.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Harry Winston’s stunningly attractive ‘Opus 12’ is not only highly impressive and exquisitely finished, it is also a quite remarkable and ingenious mechanical masterpiece. Following in the established tradition of the Opus series, it showcases the extraordinary talents of an independent watchmaker.
The ‘Opus 12’ was designed and created in collaboration with master watchmaker Emmanuel Bouchet. Harry Winston’s inspired choice of the then little known Bouchet was richly rewarded, the intriguing and mysterious ‘Opus 12’ represents a complete departure from the usual methods of time display and function in a wristwatch. What Bouchet created for the ‘Opus 12’ is an astonishing new mechanism that is at the same time a technical masterpiece and visually impressive in operation. Emmanuel Bouchet took his inspiration from the idea of the Copernican revolution whereby the earth rotates around the sun. Instead of traditional hour and minute hands, the ‘Opus 12’ has in fact 12 back-to-back pairs of fixed rotating hands, each serving as an hour index when not in use for its particular hour or minute. At the appropriate hour, the index ‘hand’ in that position instantaneously ‘flips’, turning from its silver index side to its blued steel side thus becoming the indicator for that hour.
The minutes display is equally thought provoking, instead of traditional minutes, the radial display indicates elapsed five-minute intervals only as part of the same mechanism as the hours. The exact individual minutes of each five minute period can be read from the central retrograde hand. After each five minute period, the retrograde hand ‘flies’ back to zero, at the same moment, the radial five minute marker in simultaneously ‘flips’ over in the following five minute position. A fascinating and mesmerizing ‘ballet’ occurs as the hour changes, all the radial markers start to rotate in sequence until the correct hour is reached. The movement is powered by two spring barrels, one winding the movement, the other to provide power to the time displays. In order to wind both barrels of the watch simultaneously, the crown must be turned counter-clockwise.
Emmanuel Bouchet
Born into watchmaking, Emmanuel Bouchet is considered one of the elite watchmakers of his generation. Quickly recognized for his ingenuity and mastery of horological complications, Emmanuel Bouchet has produced timepieces for the world’s most prestigious brands, he is most celebrated for creating the pioneering Harry Winston ‘Opus 12’.
The ‘Opus 12’ was designed and created in collaboration with master watchmaker Emmanuel Bouchet. Harry Winston’s inspired choice of the then little known Bouchet was richly rewarded, the intriguing and mysterious ‘Opus 12’ represents a complete departure from the usual methods of time display and function in a wristwatch. What Bouchet created for the ‘Opus 12’ is an astonishing new mechanism that is at the same time a technical masterpiece and visually impressive in operation. Emmanuel Bouchet took his inspiration from the idea of the Copernican revolution whereby the earth rotates around the sun. Instead of traditional hour and minute hands, the ‘Opus 12’ has in fact 12 back-to-back pairs of fixed rotating hands, each serving as an hour index when not in use for its particular hour or minute. At the appropriate hour, the index ‘hand’ in that position instantaneously ‘flips’, turning from its silver index side to its blued steel side thus becoming the indicator for that hour.
The minutes display is equally thought provoking, instead of traditional minutes, the radial display indicates elapsed five-minute intervals only as part of the same mechanism as the hours. The exact individual minutes of each five minute period can be read from the central retrograde hand. After each five minute period, the retrograde hand ‘flies’ back to zero, at the same moment, the radial five minute marker in simultaneously ‘flips’ over in the following five minute position. A fascinating and mesmerizing ‘ballet’ occurs as the hour changes, all the radial markers start to rotate in sequence until the correct hour is reached. The movement is powered by two spring barrels, one winding the movement, the other to provide power to the time displays. In order to wind both barrels of the watch simultaneously, the crown must be turned counter-clockwise.
Emmanuel Bouchet
Born into watchmaking, Emmanuel Bouchet is considered one of the elite watchmakers of his generation. Quickly recognized for his ingenuity and mastery of horological complications, Emmanuel Bouchet has produced timepieces for the world’s most prestigious brands, he is most celebrated for creating the pioneering Harry Winston ‘Opus 12’.