in collaboration with
Contents EDITORIAL
1
A SPOT OF HISTORY
2
DISPLAY 1
FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE 13th CENTURY
3
DISPLAY 2
FROM CLOCK TO WATCH
4
DISPLAYS 3 - 4
ACHIEVING PRECISION
DISPLAYS 5 - 10
DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
DISPLAYS 11 - 16
FROM MECHANICAL TO QUARTZ
13 - 18
DISPLAYS 17 - 20
TECHNICAL AND PRECIOUS FINE WATCHES
19 - 20
5-6 7 - 12
"LA CONQUISTA DEL TEMPO" - THE BOOK
21
FHH MISSION STATEMENT
23
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
24
AN EXHIBITION IN 20 DISPLAYS The Mastery of Time is curated as a succession of twenty individual displays. They are organised according to periods and themes that form a chronological sequence. This guide will help you view the different items on display in the intended order. For each display, it describes the historical and scientific context, in addition to a brief description of the main exhibit. Exhibition Layout - Sala Federiciana
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T H I S WAY
ENTRANCE
II
Editorial FRANCO COLOGNI CHAIRMAN OF THE FONDATION DE LA HAUTE HORLOGERIE CULTURAL COUNCIL
The world of fine watchmaking is celebrating the technical, artistic and cultural innovations that have changed the history of timekeeping with the exhibition and book The Mastery of Time. Written by the historian Dominique Fléchon, this publication forms the basis of an exhibition – a true Wunderkammer of inventiveness and originality – with which the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva, through its Cultural Council, intends to deliver a radical message: that the measurement of time and the mastery of its mystery has always been a culturally significant act. The decision to bring such a vision to Milan, capital of design and the host city for Expo 2015, underlines the desire of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie to hold a dialogue with the most important forces in contemporary society: those of mindful design and planning for the future. The clocks and watches selected for this exhibition, staged beneath the vaults of the Sala Federiciana, reflect a change that is explored by Expo 2015 and a question that we are continually examining: the passage from a culture of consumption, made up of short-lived objects and duplicated moments, to a philosophy of value, centred on the celebration of time. And the choice of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, cultural heart of the metropolis, inserts The Mastery of Time in a process of progressive rediscovery of
the values that have allowed humanity to connect with the mysterious and fascinating forces that run through the minutes, the hours, the days. In chapter XXII of The Betrothed, Alessandro Manzoni has the following to say about the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana: “this library [...] remains a monument of [Federico Borromeo’s] liberality and magnificence. To furnish it with books and manuscripts, besides those which he had already collected, he sent eight of the most skilful and learned men to make purchases of them […]. He succeeded in collecting 30,000 printed volumes, and 14,000 manuscripts.” Manzoni’s description concludes with these enlightened and enlightening words: “[...] but we must admire the generosity, judgement, and benevolence of the man who could undertake and execute such things, in the midst of the ignorance, inertness, and general indifference which surrounded him.” Mastering time may seem an ambitious claim: but reflecting on this achievement amidst the masterpieces of the Ambrosian Library serves to remind us that time itself is in reality a gift, a talent to be made fruitful, a flow that our instruments measure in order to let us grow, progress and assert ourselves.
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 1
THE MASTERY OF TIME DO M IN IQUE FLÉCHON, HISTO RIAN AND EXPER T IN FINE WATCHMAKING G R ÉG O RY G ARDINETTI, HISTO RIAN IN F INE WATCHMAKING
A spot of history Over thirteen billion years ago, the Universe was formed with the Big Bang. Several billion years later, the Sun, without which there can be no life on Earth, was formed from a cloud of gas and dust. Homo took his first steps a mere 200,000 years ago. Our ancestors’ constant search for means of subsistence took them from Africa and across the planet. They slowly developed an awareness of time, first the present then notions of past and future as the basis for life in groups of individuals. Homo sapiens, at first a hunter-gatherer, evolved from predator to producer. With this new production economy came trade and the exchange of goods, but also of knowledge.
A pivotal moment in human history occurred circa 2400 BCE when the Mesopotamians imagined a unit of measure which we still find in our base 60 (sexagesimal) system for counting minutes. Clocks that used the sun, water or fire measured the intervals of time which astronomers needed for their calculations. Soon the first gear-driven mechanisms appeared, a prelude to mechanical timekeeping which, of all human inventions, has probably had the greatest influence on how we think. With it came a new concept of time as a linear succession of discrete, calibrated, universal intervals. Farming communities became industrialised. “Modern” time measurement was born.
TIM E M EASUREMENT WO R LD EVENTS
-13,700,000,000 | Big Bang, formation of the Universe.
-13,700,000,000 2
- 4,567,000,000 | Formation of the Sun.
- 4,567,000,000
-200,000 | Appearance of Homo sapiens.
-200,000
-5000 | First megalithic sites.
-5000
-4500
-3000 | Erection of the circle of menhirs in Stonehenge, England.
-4000
-3500
-3000
0
D I S P L AY 1
From the origins to the late 13th century AS TIME GOES BY
The Ancient Greeks and Romans had no need for instruments that measured time with precision. At most they sought to prevent speakers at the tribunal from overrunning their allotted time. TIME IN GREECE AND ROME In his efforts to situate himself within time, Man looked to the Sun as a reference point, and this from the prehistoric age. These early observers sought ways they could track the Sun’s movement through the sky. Rudimentary at first, the devices they made became increasingly sophisticated as civilisations evolved. The gnomon, the most primitive of these instruments, was nothing more than a stick made to stand upright in the ground. The length of the shadow it cast marked intervals of time during the day. These early attempts to measure time led to the sundial, whose fixed needle
Gear-driven mechanisms were already in use, as Aristotle noted, although they served chiefly to display astronomical information. Time was a mainly philosophical notion.
or style casts a shadow from the Sun onto a horizontal or vertical flat surface. This surface was inscribed with a scale to measure the passing day with greater precision. The sundial was, for a long time, one of the few objects which early civilisations could use to organise life within the community. Invented by the Greeks and perfected by scholars in the Arabian Peninsula, the astrolabe was a more sophisticated device and is still seen as the most accomplished mathematical instrument of its day. It projects a representation of the sky at a given moment onto a plane surface. The astrolabe served numerous purposes, including to calculate when a star would pass at a given altitude.
