Wristwatches made entirely from sapphire crystal - this is undoubtedly the brightest and most dynamically developing trend of contemporary art of luxury. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CLOCK MECHANISM SO ATTRACTS THAT SOME MANUFACTURERS WOULD HAVE BEEN PLEASURED TO MAKE IT WITHOUT AN ENCLOSURE. WELL, OR WOULD LIKE TO TURN IT INTO A GLASS CAP. Moreover, the passion for full openness is MUTUAL - FOR THE POSSIBILITY TO SEE THE COMPLEX MECHANICS, AS A FLY IN AMBER, COLLECTORS ARE READY TO PAY THE HIGHEST PRICE.
CRYSTAL STANDARD
As you know, sapphire crystal is not glass at all, but artificially grown corundum, that is, a kind of mineral based on aluminum oxide. It is one of the most durable materials on the planet (9 on the Mohs scale), second only to diamond. Since only the purest alumina powder without any impurities is taken to synthesize the corundum crystal lattice, the result is literally “crystal clear” sapphire - unlike natural sapphires, which are often colored in blue, yellow or other colors due to the presence of metallic impurities .
Although the technology for growing an artificial crystal was invented back in 1902 (and since then, by the way, has not undergone fundamental changes), its path to watchmaking was difficult and winding. Precisely because superhard sapphire is very difficult to process: cut into details of the desired shape and grind, besides, it must be borne in mind that although the crystal is almost impossible to scratch, cracks and chips are inevitable when thinly cutting glass and drilling holes for miniature screws in it.
It is believed that the tireless experimenter Edmond Zhezhe was the first to try sapphire as a watch glass in the 1930s, equipping them with some officer models of Jaeger-LeCoultre (but certainly not Reverso). Then, in the 1960s, sapphire crystals began to be used for Seamaster underwater watches.
Omega, however, the technology has not become mass. In those days, even the owners of the watches themselves thought that it was cheaper and more practical to buy ordinary models with mineral or plastic glass and then regularly send them to polish.
Sapphire seriously came to the watch industry only in the 1980s, when the best friend of the modern watchmaker, the laser, was used to cut and process it. It was in the 80s that Rolex became the first brand to equip all its collections with exclusively sapphire crystals, and thereby set a new standard for prestigious watches.
Since then, in less than thirty years, sapphire crystal has made a dizzying journey from a purely technical element of the protection of the dial to the object of horlogerie. Today, not only the upper glass and the back cover are made of sapphire (although many still remember how furor the first "transparent" watches - Corum Golden Bridge, invented in 1977 by Vincent Calabrese made), but the whole case, moreover, it can be the most complicated and unusual shape, with convex hemispheres and prominent elements.
THOUSAND HOURS
Without sapphire, many technological masterpieces would have been impossible, from the Christoph Colomb gyro from Zenith to the 2016 SIHH Geneva Salon premiere - Cartier Astromysterieuse with 4 sapphire discs in the movement.
However, making a fully sapphire case has long been considered an incredibly bold achievement. When in 2009 Maximillian Busser showed the HM2 Sapphire Vision in Geneva in a flat rectangular case made entirely of sapphire crystal, he aspirated that the production of every watch takes up to 80 days and almost every second copy was found to be defective from for micro-chips. Despite the fact that in the HM2 SV sapphire plates were fastened with a platinum frame. Whereas in 2012 Richard Mill introduced the world's first watch made exclusively from sapphire elements on titanium screws - Richard Mille RM 056 Felipe Massa Sapphire. This split chronograph was created in only 5 copies, each of which cost a million dollars. The price is understandable: the manufacture of each sapphire case required more than 1000 hours of work only on sapphire crystal. About 400 hours to cut each detail and the same amount to polish it.
Since then, two of its main characteristics have been attached to sapphire technology: it is difficult and very expensive. But this does not prevent an increasing number of watch brands from joining the "transparent club".
