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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.
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MAIN ENTRANCE
Contents EDITORIAL
1
A SPOT OF HISTORY
2
DISPLAY 1
FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE LATE 13th CENTURY
3
DISPLAY 2
FROM CLOCK TO WATCH
4
DISPLAY 3
ACHIEVING PRECISION
DISPLAYS 4 -9
DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
DISPLAYS 10 -16
FROM MECHANICAL TO QUARTZ
13-18
DISPLAYS 17- 20
TECHNICAL AND PRECIOUS FINE WATCHES
19-20
5-6 7-12
“THE MASTERY OF TIME” – THE BOOK
21
FHH MISSION STATEMENT
23
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
24
Time embraces the arts EDITORIAL · FABIENNE LUPO CHAIRWOMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE FONDATION DE LA HAUTE HORLOGERIE
An intimate and enduring relation exists between Fine Watchmaking and art, such that they have become almost inseparable. They share a common heritage and identical values in which the pursuit of excellence and the precision of gestures honed to perfection prevail. For all these reasons, we are both delighted and proud to unveil, at this new edition of the Biennale, The Mastery of Time exhibition which is inspired by the book of the same name, written by the historian Dominique Fléchon and jointly published by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie (FHH) and Flammarion. The exhibition is designed as a journey through the defining moments in Man’s quest to master time. Six themed chapters, from the origins to the present day, reveal the measuring of time as one of our greatest achievements, as well as a favourite form of expression for the métiers d’art. With some one hundred important clocks and watches presented
in a richly documented setting, the presence of master engravers, gem-setters and enamellers, and the chance to “experience” a mechanical movement from within thanks to virtual reality headsets, The Mastery of Time is truly an adventure in the world of Fine Watchmaking. By immersing themselves in this fascinating exhibition, visitors to the Biennale des Antiquaires will discover the secrets, major discoveries, milestones and anecdotes that make Fine Watchmaking such a field of excellence; an art form that we intend to safeguard and sustain. Since its creation in 2005, the FHH has made initiatives to inform about Fine Watchmaking one of its four principal missions, in order to promote and develop the values of this unique activity worldwide. We are certain that the Biennale will provide a wonderful opportunity for art-lovers to appreciate its full measure.
Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 1
THE MASTERY OF TIME GRÉGORY GARDINETTI, EXPER T AND HISTORIAN IN FINE 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.
TIME MEASUREMENT WORLD 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 D E S C R I P T I O N 1
SILVER SUNDIAL, SIGNED PIERRE LEMAIRE, PARIS, EARLY 18th CENTURY. 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
Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – 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 D E S C R I P T I O N 2
ROCAILLE TABLE CLOCK, ANONYMOUS, GERMANY, SECOND HALF OF THE 18th CENTURY. MusÊe International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Late 13th c. | First clocks 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 sign of wealth. Some two hundred years after the introduction of the spring, the invention of the sprung balance in the seventeenth century would be decisive in the development of precision timekeeping.
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.
imagined a 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 rapidly-evolving mechanism. The hour hand was joined by the minute hand then the seconds hand, soon followed by quarter then minute repeaters.
Horology turned a corner in 1657 with the discoveries of Christiaan Huygens of the Netherlands. Considered the father of precision timekeeping, he
1657 | Christiaan Huygens adapts the pendulum to the clock.
1640
1650
1660
D I S P L AY 3 D E S C R I P T I O N S
1675 | Christiaan Huygens invents the sprung balance for the watch.
1685 | Construction of Place Vendôme in Paris.
1670
1680
3
OCTAGONAL POCKET WATCH WITH ONE HAND, ANONYMOUS, BLOIS (FRANCE), FIRST HALF OF THE 17th CENTURY. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
4
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
5
POCKET WATCH WITH ALARM, GOSSELIN, PARIS, CIRCA 1730. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
6
POCKET WATCH DECORATED WITH A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS ON A MAUVE BACKGROUND, BOVET, FLEURIER (SWITZERLAND), CIRCA 1830. Bovet Fleurier SA Private Collection
7
ENAMELLED WATCH ON A CHATELAINE, CARTIER, 1874. Collection Cartier
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
Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 5
D I S P L AY 3 C O N T I N U E D ACHIEVING 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 skillful 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.