D I S P L AY 1 L A B E L S 1
SILVER SUNDIAL, SIGNED PIERRE LEMAIRE, PARIS, EARLY 18th C. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland The octagonal silver dial incorporates a compass and a folding triangular pointer, held against an engraved bird-shaped ornament. The bird’s beak indicates latitude, which can be adjusted on a scale marked 40° to 60°. The hour is read on four rows, alternately engraved with Roman and Arabic numerals, according to the chosen latitude (43°, 46°, 49° and 52°). The underside is engraved with the names and latitudes of nineteen European cities.
-2000 | Babylonian clay tablets prove the existence of clepsydras.
-2500
-2000
-1600 | Making of the Nebra disc.
-1500
-753 | Foundation of Rome.
-1000
-500
-450 | Introduction of the Mesopotamian calendar.
0
-140 | Antikythera mechanism, the oldest surviving gear-driven mechanism in the world.
500
1000
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 3
D I S P L AY 2
From clock to watch 14th – 16th century AS TIME GOES BY
The vast majority of people during the lower Middle Ages lived in the countryside. Peasant farmers rose, toiled and went to bed to the sound of the church
clock which day and night chimed the hours on bells. For centuries, church bells were the only indications of passing time.
THE SPRING-DRIVEN PORTABLE CLOCK In the fourteenth century, a town of any importance invested substantial means in the construction of a turret clock as a symbol of its power, wealth and civilised state. These early feats inspired clockmakers to continue their efforts and convince wealthy private patrons of the benefits of measuring time. As mechanisms became smaller, the clock entered the homes of a privileged few. Around 1410, the Italian architect Filippo Brunelleschi replaced the weights in certain domestic wall clocks with a spring. This was a major step forwards, thanks to which clocks could now be moved and also set down; the table clock was born. The privilege of an affluent and progressive elite, it could be no more precise than knowledge and techniques of the day allowed.
D I S P L AY 2 L A B E L S 2
ROCAILLE TABLE CLOCK, ANONYMOUS, GERMANY, SECOND HALF OF THE 18th C. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Calvin
Late 13th c. | First clock with gears, weights and regulator.
1360 4
1390
1364 | Giovanni Dondi of Padua constructs his Astrarium, an astronomical clock.
1420
1450
1410 | Filippo Brunelleschi adapts the spring to the clock, doing away with driving-weights and hence making it portable.
1480
1510
1492 | Christopher Columbus discovers America.
1540
1556 | Under Calvin, goldsmiths in Geneva are forbidden from making jewellery and turn instead to watch cases.
1570
1600
1630
D I S P L AY 3
Achieving precision 16th – 18th century AS TIME GOES BY
The instruments that measured time during the Renaissance were still only rudimentary. They were nonetheless elaborately decorated, an important attribute given that watches were carried as a visible THE “HAUTE ÉPOQUE’’ WATCH AND PRECISION The very first watches, known as “haute époque”, were worn on a cord or a chain, around the neck or pinned to the bosom. “Fantasy” watches appeared circa 1510. Their many and imaginative forms looked to animals and flowers for inspiration, or geometrical figures. These watches had only one hand to indicate the hours and were notoriously poor timekeepers. More jewel than timepiece, their lavish ornamentation distracted from the lack of technical innovation by the watchmakers of the day. Horology turned a corner in 1657 with the discoveries of Christiaan Huygens of the Netherlands. Considered the father of precision timekeeping, he imagined a
1657 | Christiaan Huygens adapts the pendulum to the clock.
1640
1650
1660
sign of wealth. The invention of the sprung balance would be decisive in the development of precision timekeeping.
pendulum mechanism which considerably increased accuracy. The sprung balance he invented in 1675 improved the clock’s precision such that it was accurate to within a few minutes a day, compared to almost an hour previously. Such progress, coupled with a growing body of knowledge and more elaborate tools, meant ornamentation now took second place to the rapidlyevolving mechanism. The hour hand was joined by the minute hand then the seconds hand, soon followed by quarter then minute repeaters.
D I S P L AY 3 L A B E L S
1675 | Christiaan Huygens invents the balance spring for the watch.
1685 | Construction of Place Vendôme in Paris.
1670
1680
3
POCKET WATCH WITH ONE HAND AND HOUR STRIKE, GYLIS VAN GEELE, HOLLAND, 1585. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
4
OCTAGONAL POCKET WATCH WITH ONE HAND, ANONYMOUS, BLOIS (FRANCE), FIRST HALF OF THE 17th C. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
5
ROCK CRYSTAL PENDANT WATCH IN THE SHAPE OF A CROSS, MOVEMENT SIGNED WILHELM PFEFFENHAUSER AUGSBURG, CIRCA 1640. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
6
QUARTER-REPEATER POCKET WATCH WITH INNER AND OUTER CASE, DECHARME, LONDON, 1760. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
7
POCKET WATCH WITH ALARM, GOSSELIN, PARIS, CIRCA 1730. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Early 18th century Huygens' inventions improve precision sufficiently for the gradual addition to dials of a minute hand.
1690
1700
1710 | Samuel Watson invents the five-minute repeater.
1710
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 5
D I S P L AY 4 ACHIEVIN G PRECISION
AS TIME GOES BY Whether enamelling, engraving, sculpture or gem-setting, the decorative arts in watchmaking reached an apogee during the Renaissance. The modern-day watch manufacturers which strive
to preserve this expertise willingly acknowledge that we still have much to learn from our predecessors, and that certain skills have been lost for ever.
THE TRIUMPH OF ENAMEL Enamelling has its roots in Geneva, and the city was renowned as the home of the finest craftsmen. They would contribute to the rise of the enamel painting for which Geneva was known. Magnificent pocket watches were richly decorated in champlevé or cloisonné enamel. Watches for the Chinese market abandoned their plain cases for sumptuous
painted enamel scenes. This art, which evolved alongside mechanical innovations, produced ever more skilful realisations. By the second half of the eighteenth century, fondant or Geneva enamel - a technique in which the polychrome decoration is protected by a layer of colourless enamel - was the most coveted of all.
D I S P L AY 4 L A B E L S 8
9
PAIR OF POCKET WATCHES MADE FOR THE CHINESE MARKET, JUVET, LOUIS AND EDOUARD, FLEURIER (SWITZERLAND), CIRCA 1870. Musée L.U.CEUM - Traces du Temps, Chopard Manufacture S.A., Fleurier
DID YOU KNOW? In the mid-sixteenth century, Calvinist Protestantism imposed a new rule on Geneva’s guild of goldsmiths that forbade them from producing jewellery, prompting many of them to use their skills to make watch cases instead. In 1650 there were three hundred watchmakers in Geneva. A century later there were more than six hundred, or 3% of the population.