UNLOCKED LUXURY
Back in Geneva in January, MB&F introduced the new Sapphire Vision, now for the HM6, with a flying tourbillon and two turbines. It took the team of Maximillian Busser three years to develop a transparent version of the "space pirate". Nine glass domes - five on the top and four on the bottom - are carefully fixed on transparent plates by a special bonding procedure under vacuum in a high-temperature furnace. The plates are connected by a metal ring with a longitudinal pattern borrowed from 1950s Greyhound buses. In total, 10 pieces with gold elements and 10 with platinum were released.
Even on the eve of SIHH, technology enthusiast Richard Miles decided to take the lead again and was the first to introduce a transparent watch for women Richard Mille RM 07-02 Pink Lady Sapphire, in which a barrel-shaped case made of artificial crystal is painted in romantic pink color.
And the Hublot manufactory in 2016 produced a galaxy of its own “sapphire vision”, introducing the MP-05 LaFerrari Sapphire with the caliber HUB9005 in Geneva. H1.PN.1 with a soaring vertical tourbillon in a sapphire case, and in the spring in Basel, the more classic Big Bang Unico Sapphire model with a manufactory caliber HUB 1242 based on the Unico movement, complemented by a flyback chronograph function. In this watch, released in a run of 500 copies, the sapphire crystal, the back case and the middle part of the case are 45 mm fastened with titanium screws, and to enhance the effect, the dial is also made transparent, made of silicone rubber, as well as the strap. The model also has a “negative” version of Big Bang Unico Black Magic in a transparent tinted case.
It turned out that it was the transparent premieres of Baselworld that became the most interesting and even sensational. Suffice it to recall Bell & Ross, who marked the beginning of cooperation with the Relault F-1 team with the release of three copies of the fully sapphire BR-X1 Tourbillon Chronograph Sapphire with the caliber BR-CAL.285. Moreover, manufacturers keep the name of the manufacturer of the case in the strictest confidence.
And the famous watch designer Francois Kentin, who came up with the 4N concept with digital display via synchronized 4 discs, decided that his MTV 4N-01 caliber deserves full review. Therefore, with the help of FashionLab computer lab and their new Dassault Systems platform, to develop a new monoblock sapphire case with the same sapphire case back. In total, 3 copies of 4N Sapphire Planet were made with different shades of glass and numbers.
Finally, BaselWorld’s most expensive watch was the premiere of the Rebelion 540 Magnum Sapphire Tourbillon for $ 1.8 million. But the company itself is very enthusiastic about another figure: 99 working days or 47,600 minutes.
Precisely so many exact estimates were required to make a unique case made of sapphire wafers according to a complex 3D layout.
Then in the summer, the duo of Stephen Forsi and Robert Grubei introduced a limited edition of 8 copies of their first Double Tourbillon 30-Degrees Technique Sapphire sapphire watches on the American market. The mechanism is well known to collectors - it is a tourbillon with two carriages, placed one on top of the other and rotating at different angles at different speeds (the inner rotates in 60 seconds, the outer in 4 minutes). The power reserve of the winding drum is 120 hours. Undoubtedly, the most innovative and valuable part of this model is the 49.9 mm case, which consists of three parts: the back cover, the middle part and the welt. All of them are made of monoblock synthetic sapphire.
The crystal gradually penetrates all the niches of the watch industry - from independent craftsmen to industrial brands. The original “sapphire tubes”, similar to the cuffs, are used by the independent watchmaker Olivier Savelli for their original Skull, Petroleum skeletons or the latest novelty - Speed, manufactured under the Ollivier Saveo brand. And in the fall, the young Kentex brand introduced its own sapphire watch - the first one created in Japan. By the way, probably, the Japanese “sapphire” will be the most affordable among the models of this trend. Because while most transparent premieres are designed for millionaires: the Astronomia Sky Celestial Panorama Gravitational Triple Axis Tourbillon from Jacob & Co in sapphire costs $ 800,000 (without diamonds), the price of the Greubel Forsey double tourbillon is $ 1,100,000, Bell & Ross did not disclose the price of its a monoblock sapphire chronograph, but they also hint that we should focus on seven signs. Against this background, the HM6 SV for 350 thousand looks even democratically.
Of course, you should wear such a watch carefully, but it will be stored almost forever - unlike precious metals and even steel, a sapphire crystal will not cloud over time and will not lose a perfectly smooth surface.
Text: Lisa Epifanova
