Marcus Hanke[PuristSPro Moderator]
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PuristSPro report: Antoine Martin at Baselworld 2014
Apr 09, 2014,13:36 PM
Antoine Martin
Tourbillon Astronomique
Shortly
before the Basel fair, Martin Braun lost his CEO Bruno Jufer, who
accepted the challenge to represent and reorganize Eterna. For the brand
Antoine Martin, this does not only have negative consequences: From the
point of view of customers and enthusiasts, the watchmaker Martin Braun
had been pushed into the background too much in the past years. Now he
is in the position to represent his brand more actively, permitting the
stronger identification of Antoine Martin with Martin Braun.
His
newest miracle unites many of his most important creations in one
piece: The Tourbillon Astronomique is an astronomical calendar watch.
For a specific location on Earth, that has to be determined before
making the watch, since many of the gears have to be adapted
respectively, the watch shows the times of sunrise and sunset. Unlike
Braun’s iconic „Eos“, that made him well-known as independent
watchmaker, these times are not indicated by crossing retrograde hands,
but by means of more conventional, but easy to read watch subdials.
Additionally,
there is a unique moon phase display, combining a realistically crafted
sterling silver moon and a dark tinted sapphire disk that moves above
that moon, reproducing the waxing and waning moon.
On its back,
the watch shows a unusual depiction of the Earth with a red line showing
the position of the sun above the globe. Since the Earth’s rotation
axis in relation to the Sun is tilted, the Sun will not always be
directly above the rotation equator, but move between the two tropics of
cancer and unicorn following the seasons of the year. Consequently, the
red line will move up and down, depending on the months and seasons.
Other
indications are the date, the signs of the zodiac, combined with the
seasons of the Northern hemisphere (can be adapted to the Southern
hemisphere, of course), day/night and an equation of time, showing the
difference between the mean solar time and the real solar time,
depending on the varying speed of the Earth on its path around the Sun,
and the tilting of Earth’s rotation axis.
Finally, of course, there is a nice and large minute tourbillon dominating the dial at 6.
The
large movement, with a diameter of just under 40mm, explains the
massive impression of the watch overall. The efficient silicium
escapement and a huge mainspring barrel permit a power reserve of no
less than six days.
Another big plus is the fact that setting the
watch is easy: Most indications are set by twisting the crown, since
they are connected to each other and pre-programmed.
Another good
news for friends of the brand: The „Slow Runner“ with its gigantic
balance wheel, that has stirred so much attention last year, is finally
in the stage of delivery. The delay was due to the originally planned
employment of a titanium balance wheel, which unfortunately conflicted
with a Swatch Group patent.
Here is a video featuring the Tourbillon Astronomique and the Slowrunner:
This message has been edited by Marcus Hanke on 2014-04-09 13:37:43
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PuristSPro report: Antoine Martin at Baselworld 2014
By: Marcus Hanke : April 9th, 2014-13:36
Antoine Martin Tourbillon Astronomique Shortly before the Basel fair, Martin Braun lost his CEO Bruno Jufer, who accepted the challenge to represent and reorganize Eterna. For the brand Antoine Martin, this does not only have negative consequences: From t...
I recall ...
By: Marcus Hanke : April 10th, 2014-01:12
... having heard something about half a million Franks. Marcus