POCKET WATCH DECORATED WITH A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS ON A MAUVE BACKGROUND, BOVET, FLEURIER (SWITZERLAND), CIRCA 1830. Private Collection of Bovet Fleurier SA
10 ENAMELLED
POCKET WATCH, ANONYMOUS, SWITZERLAND, CIRCA 1800. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle - Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
1714 | The English Parliament offers £20,000 to whomever invents a means of precisely calculating longitude.
1720 6
1757 | English watchmaker Thomas Mudge invents the lever escapement.
1730
1761 | John Harrison's marine chronometer N°4 wins the challenge set by the English Parliament to resolve the longitude problem.
1740
1750
1770 | Antoine Lépine imagines a simplified and thinner calibre using bridges, known as a Lépine calibre.
1760
1776 | United States Declaration of Independence.
1770
1789 | French Revolution.
1780
1790
D I S P L AY 5
During the Industrial Revolution 1790 - 1918 AS TIME GOES BY Horology is a child of astronomy. Indeed, precise time measurement was needed so that calculations could be made from observations of the stars and planets, if only to produce calendars. The Gregorian calendar in use in our societies is a solar calendar, devised in
the late sixteenth century to correct discrepancies in the Julian calendar that preceded it, and which Julius Caesar introduced in 46 BCE. The Gregorian calendar became the standard calendar for countries around the world in the early twentieth century.
THE ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK Most astronomical clocks were found inside important religious buildings. Their civic counterparts had no ecclesiastical calendar but did conserve functions such as moon phases, months and the zodiac. This was an era when princes, politicians and clergy would observe the position of the stars before consenting to any important decision, and the astronomical clock played an important role as an instrument of observation. Physicians in the late Middle Ages imagined horological devices which they consulted before performing surgery on their patient.
DID YOU KNOW? Built in the fifteenth century, the Prague astronomical clock has two dials, both with automata. The upper dial, which measures 3.10 metres in diameter, displays astronomical information and is divided into two periods of 12 hours. Indications include the length of day and night, solar, Bohemian and sidereal time, the signs of the zodiac and the apparent movements of the Sun and Moon. The dial underneath shows an ecclesiastical calendar. Legend has it that the maker of the clock, Hanus, had his eyes gouged to ensure he would never replicate his masterpiece elsewhere.
1800 | Start of the century of industrialisation.
1800
1801 | Abraham-Louis Breguet is awarded a patent for the tourbillon.
D I S P L AY 5 L A B E L S 11 PLANETARY
CLOCK, FRANÇOIS DUCOMMUN, LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS, 1830. Musée International d’Horlogerie,
La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
1801 | Alessandro Volta presents his electric battery.
1810 Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 7
D I S P L AY 6 DURIN G THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
AS TIME GOES BY The Industrial Revolution took hold in Great Britain in the 1760s before spreading to the rest of Europe. Despite the handicaps of being a landlocked, mountainous country with few natural resources,
THE KEYLESS WATCH Watchmakers significantly increased their production using the mechanised means introduced by the Industrial Revolution, while standardised calibres benefited from interchangeable parts. In 1839, Vacheron Constantin hired Georges-Auguste Leschot to modernise its workshops. He fulfilled his mission thanks to machine tools which he developed exclusively for Vacheron Constantin. Leschot is recognised as one of the pioneers in the development of industrial watchmaking. Swiss watchmaker Pierre-Frédéric Ingold can take credit for spreading this new concept on a much
Switzerland successfully industrialised in the 1800s1820s. It did have the advantage of hydraulic power to drive the machines that were taking over factories and workshops, including in watchmaking.
wider scale. When his ideas met with hostility from his compatriots and counterparts, he took his know-how to the United States where the development of machines that stamped gears, bridges and plates took America into the market with industrially-produced, standardised watches. Already, in around 1815, Ingold had invented a means of winding the mainspring by turning the case back, one of the very first attempts to do away with the winding key. Some three decades later, research by Jean-Antoine LeCoultre, Louis Audemars and Adrien Philippe resulted in a mechanism for winding and setting the time via the crown that would be widely adopted.
D I S P L AY 6 L A B E L S 12 POCKET
WATCH, ELGIN, USA, 19th C. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
13 POCKET
WATCH, WALTHAM, USA. 1880. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
14 POCKET
WATCH, INSIDE BACK COVER ENGRAVED N° 18246, INVENTED AND MADE BY PATEK PHILIPPE & CO IN GENEVA, 1861. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
15 POCKET
CHRONOMETER FOR TORPEDO BOAT, EDMOND JAEGER, LE SENTIER (SWITZERLAND), 1895. Patrimoine Jaeger-LeCoultre
16 POCKET
WATCH, SIGNED A. LANGE & SÖHNE/ GLASHÜTTE BEI DRESDEN, GLASHÜTTE (GERMANY), CIRCA 1875. A. Lange & Söhne Archive
1816 | Louis Moinet builds a chronograph measuring 1/60th second
1822 J.-F. Champollion reveals the mysteries of hieroglyphics.
1820 8
1828 | Louis-Frédéric Perrelet and his son are awarded a patent for a split-seconds "physics and astronomy counter".
1830 | Development in the 1830s
of various pendant-winding systems by LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet and Adrien Philippe.
1830
D I S P L AY 7 DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLU TI ON
AS TIME GOES BY A chronograph, or chronoscope, is an instrument that measures the duration of an event. In everyday language, the word “chronometer” is often wrongly used to refer to a chronograph, whose name derives from the Greek meaning “to write time”. The invenTHE CHRONOGRAPH, A FUNCTIONAL INSTRUMENT Come the early nineteenth century, following advances in areas such as astronomy and engineering, and as sporting competitions became more commonplace, the need arose for an instrument which could measure fractions of a second. A variety of solutions were proposed. After John Arnold’s unsuccessful attempts, the Parisian watchmaker Louis Moinet (1768-1853) imagined a device that could measure sixtieths of a second. He named his invention a compteur de tierces, a “tierce” or “third” being the sexagesimal subdivision of the hour after the minute and the second, used in astronomy. Moinet built his counter between 1815 and 1816, with the help of a watchmaker employed in the workshops of Abraham-Louis Breguet. In 1821, Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec (1781-1866), clockmaker to the king, used a device of his invention to time horse races on the Champs de Mars in Paris. That same year he presented his machine before the Royal Academy of Science in Paris, describing it as a “timekeeper or distance counter”, although it
tion of the chronograph was attributed to Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec, until the recent discovery of an instrument made by Louis Moinet, dating from 1816, which is now acknowledged as the first recorded chronograph.
