A masterful mechanical creation from the artisan of exceptional
timpieces Jean Dunand…with caliber by Christophe Claret…(excerpts below
from the press release). Price? $410,000.
Jean Dunand Palace
703 parts (53 jewels), mono-pusher
chronograph, one-minute flying tourbillon, seconds and 60 min counter,
power reserve and GMT for 2nd time zone via linear displays, chain-drive
for winding mechanism (manual wind)
According to Jean Dunand’s CEO Thierry Oulevay, “The primary
inspiration of the Palace is the cultural and societal transformation of
Western civilisation during a 50-year period, defined as 1880-1930.”
Placing that time span in context, the Palace takes its name from the
structure that preceded and heralded the age, London’s Crystal Palace,
built for the Great Exhibition of 1851, while sharing aesthetic details
with the architectural pinnacle of the era: the Eiffel Tower.
Instead of a rotary dial, the Palace shows its second time zone
through 12-hour indications on either side of the oval-shaped trace. The
indicator arrow, mounted in a disc that mirrors that of the power
reserve, makes two passes. When the disc reaches the end, it flies back
to the top and the arrow rotates 180 degrees to chart the other scale.
Adjustments to the GMT scale, in one hour increments, are made through
the GMT advance button positioned between the lugs at 6 o’clock.
At the heart of the manually-wound Palace beats a one-minute flying
tourbillon, placed at the 6 o’clock position, the balance operating at a
frequency of 3Hz. Above it are skeletal hour and minute hands, and a
sapphire crystal 60-minute counter for the chronograph. On either side
of the flying tourbillon are two vertical tracks, the one in the
right-hand corner charting its 72-hour power reserve, the other a linear
GMT indicator.
The winder communicates its power to the barrel via an
exquisitely-fashioned, microscopically tiny chain, designed, according
to Oulevay, “to evoke the chain drive of vintage Indian and Vincent
motorcycles. It even has a minuscule tensioner.”
So complex and detail-rich is the Palace
that each will be supplied with a loupe, to enable the owner to study it
over the years. Its many details and secrets will reveal themselves
surreptitiously, the observer finding something new to admire every time
it is examined. Such a wealth of function, form and detail demands a
stately enclosure: at 38mm by 36mm the movement is larger than most
complete watches, so the majestic case is a generous 48mm by 49mm
providing the spaciousness a Palace deserves
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