.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
With gold chain and hand-made gold and blued steel Breguet-style ratchet key numbered 7.
This most impressive tourbillon, an exceedingly rare trophy for the collector of highly complex timepieces, comprises a variety of exceptional features. Notably are the carriage and the escapement consisting of 80 parts, the 16K gold balance screws and the chronometer rating nuts made of Iridium. The heat-treated carbon steel tourbillon carriage rotates in precisely 60 seconds; its carriage counterweight is of 22K gold. The two mainsprings are simultaneously wound by a single (female) geared arbour by means of a matching, hand-made numbered gold ratchet key. The gold of the bezels, pendant, bow and the centre of the back cover is a special 19K alloy made by Gene Clark.
Clark begun manufacture of this exceptional timepiece, number 7, an extremely complex tourbillon with constant force, in December 1983 and completed it in March 1987 - requiring over 4000 hours of work for its development and construction. Except for the engravings, it was entirely made by him. The case decoration as well as the signatures and numbers were engraved by Lynton McKenzie, a renowned sport gun engraver.
Gene D. Clark (1948 - 2006)
Gene D. Clark of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, was one of the finest watchmakers in the world and perhaps the most talented American watchmaker of all times. He is best known for his high-grade tourbillon watches, influenced by the horological genius Abraham-Louis Breguet, which he made by using old tools and ordinary watch and clockmaking equipment.
Gene Clark was, by profession, a restorer of antique sporting guns and a gun lock maker. His vivid interest in horology lead to him becoming a full-time watchmaker in 1976. He was also the first watchmaker in the United States to produce a tourbillon watch in the style of Breguet.
Clark's entire production comprised only seven tourbillon watches. The watches were numbered in the order they were started which however does not reflect the order in which they were finished.
In one of his letter, Gene D. Clark states his view on the contrast between a remontoir and the constant force device as "a Remontoir usually employs a wheel or escapement member for more than one tick of the watch for each of its windings whilst the true constant force escapement uses a mechanism to wind itself at each tick of the watch. The simplest description I can give of a constant force device is a spring that is wound by a clock (in this instance, the watch movement) and is then discharged at each tick of the watch. The spring is then wound instantly again by wheels and levers activated by the release of this wound spring causing the carriage to rotate a small amount after impulsing the balance. This happens 2 times per second. The constant force and remontoir type devices are extremely rare in watches, and almost unknown in a tourbillon."
This most impressive tourbillon, an exceedingly rare trophy for the collector of highly complex timepieces, comprises a variety of exceptional features. Notably are the carriage and the escapement consisting of 80 parts, the 16K gold balance screws and the chronometer rating nuts made of Iridium. The heat-treated carbon steel tourbillon carriage rotates in precisely 60 seconds; its carriage counterweight is of 22K gold. The two mainsprings are simultaneously wound by a single (female) geared arbour by means of a matching, hand-made numbered gold ratchet key. The gold of the bezels, pendant, bow and the centre of the back cover is a special 19K alloy made by Gene Clark.
Clark begun manufacture of this exceptional timepiece, number 7, an extremely complex tourbillon with constant force, in December 1983 and completed it in March 1987 - requiring over 4000 hours of work for its development and construction. Except for the engravings, it was entirely made by him. The case decoration as well as the signatures and numbers were engraved by Lynton McKenzie, a renowned sport gun engraver.
Gene D. Clark (1948 - 2006)
Gene D. Clark of Pagosa Springs, Colorado, was one of the finest watchmakers in the world and perhaps the most talented American watchmaker of all times. He is best known for his high-grade tourbillon watches, influenced by the horological genius Abraham-Louis Breguet, which he made by using old tools and ordinary watch and clockmaking equipment.
Gene Clark was, by profession, a restorer of antique sporting guns and a gun lock maker. His vivid interest in horology lead to him becoming a full-time watchmaker in 1976. He was also the first watchmaker in the United States to produce a tourbillon watch in the style of Breguet.
Clark's entire production comprised only seven tourbillon watches. The watches were numbered in the order they were started which however does not reflect the order in which they were finished.
In one of his letter, Gene D. Clark states his view on the contrast between a remontoir and the constant force device as "a Remontoir usually employs a wheel or escapement member for more than one tick of the watch for each of its windings whilst the true constant force escapement uses a mechanism to wind itself at each tick of the watch. The simplest description I can give of a constant force device is a spring that is wound by a clock (in this instance, the watch movement) and is then discharged at each tick of the watch. The spring is then wound instantly again by wheels and levers activated by the release of this wound spring causing the carriage to rotate a small amount after impulsing the balance. This happens 2 times per second. The constant force and remontoir type devices are extremely rare in watches, and almost unknown in a tourbillon."