OK a sunny afternoon in Basel...off to see Christian Klings.
This is passion. I'm not sure where else I've seen such dedication to the art of watchmaking. Christian has that "mad scientist" look and I suspect possibly, the same approach to his creativity in the horological field. Designing and hand making unusual escapements, most normally found in clocks and pocketwatches, for discerning clients, who apparently wait, some times over a year for Christian to finish his extra-ordinary watches.
I had heard about Christian's work over the years, and remember reading about and more importantly seeing a picture of his Tourbillon No.7, an exquisite piece with a beautiful moonphase indicator at 3 o'clock. Classical elegance, design clarity and well balanced to encompass a free sprung Tourbillon movement, in a watch that to my mind is lovely. The guilloche dial surrounding the time, moonphase and power reserve indicator shows those features very well. So, this for me was interesting and when I saw Christian's vitrine at the AHCI stand in Basel, I knew I had to inquire further and meet this man. I had the fortune to be with Stephen McGonigle at the time, who is a master watchmaker, and one that doesn't suffer fools. When we were examining the Tourbillon Desmodromic's escapement, a single beat free balance escapement, Stephen was visibly impressed. Seeing that tourbillon cage whirr around every 10 seconds was mesmerizing to say the least. As Christian explained some of the more technical aspects to Stephen, my mind raced to keep up and comprehend what they were talking about. One fascinating piece of information was that originally it was a 7 second Tourbillon! Christian wasn't happy with the reliability and timekeeping, so "de-tuned" it down to 10 seconds! Since then I have spent time at Christian's website and am still studying it to get a better understanding of his level of creativity.
So this is a little video I took while at his AHCI stand, forgive my amateur camera and videographer skills!!!:
I have included here a picture of the Desmodromic Tourbillon, the style of guilloche on the silver dial is sublime:
Now to the back, the movement is simply elegant, traditional Saxon movement finishing:
The other watches Christian showed in his vitrine, were the Tourbillon No.8 and the Mosquito escapement watch. Unfortunately I did not get to photograph the Mosquito escapement watch, and as it is a sold piece, I may never get to picture it! Christian's work is highly technical and not for the faint of heart. They take time to create and reach a level of satisfaction that Christian is ultimately happy with. As he himself states, these timepieces are possibly of more interest to a scientist than a watch collector!
The No.8 Tourbillon is a Flying Tourbillon, cased in 18k YG. For those of you un-aware of the difference, the flying tourbillon escapement and cage are fixed to only one bridge, behind typically, and appears to float around it's own axis. The more traditional tourbillon has two bridges each with a bearing for the escapement and cage to pivot around.
This watch is quite lovely also:
Another view:
And another....
Now to the back for the clean Saxon movement finishing:
One of the aspects that intrigues me most about Christian and his art, is that other than the synthetic sapphire crystals and the jewels that he purchases, he makes the rest himself, hairspring et al. This is quite remarkable and unusual. This fact, in and of itself is, is one of the reasons I find his work so compelling. This Tourbillon No.8 is available as I type this, so please contact me to discuss!
Visiting Christian's website will open your eyes further. www.ChristianKings.com
I hope to persuade Christian to come back out to CA, he did live here for almost a decade, in Marin Co. during the 70's and 80's,as I understand, and I'm sure we could have quite a gathering of the tribe!