was recorded in the Academy’s minutes as a “seconds chronograph”. In 1822 Rieussec secured a patent for his invention, which lived up to its name as it deposited a drop of ink on an enamel dial at the start and finish of each measured interval. This inking system was later discarded, giving rise to the chronoscope, first for the pocket and later worn on the wrist. Watchmakers set to work perfecting the chronograph, first a simple mechanism then as a split-seconds version, and later with a hand that could be reset to zero. As they mastered the supply of energy to the mechanism, chronographs were able to measure longer and longer intervals, which they totalised on 12-hour and later 24-hour counters. D I S P L AY 7 L A B E L S 17 SPLIT-SECONDS
POCKET CHRONOGRAPH WITH PULSOMETRIC SCALE, ZENITH, LE LOCLE (SWITZERLAND), 1901. Collection Historique Zenith, Branch of LVMH Swiss Manufactures SA
18 POCKET
CHRONOGRAPH WITH PULSOMETRIC SCALE, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1926. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
19 SPLIT-SECONDS
POCKET CHRONOGRAPH WITH JUMPING QUARTER-SECONDS, LÉOPOLD HUGUENIN, LE LOCLE (SWITZERLAND), CIRCA 1880. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle - Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
20 CONTEMPORARY
REPLICA OF THE INKING CHRONOGRAPH MADE BY NICOLAS MATHIEU RIEUSSEC IN 1821. Collection Historique Montblanc
1822 | Nicolas Mathieu Rieussec is awarded a patent for a "timekeeper or distance counter”, referred to as a “seconds chronograph”. 1839 | Vacheron Constantin starts using Georges-Auguste Leschot's pantograph.
1840
1844 | Samuel Morse sends the first telegram.
1851 | Great Exhibition in London.
1850 Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 9
D I S P L AY 8 DURIN G THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
AS TIME GOES BY In the mid-1760s, Jean-Antoine Lépine developed a simplified mechanism with flat bridges that took his name. Watches fitted with this slimmer calibre were
less bulky and therefore better suited to the close-fitting fashions of the day. The extra-thin watch was born, and continues to occupy many of today’s watchmakers.
EXTRA-THIN AND MINIATURE WATCHES The fashion in the mid-nineteenth century was for extra-thin watches. Philippe Samuel Meylan built the “inverted” or “Bagnolet” calibre whose construction did not exceed 1.18 mm in height. Such a miniaturised mechanism fit easily inside a coin, transformed into a
dress watch for the occasion. Three centuries earlier, a handful of watchmakers had already succeeded in fitting a watch inside a ring. Although small, the mechanisms inside these miniature timepieces had yet to achieve the thinness that followed in the mid-1800s.
D I S P L AY 8 L A B E L S 21 EXTRA-THIN
POCKET WATCH WITH 24-HOUR DIAL, CARTIER, 1913. Collection Cartier
22 RING-WATCH,
ANONYMOUS, GENEVA, 1800. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
23 EXTRA-THIN
WATCH WITH ENAMELLED AND ENGRAVED DECORATION, TEROND ET RAVIER, GENEVA, 1840. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
24 EXTRA-THIN
POCKET WATCH, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1938. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
25 COIN
WATCH, PIAGET, 1964. Patrimoine Piaget
26 EXTRA-THIN
POCKET WATCH, LECOULTRE, 1895. Patrimoine Jaeger-LeCoultre
1859 | Big Ben is brought into service.
1860 10
1875 | Nemitz discovers calcium sulphate as the first luminescent substance for hands and numerals.
DID YOU KNOW? At the 1851 Great Exhibition in London, Patek Philippe showed a watch measuring 9 mm in diameter. It held the record as the smallest cylinder escapement watch for almost half a century, until the chronometer-maker Paul Ditisheim claimed the title for the half-boule watch he presented at the Paris World’s Fair in 1900. Fitted with a movement measuring 6.75 mm and a cylinder escapement positioned above the mainplate, it weighed just 0.95 grams.
1876 | The Philadelphia Exhibition is a showcase for the American watch industry, whose quality and strength becomes clear to Swiss watchmakers.
1870
1877 | Thomas Edison files the patent for the first phonograph.
1878 | Bracelet-watches, manufactured in small quantities, are seen for the first time in Vienna.
1880
D I S P L AY 9 DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLU TI ON
AS TIME GOES BY Complications are almost as old as horology itself, as the very first devices to measure time incorporated astronomical functions. In watchmaking, a complication is a function in addition to the indication of the hours, minutes and seconds. These functions can be
astronomical (for example moon phases, equation of time or perpetual calendar), practical (such as a chronograph, grande sonnerie or minute repeater), technical (e.g. instantaneous date, stop seconds) or intended to improve rate accuracy (tourbillon and karrusel).
COMPLICATIONS New functions dictated by daily life were added to the watch. An alarm, a simple calendar with or without moon phases, a chronograph and time zones were manufactured using semi-industrialised or industrialised means, according to demand. These useful complications were joined by others
which required a rare degree of expertise, such as an annual or perpetual calendar, a split-seconds chronograph, a tourbillon, repeaters, and a grande or petite sonnerie. They were presented individually, or several were assembled together inside an ultracomplicated watch.
1,728 parts D I S P L AY 9 L A B E L S 27 GRANDE
COMPLICATION POCKET WATCH, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1895. Musée Audemars Piguet
DID YOU KNOW?
28 STRIKING
Considered to be the world’s most complicated watch, Calibre 89 was made by Patek Philippe in 1989 and took nine years to develop. A technical tour de force, it comprises 1,728 parts and 33 complications covering every area of watchmaking expertise since the sixteenth century. For example, it will continue to display the date without any need for adjustment until the twentyeighth century. Calibre 89 is a pocket watch, although given its weight of 1.1 kg, there is little chance that any of the owners of the four to have been made will be carrying it in their pocket!
1880 | Genevan watchmaker François Borgel makes the first screw-down, water-resistant case.
1884 | The United States and Canada adopt Universal Time. The Earth is divided into 24 identical time zones, measured from the prime meridian in Greenwich.
