Horological Meandering

Kong
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DeWitt Colloquium at Sincere Watch Academy

Last week, Mr Jérôme de Witt, President of DeWitt was in town and had a meet up session organised by the Sincere Watch Academy and FJ Benjamin to introduce Maison DeWitt and showed some of the later collections .  
FJ Benjamin is the exclusive distributor of DeWitt timepieces in both Southeast and North Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and South Korea from 1 May 2010.

For friends who are trying to recall the work of DeWitt, the unique piece below should be a good trigger.


The audacious concept watch to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Maison DeWitt in 2008 - the WX-1.



 





At Sincere Watch Academy, before the evening programme, drinks and canapes were served to the guests.



Ms Polly Sohn, Divisional CEO of FJ Benjamin  (S.E.A.) Timepiece Division and Mr Ong Ban, CEO of Sincere Watch were present.


A lady owner of a DeWitt piece was chatting with Mr Jérôme de Witt, President of DeWitt.


Mr Jérôme de Witt explaining the chain mechanism of the Academia Tourbillon Constant Force...


A guest chatting with the Sales Manager of DeWitt, Mr Martinez.


A pack session.




A customary shot before the evening programme began, Mr Jérôme de Witt  and Mr Patrick Tan, Principal of the Sincere Watch Academy.


Mr Patrick Tan and Mr Martinez.


Mr Patrick Tan called to session open and introduce the speakers for the evening.






Mr Jérôme de Witt  explaining his philosophy and passion of DeWitt.

He mentioned DeWitt watches are built to last and will only used proven materials to manufacture the components for the movements.  
However he keeps an open-mind and would use new materials for functional components only when it is proven reliable.  He is more adventurous in using new materials and approaches for the cosmetic aspects though.

If I remembered correctly, he mentioned that all components are manufactured in-house including the balance wheel and the hairspring except for components which are easily made like the screws and the mainspring.


He also would like his watch aesthetic design to be special, like incorporating aspects from architecture, automobile, aircraft  and others.
However, he also believes in practicality.  When he touched on the double-faced Antipode, he revealed he adopted the concept of the cement-mixer which has existed for a long time for its simplicity and functionality.




Also informed of their newly in-house developed and manufactured movement, Calibre DW 8014.




After that, Mr Martinez, showed the guests the Répétition Minutes Tourbillon GMT Antipode ...


25 pieces were made and 24 pieces were said to be sold. 



However captured some pictures of the prototype-piece piece instead ...


The masive Répétition Minutes Tourbillon GMT Antipode is 45.5mm in diameter and about 17mm thick.

The front face, displaying tourbillon carriage, local hours and minutes and the minute repeater.  The striking mechanism is triggered by a push-button located at 9 o’clock on the case side.



Spotting the unmistakeable DeWitt bezel.





To rotate to the second face, the case can be released by by pressing the watch lugs at 12 and 6 o’clock .







This is the second side, note the crown is not at 9H  and the tourbillon is not visible.





The second side reveals the GMT function displaying the hour and minutes of the second time zone.

The minute repeater mechanism can be activated at any time with the same push-button, allowing the owner of this masterpiece to hear the local time stroked while reading the second time zone. The time in the latter is set by means of a corrector at 1 o’clock.

















Twenty-8-Eight Automatic

The name of this model actually depicts 28 August the day when the design was drawn out, on the date of 28 Floreal of French republican
calender which Napolean Bonaparte ( ancestor of founder- Jerome de Witt)  was crowned emperor of France.


18K Rose Gold case, of diameter 43mm and 10.3mm thick.  Black dial with two guilloche patterns, flame guilloche  at inner circle,
and baguette guilloche on the outer.
Hands, open-worked  in the shape of two-edged swords.
Movement is powered by ETA 2892.
Limited to 500 pieces.



Twenty-8-Eight Tourbillon


Similar case as the Twenty-8-Eight Automatic  (above), Anthracite grey circular brushed dial with guilloche repeated "W"  pattern at
the centre.

