Independents

small-luxury-world
[Patek]
8768

• Show profile
• Show other posts

Christophe Claret KANTHAROS – Personal view & live pictures

You probably have already seen the Press Release and some reports from fellow PuristS. Nonetheless I wanted
to share my pictures and thoughts after my visit in Basel 2013.

What we have here is a mono-pusher chronograph with striking mechanism and constant force escapement from
a well-known and outstanding watchmaker, known especially for his highly complicated watches. So far it is quite
mouthwatering, isn´t it? At least for me it was and I was really keen on to see it in Basel. The teaser before Basel
did a good job

The word Sonnerie on the dial caused my curiosity even more, but at the end I expected more or should I say
something different than “just” a nice sound when using the chronograph.

But let´s start from the beginning instead of judging too early.

First impressions :

It is a modern and sporty looking chronograph with additional spice – technical and visual features of haute-horlogerie.
There is a lot to observe and the readability is good.

Inside we see a very interesting movement which is designed, developed and assembled in-house. It is not build up
“layer by layer”, it is fully integrated and that is for sure an essential part of the beauty.

The front side of the movement …

… and the back side, both look amazing – because of the features, the execution and the finish shown.
The sapphire back and the open worked rotor allows enjoying the beauty of the very complex movement
and had to be covered in more than just one picture

 Even the dial allows you to appreciate the striking part of the movement and the constant force escapement,
without disturbing the readability of the watch. Readability is also good when it comes to the time indication
in general, as well as for the chronograph function.

Note: If you observe any kind of “tiny flaws” in the next close-ups please keep in mind that I took the pictures of a prototype.
No doubts, the serial production will be perfect.

The case is well done as well and looks good from all sides. The side view shows that the watch is not
thin (Height: 15.83 mm), but absolutely wearable for what it is.

The clasp looks nice and is quite comfortable, but without big guesses a scratch magnet.

Always very important for me is, how does it look & feel on my wrist.

The case diameter is 45mm, but even on my 6.5 inch wrist it is comfortable and looks well. Maybe not perfect
for business occasions, but that is not a big issue for such a casual/sporty watch.

The watch is available in several versions and I saw most of them. For taking pictures, only the pink
gold/anthracite titanium version was available. There have been just too many people who wanted to see
this novelty, which is quite understandable.

My personal favorite is …

… the titanium version with rhodium plated dial (second watch in the picture above). It looks sporty without being
too sporty and it is not too heavy on the wrist. I was surprised to see so many different options at that time, to be
honest. But diversity doesn´t hurt, at least not the customer.

Final conclusion :

It is a very nice offer from Christophe Claret and an affordable one, compared to his watches in the past.
One gets a hell of a watch, with 558 very well executed components and 75 (!) jewels. Something special you
don´t see every day.

Still think the word Sonnerie is somehow misleading, but this is the only thing I don´t like that much.

So if you like chronographs with additional spice, you request something special and you are in the market for
something like this - you should have a closer look.

Oliver

PS: If you are interested in more technical details I would recommend using our search function and having a
look at the previous posts about this novelty. Thanks!

Site Info.