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.
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 4
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 industrialisation.
1800
1801 | Abraham-Louis Breguet is awarded a patent for the tourbillon.
D I S P L AY 4 D E S C R I P T I O N 8
PLANETARY CLOCK,
FRANÇOIS DUCOMMUN, LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS, 1830.
Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
1801 | Alessandro Volta invents the electric battery.
1810 Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 7
D I S P L AY 5 DURING 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 5 D E S C R I P T I O N S 9
POCKET WATCH, ELGIN, USA, 19th CENTURY. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
10 POCKET
WATCH, WALTHAM, USA. 1880. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
11 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
12 POCKET
CHRONOMETER FOR TORPEDO BOAT, EDMOND JAEGER, LE SENTIER (SWITZERLAND), 1895. Patrimoine Jaeger-LeCoultre
13 POCKET
WATCH, SIGNED A. LANGE, CIRCA 1877. 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 of various
pendant-winding systems by LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet and Adrien Philippe.
1830
D I S P L AY 6 DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
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 6 D E S C R I P T I O N S 14 MINUTE-REPEATER
POCKET CHRONOGRAPH WITH PULSOMETRIC SCALE, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1913. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
15 SPLIT-SECONDS
POCKET CHRONOGRAPH WITH QUARTER-SECONDS JUMPING HAND, LEOPOLD HUGUENIN, LE LOCLE (SWITZERLAND), CIRCA 1880. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle-Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
16 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 his “seconds chronograph”. 1839 | Vacheron & Constantin starts using Georges-Auguste Leschot's pantograph.
1840
1851 | Great Exhibition in London.
1844 | Samuel Morse sends the first telegram.
1850 Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 9
D I S P L AY 7 DURING 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 7 D E S C R I P T I O N S 17 RING-WATCH,
ANONYMOUS, GENEVA, 1800. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
18 EXTRA-THIN
WATCH WITH ENAMELLED AND ENGRAVED DECORATION, TEROND ET RAVIER, GENEVA, 1840. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
19 EXTRA-THIN
POCKET WATCH, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1931. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
20 COIN
WATCH, PIAGET, 1964. Patrimoine Piaget
21 EXTRA-THIN
POCKET WATCH, LECOULTRE, 1907. 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, a clear rival to Swiss watchmaking.
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 8 DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
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 ultra-complicated watch.
Over 2,800 parts D I S P L AY 8 D E S C R I P T I O N S
DID YOU KNOW?
22 GRANDE
For its 260th anniversary in 2015, Vacheron Constantin presented Reference 57260, an extraordinary pocket watch combining no fewer than 57 separate functions. Three of Vacheron Constantin’s watchmakers devoted eight years to the development and making of this watch. Its complications (grouped by family) are: 6 time measurement functions, 7 perpetual calendar functions, 8 Hebrew calendar functions, 9 astronomical calendar functions, 1 lunar calendar function, 1 religious calendar function, 4 triple column-wheel chronograph functions, 7 alarm functions, 8 Westminster chimes striking functions, and 6 other functions.
1880 | Genevan watchmaker François Borgel makes the first screw-down, water-resistant case.
1884 | Introduction of Universal Time. The Earth is divided into 24 time zones.
1890
COMPLICATION POCKET WATCH, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1908. Musée Audemars Piguet
23 STRIKING
POCKET WATCH, SIGNED BREGUET & FILS, PARIS, CIRCA 1820. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
24 POCKET
WATCH WITH ASTRONOMICAL INDICATIONS, ANONYMOUS, CIRCA 1820. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
25 GRANDE
COMPLICATION POCKET WATCH, JAEGER-LECOULTRE, 1895. Patrimoine Jaeger-LeCoultre
26 GRANDE
COMPLICATION POCKET WATCH BELONGING TO HIS MAJESTY FUAD I, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1929. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
1892 | Minute-repeater wristwatch by Audemars Piguet and Louis Brandt.