1890
POCKET WATCH, SIGNED BREGUET & FILS, PARIS, CIRCA 1820. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
29 POCKET
WATCH WITH ASTRONOMICAL INDICATIONS, ANONYMOUS, CIRCA 1820. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
30 GRANDE
COMPLICATION POCKET WATCH, JAEGER-LECOULTRE, 1905. Patrimoine Jaeger-LeCoultre
31 GRANDE
COMPLICATION POCKET WATCH, PATEK PHILIPPE GENÈVE BEYER SWISS, 1985. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle - Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
1892 | Minute-repeater wristwatch by Audemars Piguet and Louis Brandt.
1898 | Pierre and Marie Curie discover polonium and radium.
1900 Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 11
D I S P L AY 1 0 DURIN G THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
AS TIME GOES BY In a letter dated 1488, Jacopo Trotti, ambassador at the court of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, wrote that the Duke had had three silk garments made that were adorned with striking watches. Less than a century later, in 1571 or 1572, the Earl of Leicester, THE WATCH IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY The earliest watches to be worn on the wrist can be traced to the sixteenth century, as demonstrated by the “armlet” watch presented to Elizabeth I of England. The wristwatch would, however, truly come into its own as of the twentieth century. Watches worn on fabric straps which could be removed and hung around the neck had made a timid appearance in earlier decades. Still, it wasn’t before the turn of the century that certain watchmakers became convinced that this new art of wearing a watch, initially reserved for women, had a future. Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, was one of them.
Master of the Horse and favourite of Elizabeth I of England, gave the queen a gift of a round watch, incrusted with diamonds and suspended from an armlet. Historians consider this jewel to be the ancestor of the wristwatch.
the Tank watch in 1919. As lifestyles changed, with more people taking up sport or driving a car, men too were won over to the wristwatch in its masculine version. Already in the First World War, soldiers in the heat of battle had found it more practical to wear their timepiece on their wrist rather than carry it in their pocket.
Soon jewellers were using their talent to create future icons. Cartier, for example, designed its Santos watch in 1904 for the aviator Santos-Dumont, followed by
D I S P L AY 1 0 L A B E L S 32 SANTOS
WRISTWATCH, CARTIER, MODEL LAUNCHED IN 1911 (MODEL SHOWN FROM 1916). Collection Cartier
33 TANK
WRISTWATCH, CARTIER, MODEL LAUNCHED IN 1919 (MODEL SHOWN FROM 1921). Collection Cartier
34 CONVERTIBLE
BRACELET WATCH, WALTHAM, USA, POST-1915. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
35 EARLY
WRISTWATCH, ANONYMOUS, SWITZERLAND, CIRCA 1920. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
1904 | Wristwatches play an essential role in the Boer War.
1911 | Paris accepts to use the Greenwich Meridian to define its legal time.
1910 12
1914 | Creation of the Olympic Rings symbol.
1920
D I S P L AY 1 1
From mechanical to quartz 1920 - 2000 AS TIME GOES BY
In terms of solidity, military watches paved the way. The very first timepiece to be developed specifically for the armed forces, and also the first to be produced in series, was a Girard-Perregaux watch, two thousand of which were dispatched to Emperor Wilhelm II in 1880 for issue to his naval officers.
Its dial was protected by a metal grid, an ingenious idea that was soon taken up by Movado for its Waltham, Trench and Soldier models, and by Ingersoll for its Midget watch. Rolex also produced a Trench watch in 1914, although it was made for the civilian market. THE SHOCK ABSORBER Significant advances were made in watchmaking between the two World Wars, including water-resistance and automatic winding. So as to protect the watch’s then fragile glass, in 1931 Jaeger-LeCoultre created the Reverso with its pivoting case, initially with polo players in mind. This was also the year tempered mineral glass and synthetic sapphire crystals were first made, both virtually unbreakable and almost impossible to scratch. Another major innovation of the period was the Swiss Incabloc® system, invented in 1933 to protect the mechanism from shocks.
DID YOU KNOW? “That confounded Breguet will insist on doing better!” Talleyrand declared. A family tradition tells how the assembled company at a reception hosted by Talleyrand looked on in shocked silence as Abraham-Louis Breguet threw his watch to the floor to demonstrate his “parechute” shock-absorbing system. The watch was then passed among guests who were stupefied to see that it was still in excellent working order.
D I S P L AY 1 1 L A B E L S 36 US
SIGNAL CORPS WRISTWATCH WITH REMOVABLE GRID, ZENITH, LE LOCLE (SWITZERLAND), 1919. Collection Historique Zenith, Branch of LVMH Swiss Manufactures SA
37 WRISTWATCH
WITH COVER, CARTIER, 1926. Collection Cartier
38 WRISTWATCH
WITH APERTURES, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1928. Musée Audemars Piguet
39 SQUARE
WRISTWATCH WITH SHUTTERS, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1930. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
40 ERMETO
PURSE WATCH, HERMÈS, CIRCA 1928. Conservatoire des Créations Hermès
41 REVERSO
WRISTWATCH, JAEGER-LECOULTRE, 1933. Patrimoine Jaeger-LeCoultre
1924 | John Harwood is awarded the first Swiss patent for an automatic wristwatch with central oscillating weight.
1925 | Patek Philippe makes the first known perpetual calendar wristwatch using a pendant-watch movement.
1926 | Scottish engineer John Logie Baird demonstrates his system for receiving images through a cathode ray tube, which he calls a "televisor".
1930 Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 13
D I S P L AY 1 2 FROM MECHANICAL TO QUAR TZ
AS TIME GOES BY One of the first Swiss patents for a “waterproof” watch was filed on June 2nd 1893 by Achille Cella of Messina. Two rubber rings around the case middle and a small rubber tube around the winding stem sealed the case
against dust and humidity. Protecting the mechanism against damp and dust was a major concern for watchmakers, and numerous other patents followed, each one a step closer to complete water-resistance.
WATER-RESISTANCE AND SPORT The Rolex Oyster was the first series-produced wristwatch with both a waterproof case and crown. These groundbreaking characteristics were brought to the world’s attention in 1927 by Mercedes Gleitze’s crossChannel swim, as newspapers of the day would report. Further progress came when four years later the Oyster
incorporated a self-winding movement. After the Second World War, progress in aviation opened up new opportunities to travel, while advances in diving technology made underwater exploration a reality. Manufacturers responded with watches adapted to the specific needs of these new activities.