Spotting own's in-house tourbillon (introduced this year), Calibre DW8028, diameter 33mm, beating at 18,000 VPH and has a
power reserve of 72 hours.
The balance, escape wheel and the anchor are made of 18 carat yellow gold.

The Twenty-8-Eight Tourbillon is limited production of 250 pieces.


Every tourbillon piece is fully assembled and tested by a single master watchmaker. 
A little plate, bearing the signature of the master watchmaker is placed on the bridge, a testimony of the pride and affection put into
each timepiece.



Below are a few pictures of the dial fabrication for the Twenty-8-Eight Tourbillon ...


Starting from a blank  ...












Blackstream Chronograph


44mm diameter Grade 5 Titanium case with Black PVD treatment with a polsihed contrasting bezel.
The pushers are also of titanium.
Dial with sunray guilloche with counters design inspired by sports cars.
Movement is the robust ETA 7753.
Limited to 250 pcs.



Academia Blackstream Triple Complication GMT3


The triple complication refers to Day & Night, dissociated date and second time zone.
Same casework as the Blackstream Chronograph.  While the BlackStream Chronograph took inspiration from the sports car, the
Blackstream GMT-3 took on the aviation theme.

The Day & Night disc featuring a yellow sun and a blue starry Night sky and its elongated and rounded bridge looked like the fuselage
of a plane.


Below the disc is the black sunray dial designed to look like  aviator dashboard.
Hour and minute hands in the shape of two-edged swords.  Representing the 2nd time zone hand is the red hand and  Small blue seconds hand shaped as a navigation tool.




Tourbillon Force Constante à Chaîne










The miniature chain manufactured internally, and each 'really small'  link is engraved with the DW logo.




The power reserve indicator with 'traffic light" markings.


Some pics of the miniature chain ...





The chain assembly with the spoke and the bridge for size comparison.


The full chain is made up of 192 components.  Each link with the DW logo engraved on.












Two variations of the Academia Tourbillon Haute Joaillerie ...






Academia Tourbillon Force Constante Mecanica  featuring a 'car-radiator grille'.





Next the interesting, newly unveiled Calibre DW 8014 ...


A snapshot of the specifications ...

Featuring a dead-beat seconds and their patented Automatic Sequential Winding (A.S.W.) device powered by a peripheral oscillating rotor.
So as not to block the nicely decorated movement, either micro-rotor or the peripheral rotor, would be chosen.  Peripheral rotor
was applied in Vianney Halter and Carl F Bucherer pieces too for similar purpose.
The A.S.W mechanism enables the distribution of a constant energy into the going train through a sequenced winding of the barrel.







Do the bridges resemble a building?






A video illustration of the DW 8014.




Two variations of the Academia Tourbillon Differentiel






Quantième Perpétuel GMT Nebula

This piece is a stunner.  The layout is refreshing and legible, enabling quick easy readout.
The moon is made from half a iridescent pearl.  The 'dark sky' is made by  Venetian glassmaking techniques.
To create the 3D effect of the galaxy, gold powder was sprinkled during the glass molten stage.



Double Fuseau - GMT2 Poetic



Blackstream Chronograph


44mm diameter Grade 5 Titanium case with Black PVD treatment with a polsihed contrasting bezel.
The pushers are also of titanium.
Dial with sunray guilloche with counters design inspired by sports cars.
Movement is the robust ETA 7753.
Limited to 250 pcs.



Academia Blackstream Triple Complication GMT3


The triple complication refers to Day & Night, dissociated date and second time zone.
Same casework as the Blackstream Chronograph.  While the BlackStream Chronograph took inspiration from the sports car, the
Blackstream GMT-3 took on the aviation theme.

The Day & Night disc featuring a yellow sun and a blue starry Night sky and its elongated and rounded bridge looked like the fuselage
of a plane.


Below the disc is the black sunray dial designed to look like  aviator dashboard.
Hour and minute hands in the shape of two-edged swords.  Representing the 2nd time zone hand is the red hand and  Small blue seconds hand shaped as a navigation tool.


Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Kong









This message has been edited by Kong on 2010-09-16 22:26:34

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