Horological Meandering

How about a little science lesson as we head into the weekend?

Have you ever noticed the beautiful yet surreal, concentric coloured rings around the Sun or the Moon?

In meteorology, that effect is referred to as a corona.  It is an atmospheric effect caused by the diffraction of light from the Sun, Moon or any other celestial object by small individual water droplets or tiny ice crystals of a cloud. 

In astronomy, a corona is actually a type of super heated gas atmosphere of the Sun that extends millions of kilometers into space.

It is these concentric rings around the Sun that lends its name to a new time piece from Finnish watch maker, Stepan Sarpaneva.  Aptly named Korona, the piece captures the halo effect of the corona on the dial.  The Korona is Stepan's interpretation of steel, 3 dimensional spaces and industrial design and is offered in three different versions.

The K1 is a time and date model with the date window at 6 o'clock.

The amazing depth of the dial is achieved by layering three plates – the hour marker plate, the "corona" plate of ever expanding 3 dimensional grids and finally a base plate, which has a sand-blasted finish.  The hands are an evolution of the hands Stepan designed for his limited edition, the Supernova.  The stems are sand blasted and the arrow tips black polished.  The case is 44mm in diameter and 9.6mm thick.  Unlike the Supernova, the case design for the Korona is much more subdued.

The K2 extends the design by removing the base plate to achieve a skeletonised effect on the dial.  It exposes the A10 Soprod movement, along with the date wheel.  This gives the K2 a "rawness" where the moving parts are exposed and form part of the design.  I also found that the exposed date wheel behind the corona plate seems to create a magnified effect on the date window as if the numbers are leaping out from the dial.

The K3 introduces, in my opinion, the most interesting and unique moonphase design ever set on a watch.  

By sacrificing the date wheel, Stepan is able to incorporate a sense of personality to the K3 with this mischievous moon face peeking out at you through the dial.  This design brings a softer, more organic element and contrast well with the harsher industrial look.

You can almost feel those eyes watching you.

Flipping the Korona over, we see that Stepan has continued his theme with the winding rotor. 

The K1 and K2 both share the same winding mass made from white gold.

The K3 has a different winding mass that incorporates that beautiful face and again, in white gold.  Other than the winding mass, all other components are made from stainless steel. 

In addition to the three different versions of the Korona, Stepan also offers a range of customisation. 

The case is available in either steel or black finish, while the dial is offered in steel, black or blue.  The black finish is achieved using an amorphous diamond thin film coating achieved with a patented vacuum coating method developed by a Finnish company.

Since introducing prototypes about a month ago, Stepan has now gone into production models and will be launching the Korona at BaselWorld.  He shares the booth along side fellow Fin, Kari Voutilainen and Vianney Halter.

Here are wrist shots of the K1 and K2.

The K1 in steel case and black dial.

The K2 in steel case and steel dial.  Notice how the date just "jumps out" through the date window.

Finally, the packaging comes as its own watch stand.  The box is made locally in Finland.

I think this is a great looking watch and a crowning achievement for Stepan.  Incidentally, the Latin root of corona means crown.

Cheers and HAGWE.

Gaz

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For Gaz's original post in HOME forum:  CLICK HERE