Futura, post-Cyberpunkwatch, may it be.

The work on glass is very impressive,the transparency processing that leaves us nevertheless puzzledconcerning the functionality of the system, once again, a beautifulmetaphor about our time of Kairos. This moment of Kairos comes backfrom elsewhere in the immediate swing of the discs of time reading, awatch to have in all respects.

The choice of deflecting counter isradical in every case, in this work of circles in revolution, Irecognize the work of the traditional dials that Eric Giroud made forHeritage Watch Manufactory. The choice to place the balance-wheel inan dedicated opened niche seems to be very judicious since it givesthe touch of life necessary to snuffling deadlines between twomoments of Kairos where the time deflagrates.



In addition to the idea to present thebalance-wheel a dedicated disc, this fact makes dissipate anymisunderstanding on the presence of electrical motors in this watch,because one could believe that this impressive gas works full ofpinions, with cones, metal discs is fed by tiny servo-motors. Theopening showing the balance-wheel and the traditional processing ofthe movement reassures or surprises on this impressive technicalchoice.



One would believe that the concept ofnew way of time reading in 3D that was symptomatic in crazy years ofthe watchmaking industry during the period of 2005-2008 fori.e.Hautlence, MB&F or MCT was far exhausted…Undoubtedly, HarryWinston prepared a surprise and succeeded in making explode thisconcept. The talents of Guiguet, after the relatively sober MCT andof Giroud with his typically soft contours, were combined to sink inthe Cyberpunk, by dynamiting the reading of time.

爱表族文工团

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tosainu

米老鼠手表，[s:101] [s:101] [s:101] [s:101] [s:101]

freeman0528

实在是太酷了。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。