Saturday was my last full day in Basel, and I headed to the Palace initially to see Martin Braun, a good friend who I have had the pleasure of knowing for many years now. Long since before his move to Switzerland and the collaboration with Franck Muller Group that resulted in Martin being unable to use his own name on his watches from now on. His new company is called Antoine Martin.
The black dialed version of the Slow Runner on the wrist.
He has been busy developing ideas for years and now is able to realise several of these dreams under his new company, Antoine Martin. Together with Bruno Jufer as his front man, these two fellows have been hard at work creating interesting watches. Last year he showed off a Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar, and this year two new models...the much anticipated "Slow Runner" and a surprise for me, the "Tourbillon Big Date".
The other Slow Runner dial for the steel case, lovely blued steel hands too.
As I had bumped into Martin on the setup day outside the Hall 1.0 and had the pleasure of snapping a couple of pics and a video of the Slow Runner, I had had the experience of seeing it for the first time. It still was something quite novel seeing it again three days later, and of course I got to look at the other variations, a black dial and the 18K RG version with a silver dial. As Martin told me, this watch was not possible prior to now even though he wished he had it back 10 years ago when he was creating watches under his own name. Reality is that technology back then wasn't advanced enough to produce the silicon parts in his own designed anchor and escape wheel, so it couldn't have been. It's time is now!
Here is the amazing back of the 18K RG version, revealing the massive balance wheel, which gently oscillates back and forth twice a second. Slow enough to see it stop, when changing direction!
The Tourbillon Big Date is also a new model for Basel 2013, and for me a better looking watch albeit a lot less complicated than last years Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar. It is also manual wind and shares Martin's silicon escapement, which I was able to capture in pictures due to the spectral colors reflected by it.
On the wrist it is has a tremendous presence!
I look forward to seeing Martin out in Solana Beach again this year and will prepare to show off his great work.
Next stop was over to MDT to say hello to some old friends, Steve Holtzman and Flip Horowitz, who I've known since late '90's when they were distributing several small Independent Swiss brands prior to taking on Roger Dubuis in 1999. With the Maitres du Temps Chapter 3 Reveal having it's debut last year sporting a blue dial, they were only showing off two new dials for the future. A silver and a brown dial.
They also have created an open dial Chapter One, this super complication is quite something to see in the flesh, it uses a synthetic sapphire dial so that one can see the caliber from the front!
The mighty 18k RG Chapter One open dial
As Andreas Strehler was a key part of the Chapter 3 watch, he was showing his wares in the same room. He has continued on with development of the Cocon and this year a huge addition in terms of technical improvement, it now can be had with a Constant Force mechanism. Developed on the seconds wheel pinion, it is pretty tricky to describe, but as usual it contains another tiny hairspring, that keeps the constant force, released once a second by a star wheel interacting with a jewel on the blued steel second hand. He had made a scale model, so that he could demonstrate how it works, as in reality it is tiny.
The model, a wonderful tool to show what is really happening...
Next to the actual watch in order to see the scale.
On my wrist, it reveals it's wearability. Lovely blued steel hands too!
Here is the front and back showing Andreas' stylized butterfly caliber
The twin barrel caliber of Andreas Strehlers' Cocon
The dials are quite something on Andreas' watch, not simply a flat piece with a couple of pins to hold it in place, it is almost an integral part of the caliber, with guilloche on the underside of the silver dial, where one can see through the escape wheel when looking from the front. The hour & minutes chapter is synthetic sapphire crystal applied to the dial with gold rivets at the hour markers.
Here are the backs of the solid silver guilloched dials with guilloche sections that are visible from the front of the partial open dial.
Andreas creates his art for a very select few aficionados, annual production is tiny. With his skill set being used by many other brands, his time is in high demand.
After this appointment I headed back to the AHCI stand to see what the guys had been up to, wandered the jewelry halls for an hour trying to get inspired with the brands that show from all over. Nothing took my fancy, so I headed back for a beer with the Dutch watchmakers.
Wondering if I was going to be able to join the famed Schnitzel dinner, organized by Frank from Monochrome, for Independent watchmakers and Dutch press and aficionados; I then dined with Johnny from The Watch Press, an Irish watch blog, in an Irish bar while Stephen McGonigle, a huge rugby fan, watched a rugby game. Later on I was able to join the gathering at the Schnitzel fest for a beer or two. Lumineries from the Independent Watchmaking world were present, Peter Speake-Marin, both Mcgonigles, both Grönefelds, Max Busser and various others...Extra-ordinary fun times were had including the famous beer glass in the mouth trick, aptly demonstrated by two talented fellows whom will remain nameless and I managed to make the last tram back to my family’s house on the outskirts of Basel.