1898 | Pierre and Marie Curie discover polonium and radium.
1900 Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 11
D I S P L AY 9 DURING 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 9 D E S C R I P T I O N S 27 SANTOS-DUMONT
WRISTWATCH, CARTIER, MODEL LAUNCHED IN 1911 (MODEL SHOWN FROM 1912). Collection Cartier
28 TANK
WRISTWATCH, CARTIER, MODEL LAUNCHED IN 1919 (MODEL SHOWN FROM 1920). Collection Cartier
29 CONVERTIBLE
BRACELET WATCH, WALTHAM, USA, POST-1915. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
30 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 adopts 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 0
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 “pare-chute” 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 0 D E S C R I P T I O N S 31 WRISTWATCH
WITH COVER, CARTIER, 1926. Collection Cartier
32 WRISTWATCH
WITH APERTURES, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1928. Musée Audemars Piguet
33 WRISTWATCH
WITH SHUTTERS, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1930. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
34 ERMETO
PURSE WATCH, HERMÈS, CIRCA 1928. Conservatoire des Créations Hermès
35 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 Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 13
D I S P L AY 1 1 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 1 D E S C R I P T I O N S 36 NAVITIMER
WRIST CHRONOGRAPH, BREITLING, 1960. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
37 WATER-RESISTANT
WRISTWATCH, WALTHAM DÉPOLLIER, CIRCA 1920. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
38 WATER-RESISTANT
BATHYSCAPH WRISTWATCH, ROLEX, 1960. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
39 MONACO
WRIST CHRONOGRAPH, HEUER, 1969. Musée TAG Heuer 360
40 LUMINOR
MARINA MILITARE DIVE WRISTWATCH, OFFICINE PANERAI, CIRCA 1950. Officine Panerai Archives
41 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 S 1 2 - 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 2 D E S C R I P T I O N S
D I S P L AY 1 3 D E S C R I P T I O N S
42 SHUTTER
47 LUDO
WRISTWATCH, CARTIER, 1942. Collection Cartier
SECRET WATCH, VAN CLEEF & ARPELS, 1941. Collection Van Cleef & Arpels
43 EXTRA-THIN
WRISTWATCH, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1960. Musée Audemars Piguet
48 CUFF
WATCH, PIAGET, 1971. Patrimoine Piaget
44 EXTRA-THIN
WRISTWATCH, VACHERON CONSTANTIN, 1955. Patrimoine Vacheron Constantin
49 MODEL
A MYSTERY CLOCK, CARTIER, 1949. Collection Cartier
45 EXTRA-THIN
WRISTWATCH, PIAGET, 1961. Patrimoine Piaget
46 EXTRA-THIN
WRISTWATCH, PIAGET, 1972. 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 Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – 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 D E S C R I P T I O N 50 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 13th General Conference on Weights and Measures in Paris defines the second as 9,192,631,770 periods of caesium radiation.
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 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.
a 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 remains the standard frequency for a quartz calibre.
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 D E S C R I P T I O N S
DID YOU KNOW? 51 BETA
21 WRISTWATCH, FAR, SWITZERLAND, CIRCA 1969. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle-Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
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 electro-optical 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.
52 VENTURA
WRISTWATCH, HAMILTON, USA, 1962. Musée International d’Horlogerie, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
53 WRISTWATCH
WITH LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY, GIRARD-PERREGAUX, 1976. Musée Girard-Perregaux, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
54 POP
SWATCH QUARTZ WRISTWATCH, CIRCA 1990. Musée d’Horlogerie du Locle-Château des Monts, Le Locle, Switzerland
55 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 Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – 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 nineteenth-century 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 D E S C R I P T I O N S 56 ROYAL
OAK WRISTWATCH, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1972. Musée Audemars Piguet
57 STAR
WHEEL WRISTWATCH, AUDEMARS PIGUET, 1998. Musée Audemars Piguet
58 HAPPY
DIAMONDS WRISTWATCH, CHOPARD, 1980. Musée Chopard & Cie SA, Geneva, Switzerland
59 IL
DESTRIERO SCAFUSIA GRANDE COMPLICATION WRISTWATCH, IWC, 1993. IWC Museum
60 FERRARI
S.F FOUDROYANTE SPLIT-SECONDS WRIST CHRONOGRAPH, GIRARD-PERREGAUX, 1999. Musée Girard-Perregaux, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
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. By repositioning 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. In this respect, the 57 functions of Reference 57260 by Vacheron Constantin are a crowning achievement.
