JEAN DUNAND watches, Palace timepiece (BaselWorld 2010)

YouTube via HouseOfRam — April 08, 2010 — "Tribute to the Industrial Revolution. The Jean Dunand Palace, the new model that made its debut at Baselworld. This design by Thierry Oulevay and Christophe Claret, lives up to those principles in a decidedly new and direct way. It is the first Jean Dunand watch in a square case and it takes its name from Londons Crystal Palace, the steel-and-glass architectural marvel built for the Great Exhibition of 1851. The watch takes its design cues from the Industrial Revolution era of 1880 to 1930 — a half-century that gave birth to automobiles, airplanes, skyscrapers, jazz and, of course, the wristwatch.

Claret and Oulevay were inspired by numerous sources in their development of the watch. One was the Charlie Chaplin film Modern Times, with its classic scene of the Little Tramp literally caught up in the gears of industry. The arrangement of the gears, wheels and bridges, viewed through the transparent caseback, is an homage to that famous factory scene. Another influence was the oval-shaped Milwaukee Mile racetrack, which hosted the pioneers of auto racing in the early 1900s. The oval shape is used on the linear GMT indicator on the lower left of the watch and the linear power-reserve indicator on the lower right. The arrow indicator of the former makes two passes through the two vertical 12-hour scales on either side of the oval: when it reaches bottom, the arrow snaps back to the top and reverses itself 180 degrees to chart the 12 hours on the opposite side.

Vintage motorcycles, particularly those made by Indian, inspired the unusual winding mechanism, which transmits power to the barrel by means of a tiny linked chain reminiscent of that on a motorbike. The movement plates are designed to evoke a reinforced cast-iron structure, supported by little pillars. Through the sapphire viewing apertures in the sides of the case, the side-view of the movement resembles a city skyline, or perhaps the foundations of a skyscraper.

The apertures are framed by arches that echo those at the base of the Eiffel Tower; the machined, engraved pattern on all four sides of the case suggests the cross-pieces used in the Towers construction and in that of other engineering marvels such as the Grand Canyons Navajo Bridge. Flourishes inspired by the pistons, nuts, bolts, and gears of locomotives and early submarines, and by the imagery of Fritz Langs Metropolis, are also evident in the movement design. The type font used in the nameplates is from the Art Deco era.

At 38 mm x 36.4 mm and 12.42 mm thick, the movement, Calibre CLA02CMP, made at Clarets ultra-modern atelier in Le Locle, Switzerland, is as big as some wristwatch cases. Its manual-wound, with a one-minute flying tourbillon and a monopusher chronograph (operated by a pusher in the crown at 3 oclock) that counts up to 60 minutes. Its made up of over 700 individual parts, including 53 jewels. The massive case is 48.2 mm x 49.9 mm, with a titanium caseband and lugs. The bezel, and caseback are available in either rose gold or white gold. The power reserve is 72 hours and the watch is water-resistant to 30 meters. The price is yet to be decided but sure to be in the six figures and is slated for a fall release.

April, 2010.

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