D I S P L AY 1 2 L A B E L S 42 EL
PRIMERO WRIST CHRONOGRAPH, ZENITH, 1969-1970. Collection Historique Zenith, Branch of LVMH Swiss Manufactures SA
43 NAVITIMER
WRIST CHRONOGRAPH, BREITLING, 1960. Musée international d’horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
44 WATER-RESISTANT
WRISTWATCH, WALTHAM DÉPOLLIER, CIRCA 1920. Musée international d’horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
45 WATER-RESISTANT
BATHYSCAPH WRISTWATCH, ROLEX, 1960. Musée international d’horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
46 MONACO
WRIST CHRONOGRAPH, HEUER, 1969. Musée TAG Heuer 360
47 LUMINOR
MARINA MILITARE DIVE WRISTWATCH, OFFICINE PANERAI, CIRCA 1950. Officine Panerai Archives
48 SPEEDMASTER
PROFESSIONAL WRIST CHRONOGRAPH, OMEGA, AS OF 1968. Musée d’horlogerie du Locle - Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
1946 | Presentation of the first computer.
1940 14
1947 | Omega makes its Calibre 30I, the first tourbillon movement for a wristwatch.
1948 | American Harold Lyons invents the ammonia-beam maser atomic clock.
1950
D I S P L AY 1 3 FROM MECHANICAL TO QUAR TZ
AS TIME GOES BY
It’s a well-known and no less symbolic story. In 1903, on hearing of Edmond Jaeger’s plan to manufacture extra-thin watches, Jacques-David LeCoultre in the Swiss town of Le Sentier was determined to take up the challenge. He jumped on his bicycle and pedalled the twenty kilometres to the nearest telephone, from
where he called Paris. The collaboration and later friendship between the two men led to the founding of Jaeger-LeCoultre, officially launched in 1937. Just as importantly, it led to timepieces of particular significance in the history of watchmaking and notably extra-thin watches.
POST-WAR FASHIONS AND THE ULTRA-THIN WATCH As the 1940s became the 1950s, watches adopted lighter, more gentle forms. Round or square, some with a case that was part of the bracelet, women’s watches took centre-stage. Appearance was all, to the point that some styles of bracelet reached iconic status. The “marquise” or “slave” bracelet, for example, was all
the rage in the post-war years. Women’s watches were timepieces but also jewellery. Alongside the rigorous style of functional watches, elegance was captured in the extra-thin designs of the 1950s. Audemars Piguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Piaget and Vacheron Constantin were the uncontested masters of this style.
D I S P L AY 1 3 L A B E L S 49 WRISTWATCH
WITH SLIDING COVER, CARTIER, 1954. Collection Cartier
50 GALAXY
WRISTWATCH, BAUME & MERCIER, 1973. Patrimoine Baume & Mercier
51 SECRET
WRISTWATCH, VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, 1953. Collection Van Cleef & Arpels
52 EXTRA-THIN
WRISTWATCH, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1960. Musée Audemars Piguet
53 EXTRA-THIN
WRISTWATCH, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1954. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
54 EXTRA-THIN
WRISTWATCH, PIAGET, 1969. Patrimoine Piaget
1956 | The second is calculated as 1/31,556,925,947 of the solar year.
1961 | Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space.
1960 Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 15
D I S P L AY 1 4 FROM MECHANICAL TO QUAR TZ
AS TIME GOES BY In August 2013, physicists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States published details of their research into an experimental atomic clock with unprecedented accuracy, deviating by less than one second
in 13.8 billion years… which is generally accepted to be the age of the universe. Its tick is ten times more stable than that of the best existing atomic clocks. The NIST clock is ten billion times more precise than a quartz watch.
THE ATOMIC CLOCK, THE ULTIMATE MEASUREMENT OF TIME Research carried out by Louis Essen resulted in the first caesium atomic clock, which came into operation in 1955. This alkali metal still ensures the most precise and stable functioning of atomic clocks. Today’s atomic clocks are
accurate to around one second every three million years. Throughout the world, studies are conducted into alternatives to caesium, with the aim of achieving ten times greater precision in this ultimate measurement of time.
D I S P L AY 1 4 L A B E L S 55 RUBIDIUM
ATOMIC CLOCK, TEMEX NEUCHÂTEL TIME SA, 1995. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
1966 | First prototype quartz wristwatch, dubbed Beta 1.
1967 | The second is defined as 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom.
1970 16
1969 | First man on the Moon.
1970 | Quartz’s domination of the mechanical wristwatch in the late 1970s plunges Swiss watchmaking into crisis.
D I S P L AY 1 5 FROM MECHANICAL TO QUAR TZ
AS TIME GOES BY
With the quartz revolution brewing in the 1960s, Swiss watchmakers pooled their efforts within the Centre Électronique Horloger (CEH). Girard-Perregaux, however, wished to remain independent and develop a calibre for its sole use, and so launched its own research programme. In 1966 it set up an Electronic Research Division which was tasked with building a master clock, a table clock and then a THE FIRST QUARTZ WATCH The first electrical pocket watch was unveiled in 1924, based on the work of Huguenard and Bonneuil. However, its battery was too large to be housed inside a case and so the project was shelved until the late 1940s when smaller batteries made further progress possible. In 1953, Max Hetzel, an engineer with Bulova, filed a patent for a wristwatch equipped not with a conventional balance and spring but a tuning fork. Hetzel’s innovation improved timekeeping accuracy by a significant degree. Industrial production was launched and the watch went on sale in 1960 as the Accutron.
wristwatch, all powered by quartz. Girard-Perregaux presented the wristwatch, the Elcron, at the Basel watch fair in 1970, at the same time as the CEH presented its quartz watches, equipped with the Beta 21 calibre. A year later, Girard-Perregaux launched a new watch with a quartz movement oscillating at 32,768 Hz. This became the standard frequency for a quartz calibre and is still in use today.
Further developments followed in the Accutron’s wake. The Centre Électronique Horloger (CEH) in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, produced several prototype quartz wristwatches before bringing a model to market in 1970. By then, however, the Swiss electronic watch had lost too much ground to Asian production. Until, that is, the advent of the Swatch watch. This blend of plastic and electronics, launched in Europe in 1983, took the world by storm.
D I S P L AY 1 5 L A B E L S
DID YOU KNOW? Brothers Pierre and Jacques Curie discovered the piezoelectric properties of quartz as early as 1880. Eight years later, the Austrian chemist Friedrich Reinitzer observed the unusual behaviour of certain crystals, later named “liquid crystals” by the German physicist Otto Lehmann. Their electrooptical properties were recorded in 1908. As of 1972, liquid crystals replaced analogue displays in watches.
1979 | Launch of the Delirium, the world's thinnest watch (1.95mm). This is the first time a wristwatch uses the case back as its main plate, a principle later reprised by the Swatch watch.