D I S P L AY 1 7 D E S C R I P T I O N S
D I S P L AY 1 8 D E S C R I P T I O N S
61 A.
67
CHOPARD / L.U.C PERPETUAL T Hours, minutes, small seconds, large date, perpetual calendar, power-reserve indicator on the back. COSC and Poinçon de Genève certifications. Manual-winding movement.
68
CHRISTOPHE CLARET / X-TREM-1 Mystery hours and minutes display by hollowed spheres inside two cylindrical sapphire tubes, moved by magnetic fields. Seconds on the tourbillon. Movement state-of-wind indication. Manual-winding movement.
69
DE BETHUNE / DB29 MAXICHRONO TOURBILLON Hours, minutes, monopusher chronograph with 24-hour, 60-minute and 60-second counters. De Bethune ultra-light 30’’ tourbillon in silicon and titanium on the back. Manual-winding movement.
70
F.P JOURNE / OCTA LUNE Off-centre hours and minutes, small seconds, large date, power-reserve indicator, moon phases. Self-winding movement.
71
GIRARD-PERREGAUX / CONSTANT ESCAPEMENT L.M. Hours, minutes, seconds, linear power-reserve indicator, Constant escapement. Manual-winding movement.
72
GREUBEL FORSEY / DOUBLE TOURBILLON 30° TECHNIQUE BI-COLOR Hours, minutes, small seconds, 30° double tourbillon, power-reserve indicator. Manual-winding movement.
LANGE & SÖHNE / LANGE 1 Hours, minutes, subsidiary seconds with stop seconds, instantaneously jumping outsize date, power-reserve indicator. Manual-winding movement.
62 AUDEMARS
PIGUET / ROYAL OAK PERPETUAL CALENDAR Hours, minutes, chronograph, perpetual calendar, moon phases. Self-winding movement.
63 BOVET
1822 / AMADEO FLEURIER VIRTUOSO VII Hours, minutes, double coaxial seconds, day, retrograde date, month, leap-year cycle, reversed hand-fitting (hours, minutes and seconds), powerreserve indicator. Amadeo convertible case transforms into a reversible wristwatch, table clock or pocket watch. Manual-winding movement.
64 BULGARI
/ OCTO ULTRANERO FINISSIMO TOURBILLON Hours, minutes, flying tourbillon. Ultra-thin manualwinding movement.
65 CARTIER
/ TANK SAPPHIRE SKELETON WATCH Hours, minutes. Manual-winding skeleton movement.
66 CHANEL
/ J12 SKELETON FLYING TOURBILLON Hours, minutes, tourbillon. Manual-winding skeleton movement.
Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 19
D I S P L AY S 1 9 - 2 0 TECHNICAL AND PRECIOUS FINE WATCHES
AS TIME GOES BY
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,
D I S P L AY 1 9 D E S C R I P T I O N S 73
HERMÈS / SLIM D’HERMÈS PERPETUAL CALENDAR. Hours, minutes, perpetual calendar, moon phases, second time zone, day/night indicator. Self-winding movement.
74
IWC / BIG PILOT’S WATCH ANNUAL CALENDAR EDITION “LE PETIT PRINCE” Hours, minutes, annual calendar with month, date and day in apertures. Small hacking seconds, powerreserve indicator. Self-winding movement.
75
JAEGER-LECOULTRE / DUOMÈTRE À QUANTIÈME LUNAIRE. Hours, minutes, seconds, jumping stop seconds with zero/reset system, date, age and phases of the moon for both hemispheres, power-reserve indicators. Manual-winding movement.
