Carthaginian military commander Hannibal Barca was considered a great tactician, and is regarded one of the greatest generals of ancient times. During the Second Punic War, he achieved a victory after crossing the Pyrenees and Alpes with an his army, including a secret weapon: elephants.
And so, the dial depicts this monumental journey in the Hannibal Minute Repeater. This highly complicated novelty will launch at Baselworld 2015 next month.
The “Hannibal” Minute Repeater Westminster Carillon Tourbillon Jaquemarts watch comes in a 44 mm diameter platinum case with a dial that features genuine black granite sourced from the Alps. On top of the granite are figures called Jaquemarts, as well as the mountainous backdrop and surrounding terrain, all hand-carved from 18K white gold.
At the bottom of the dial is an openworked tourbillon with satin-brushed bridge and blued screws. The flange features printed hour and minute markers. Arrow tipped hour and minute hands are polished, in white gold.
The minute repeater has four gongs, once activated they chime hours, minutes and quarters. The Jaquemart figures (elephants used for battle during the Punic wars by Hannibal) are animated and move in sync with song from the gongs.
All four gongs sound in three different sequences for the quarters:
1st quarter (Mi-Do-Re-Sol), 2nd quarter (Mi-Do-Re-Sol/Sol-Re-Mi-Do) and 3rd quarter (Mi-Do-Re-Sol/Sol-Re-Mi-Do/Mi-Do-Re-Sol).
The 36 jewel movement is manually wound (caliber UN-78) and has a 70-hour power reserve. Functions include Westminster Carillon Tourbillon Jaquemarts Minute Repeater (striking of hours, quarters and minutes Four different chimes (Mi-Do-Re-Sol), central hours and minutes, and one-minute tourbillon. Each part of the movement is decorated, chamfered and hand-finished.
Comes on a black leather strap and is limited to 30 pieces.
For more, visit Ulysse Nardin.
Arnold & Son will debut a new version of their Royal TEC1 timepiece, with a palladium case and guilloché, at Baselworld in March.
The TEC1 combines a high frequency tourbillon (4Hz), column wheel chronograph with central seconds counter and a bi-directional winding rotor. The 30 jewel in-house movement (caliber A&S8305) has 255 parts and a 55-hour power reserve. The bridges, main plate and many of the components have been treated with palladium. (Editor’s note: Palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium form a group of elements referred to as the platinum group metals.)
The bridges are manually chamfered with polished edges, and are decorated with either a fine circular graining or Côtes de Genève rayonnantes. The main plate is decorated with fine circular graining. The chronograph levers are satin-finished with hand-chamfered, polished edges and screws are blued with bevelled and mirror polished heads. A 22K red gold, hand-engraved, skeletonized rotor stands out against the silvery white palladium finish of the movement bridges and main plate.
The 45 mm diameter palladium case has a stepped bezel and is fully polished to a mirror finish. The dial features a black enamel wave guilloché pattern, except between 10 and 2 o’clock, which is where the tourbillon is displayed. The flange has a printed 60-second scale for reading the elapsed time from the chronograph central second hand. Polished, sword-shaped hour and minute hands, and facetted, polished hand-applied hour indices (except at 11, 12 and 1 o’clock), complete the design.
The Royal TEC1 is paired with a black alligator leather strap and will be available in a limited edition of 125 pieces, at a retail price of $99,000. (Ref. 1CTAG.U02A.C113G)
For more, visit Arnold & Son.
