AHCI - PuristSPro report: Antoine Martin at Baselworld 2014

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:

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