76
MB&F / HM6 – RT Hours and minutes on two semi-spherical aluminium indicators. Crown to open/close the tourbillon shield. Self-winding movement.
77
78
20
MONTBLANC / HERITAGE CHRONOMÉTRIE EXOTOURBILLON MINUTE CHRONOGRAPH VASCO DA GAMA. Off-centre hours and minutes, off-centre date counter, chronograph, ExoTourbillon. Self-winding movement. OFFICINE PANERAI / LUMINOR SUBMERSIBLE 1950 CARBOTECH™. Hours, minutes, small seconds, date, calculation of immersion time. Self-winding movement.
unconventional escapements, innovative stamping and cutting techniques, and research into high frequencies improved the watch’s reliability by a spectacular amount. 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 2 0 D E S C R I P T I O N S 79 PARMIGIANI
FLEURIER / OVALE PANTOGRAPH Hours and minutes by telescopic hands, date in an aperture. Manual-winding movement.
80 PIAGET
/ EXTREMELY PIAGET Hours and minutes. Quartz movement with pusher.
81 RICHARD
MILLE / RM 68-01 TOURBILLON CYRIL KONGO Hours, minutes, tourbillon. Manual-winding movement.
82 ROGER
DUBUIS / EXCALIBUR 42 Hours, minutes, tourbillon. Poinçon de Genève certification. Manual-winding skeleton movement.
83 TAG
HEUER / MONACO V4 PHANTOM Belt-driven hours, minutes, small seconds. Linear self-winding movement.
84 VACHERON
CONSTANTIN / TRADITIONNELLE DAY-DATE AND POWER RESERVE Hours, minutes, day of the week, date. Poinçon de Genève certification. Self-winding movement.
85
VAN CLEEF & ARPELS / LADY ARPELS RONDE DES PAPILLONS Jumping retrograde hours, variable-speed minutes, on-demand animation. Self-winding movement.
‘ ‘The Mastery of Time’’ – 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.
Flammarion
On sale at the Biennale bookstore.
Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 21
22
FHH Mission Statement Since its creation in 2005, the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie has promoted Fine Watchmaking worldwide, and conveyed values of excellence and tradition through its four missions to inform, train, recognise and organise. An independent authority, the Foundation carries out its activities in the main markets, in conjunction with
watchmaking’s different players. In doing so, it brings together a community that ranges from its 26 partner-brands to collectors and the media. The Foundation also upholds ethical values through its support of the Responsible Jewellery Council and through its active engagement in the fight against counterfeiting.
THE FOUNDATION’S PARTNERS | A. LANGE & SÖHNE | AUDEMARS PIGUET | BOVET 1822 | BULGARI CARTIER | CHANEL | CHOPARD | CHRISTOPHE CLARET | DE BETHUNE | F.P. JOURNE | GIRARD-PERREGAUX GREUBEL FORSEY | HERMÈS | IWC | JAEGER-LECOULTRE | LOUIS VUITTON | MB&F | MONTBLANC OFFICINE PANERAI | PARMIGIANI FLEURIER | PIAGET | RICHARD MILLE | ROGER DUBUIS | TAG HEUER VACHERON CONSTANTIN | VAN CLEEF & ARPELS
Biennale des Antiquaires, Grand Palais, Paris – The Mastery of Time – 23
Acknowledgements We express our sincere thanks to the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie partner-brands who contributed to this exhibition. We extend 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. Credits Curator | Grégory Gardinetti gregory.gardinetti@hautehorlogerie.org Project manager | Francesca Donelli francesca.donelli@hautehorlogerie.org Publication coordinator | Alexandre Gaillard alexandre.gaillard@hautehorlogerie.org Press | pressinfo@hautehorlogerie.org Photography | Dominique Cohas Translation | Sandra Petch Graphic design | Atelier Zuppinger Printer | Graphic Services Remark Dates and events are those which are generally accepted on the basis of current research and knowledge.
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