1980
1982 | Launch of the first Swatch watch prototypes in the United States.
56 BETA
21 WRISTWATCH, FAR, SWITZERLAND, CIRCA 1969. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle - Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
57 VENTURA
WRISTWATCH, HAMILTON, USA, 1962. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
58 QUARTZ
WRISTWATCH, GIRARD-PERREGAUX, 1970. Musée Girard-Perregaux, La Chaux-de-Fonds
59 POP
SWATCH QUARTZ WRISTWATCH, CIRCA 1990. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle - Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
60 KINETIC
WRISTWATCH, SEIKO, JAPAN, 1996. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
1983 | Development and production of mechanical watches relaunched. First wristwatches with complications.
1990 Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 17
D I S P L AY 1 6 FROM MECHANICAL TO QUAR TZ
AS TIME GOES BY Few complicated watches are as famed as the one Patek Philippe made in the early 1930s for the American banker Henry Graves. The Manufacture spent three years developing the watch and a further five years making it. Graves paid CHF
60,000 for the timepiece, which sold at auction in November 2014 for a record-breaking €19 million. Its mechanism comprises more than 900 parts and 24 complications: it was, for 56 years, the most complicated watch in the world.
THE MECHANICAL WATCH FIGHTS BACK Having reached the limit of what their mechanisms could achieve, mechanical timepieces were unable to stand comparison with quartz in terms of precision. Forced to leave electronic watches to claim victory in the accuracy stakes, traditional watchmaking turned instead to the complications which had enhanced nineteenthcentury pocket watches, but had rarely been developed for wristwatches. And so split-seconds chronographs,
simple and perpetual calendars, moon phases, tourbillons and minute repeaters returned in the confines of the wristwatch, which took advantage of its dimensions and specificities to become a symbol of its wearer’s personality. Today’s grande complication wristwatches, to which every master watchmaker but also collector ultimately aspires, embody centuries of expertise as well as constant innovation.
D I S P L AY 1 6 L A B E L S 61 ROYAL
OAK WRISTWATCH, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1972. Musée Audemars Piguet
62 STAR
WHEEL WRISTWATCH, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1991. Musée Audemars Piguet
63 HAPPY
DIAMONDS WRISTWATCH, CHOPARD, 1976. Musée Chopard & Cie S.A., Geneva
64 IL
DESTRIERO SCAFUSIA GRANDE COMPLICATION WRISTWATCH, IWC, 1993. IWC Museum
65 FERRARI
S.F FOUDROYANTE SPLIT-SECONDS WRIST CHRONOGRAPH, GIRARD-PERREGAUX, 1999. Musée Girard-Perregaux, La Chaux-de-Fonds
1999 | The Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union adopts the Euro as its single currency.
2000 18
D I S P L AY S 1 7 - 1 8
Technical and precious fine watches 2000 - TODAY AS TIME GOES BY
On the brink of disaster in the 1970s, Swiss watchmaking made a remarkable recovery from the crisis that swept the sector. Now positioned at the high end of the market, particularly mechanical watches, the industry was ideally placed when global demand for luxury products took off in the mid-1990s. With average annual growth of 7.2%, Swiss watch exports have shown themselves to be far more dynamic than the rest of the country’s exports these past ten years. The years 2010 to 2012 were particularly impressive as exports increased by double digits. A series of factors helped prompt a revival in the culture of mechanical watches in the early 1980s. From the first wristwatch auctions to the opening of private museums, from the publication of reference works to the launch of specialist magazines, a surge in interest in mechanical watches brought proof of renewed vitality. Technical watches and precious
watches came closer together, one complementing the other. Designers and engineers now worked side by side; jewellers became watchmakers. This context gave rise to the notion of “technical and precious fine watches”, confirmed in 2005 by the creation in Geneva of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie, a circle of storied brands and young talent united by the same values. Beginning in the 1980s, the watch became part of a global approach in which case, calibre and bracelet form a coherent whole. This concept, which attaches equal importance to mechanism and exterior, would open up new fields of expression and, at the same time, give new impetus to the artistic crafts which in the 1970s had been overshadowed by electronics. Quartz, or so it seemed, had rendered mechanical timekeeping obsolete, and traditional timepieces took this as their cue to focus on complications.
D I S P L AY 1 7 L A B E L S
D I S P L AY 1 8 L A B E L S
66 A.
72 CHOPARD
67 AUDEMARS
73 CHRISTOPHE
LANGE & SÖHNE - LANGE 1 Hours, minutes, small seconds with stop seconds, instantaneous large date, power-reserve indicator. Manual-wind movement.
PIGUET - MILLENARY CARBON ONE Hours, minutes, chronograph, tourbillon, powerreserve indicator. Plate in isotropic carbon for mechanical, physical and chemical stability. Manualwind movement.
68 BAUME
& MERCIER - CLIFTON 10060 Hours, minutes, small seconds. Manual-wind movement.
69 BOVET
1822 - AMADEO FLEURIER MONSIEUR BOVET Hours, minutes, double co-axial seconds, reversed hand-fitting, power-reserve indicator. Amadeo convertible case, transforming into a desk clock, pocket watch or reversible wristwatch. Manual-wind movement.
70 CARTIER
- ROTONDE DE CARTIER ASTROTOURBILLON CARBON CRYSTAL WATCH Hours, minutes, seconds on the tourbillon. Carbon crystal escapement that does not require regulation or lubrication. Manual-wind movement.
71 CHANEL
- J12 RÉTROGRADE MYSTÉRIEUSE Hours, minutes, case and bracelet in High-Tech ceramic, tourbillon at 9 o’clock, retractable winding crown set in the dial at 3 o’clock, retrograde minutes from the 11th to the 19th minute, when minutes are displayed in an aperture at 6 o’clock. Manual-wind movement.
- L.U.C 8HF POWER CONTROL Hours, minutes, small seconds, date in an aperture, power-reserve indicator. COSC certified. Self-winding movement. CLARET - DUALTOW Hour and minute display on belts, small seconds on the tourbillon at 6 o’clock, monopusher chronograph, striking mechanism to indicate function change (start, stop, reset), chronograph operating mode and powerreserve indications. Manual-wind movement.
74 DE
BETHUNE - DB28ST Hours, minutes, central jumping seconds, tourbillon with 30-second indication, power-reserve indicator. Manual-wind movement.
75 GIRARD-PERREGAUX
CONSTANT ESCAPEMENT L.M. Hours, minutes, seconds, linear power reserve, constant escapement. Manual-wind movement. 76 GREUBEL
FORSEY - DOUBLE TOURBILLON 30° TECHNIQUE BLACK Hours, minutes, small seconds, double 30° tourbillon, power-reserve indicator. Manual-wind movement.
77 HERMÈS
- ARCEAU LE TEMPS SUSPENDU Hours, minutes, retrograde date, mechanism that suspends time on demand then instantly returns to the exact time. Self-winding movement.
78 IWC
- PORTUGIESER ANNUAL CALENDAR Hours, minutes, annual calendar with month, date and day in apertures, small hacking seconds, power-reserve indicator. Self-winding movement.
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 19
D I S P L AY S 1 9 - 2 0 TECHN ICAL AND PRECIOUS FINE WATCH ES
AS TIME GOES BY
The 33 functions of the Calibre 89 by Patek Philippe were a crowning achievement. Cutting-edge technology brought the means to resolve previously insurmountable difficulties. R&D made its appearance within watchmaking companies; innovative mechanisms proposed ingenious juxtapositions of functions in movements with the added complexity of skeletonwork or ultra-thinness. The combination of several complications in one mechanism set a new challenge, as the increased number of parts implied more points of friction, hence greater energy consumption and more complex lubrication. Master watchmakers were joined by mechanical engineers, IT engineers, mathematicians and metallurgists in this vast adventure. Specialised companies, universities and research institutes were brought in for their command of technology developed in the aerospace, aeronautic and automobile industries. Results were quick in coming. During the 2000s, the introduction of non-traditional materials,
Through its associations with exclusivity and performance, the wristwatch became a badge of social status and personal achievement. Whether sporting in style, with astronomical complications, chimes, a tourbillon or universal hours, it echoes the personality of the man or woman who falls for its charm. Indeed, mechanical watches have never ceased to work their magic, and for good reason: of all man’s inventions, nothing has shaped the way we behave and influenced the course of science as much as mechanical timekeeping. For centuries it has both driven progress and benefited from it. The traditional watch was dealt a blow by quartz yet has returned stronger than ever because it now unites beauty and technique, the two faces of technical and precious fine watches.
D I S P L AY 1 9 L A B E L S
D I S P L AY 2 0 L A B E L S
79 JAEGER-LECOULTRE
85 RALPH
- DUOMÈTRE À QUANTIÈME LUNAIRE Hours, minutes, seconds, jumping stop seconds with zero reset, date, age and phases of the moon for both hemispheres, power-reserve indicators. Manualwind movement.
80 LOUIS
VUITTON - TAMBOUR SPIN TIME Time shown on cubes over 24 hours by the simultaneous rotation of two shafts. On each hour, the cube showing the previous hour becomes blank and the next cube displays the current hour on its visible side. Minutes by hand, central GMT hand, date in an aperture. Self-winding movement.
81 MONTBLANC
- HERITAGE SPIRIT PERPETUAL CALENDAR Hours, minutes, perpetual calendar, moon phases. Self-winding movement.
82 OFFICINE
PANERAI - LUMINOR 1950 8 DAYS GMT Hours, minutes, small seconds, date in an aperture, second time zone over 24 hours, linear power-reserve indicator, seconds reset. Manual-wind movement.
83 PARMIGIANI
FLEURIER - TONDA HEMISPHERES Hours, minutes, small seconds, date in an aperture, day/night indicator, second time zone with day/night indication. Self-winding movement.
84 PIAGET
- ALTIPLANO 38 MM 900P Off-centred hours and minutes. Extra-thin manualwind movement.
20
unconventional escapements, innovative stamping and cutting techniques, and research into high frequencies improved the watch’s reliability by a spectacular amount.
LAUREN - AUTOMOTIVE SKELETON Hours, minutes, small seconds. Manual-wind movement.
86 RICHARD
MILLE - RM 033 Hours, minutes. Self-winding movement.
87 ROGER
DUBUIS - EXCALIBUR DOUBLE TOURBILLON SKELETON Hours, minutes, double tourbillon with differential. Poinçon de Genève certified. Manual-wind movement.
88 TAG
HEUER - MONACO V4 Hours, minutes and small seconds driven by belts. Linear self-winding movement.
89 VACHERON
CONSTANTIN - MALTE TOURBILLON OPENWORKED Hours, minutes, small seconds on the tourbillon, date, power-reserve indicator. Poinçon de Genève certified. Manual-wind movement.
90 VAN
CLEEF & ARPELS - LADY ARPELS FÉERIE Retrograde hours and minutes. Manual-wind movement.
‘ ‘La Conquista del Tempo’’ the book The art of time measurement requires considerable patience; describing its progress does too! After years of research and study, Dominique Fléchon presents The Mastery of Time, A history of time measurement from the origins of Man to the present day. More than simply a chronological account, it looks at the reasons why these instruments were developed, and the context that sparked each new invention in timekeeping.
Available at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana and also in bookstore.
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 21
22
FHH Mission Statement The Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie was established in Geneva in 2005 to promote values of expertise and innovation, which are those of technical and precious Fine Watchmaking. It is active in Switzerland and internationally to introduce a wide audience to this world of
creativity, culture and tradition. With 26 partnerbrands and established throughout international markets, the Foundation is recognised as a global think tank for the watchmaking profession with a mission to inform, educate and train, as well as to lead the fight against counterfeiting.
THE FOUNDATION’S PARTNERS | A. LANGE & SÖHNE | AUDEMARS PIGUET | BAUME & MERCIER | BOVET 1822 CARTIER | CHANEL | CHOPARD | CHRISTOPHE CLARET | DE BETHUNE | GIRARD-PERREGAUX | GREUBEL FORSEY HARRY WINSTON | HERMÈS | IWC | JAEGER-LECOULTRE | LOUIS VUITTON | MONTBLANC | OFFICINE PANERAI PARMIGIANI FLEURIER | PIAGET | RALPH LAUREN | RICHARD MILLE | ROGER DUBUIS | TAG HEUER VACHERON CONSTANTIN | VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana -The Mastery of Time - 23
Acknowledgements: We express our sincere thanks to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, and to the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie partner-brands who contributed to this exhibition. We extend our special thanks to the Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, and the Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle - Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland, for the generous loan of pieces from their collections. We are also indebted to all those whose expertise proved invaluable in the preparation and presentation of this exhibition. Remark: Dates and events are those which are generally accepted on the basis of current research and knowledge. Photographic credits: Dominique Cohas Print: Grafiche Antiga
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Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana - The Mastery of Time - 25
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