MECCANICO:- de GRISOGONO to launch the world most complicated (mechanical) Digital/Analog watch at Basel-2008.

[Jaw]

The brand new Basel 2008 de GRISOGONO booth.

With a brand new booth at Basel and 2 exceptional new watch launch of Otturatore (see another post) and the stunning meccanico, de GRISOGO is definitely out to create a buzz one has never seen in the history of the brand.


de GRISOGONO President and CEO Fawaz Gruosi.

The de GRISOGONO meccanico is basically a simple watch with both analog and digital time indicated on the dial. The impressive fact is that it is 100% mechanical and the time display and time changes appeared to be identical to an LCD or an LED display quartz, This impressive launch comes at a crucial time for de GRISOGONO when there are rumours of company shareholder restructuring and the speculated distance between de GRISOGONO President Fawaz Gruosi and Chopard magnate Karl Scheufele.




The Titanium Version, limited to 177 pieces.

Wei Koh and I were fortunate enough to attend the elaborate launch events at Geneva and although I can't speak for our fashionista Editor-in-Chief, it will be hard to deny that the effort and investment poured into the meccanico project are absolutely impressive.


The Pink Gold Version, limited to 177 pieces.

Certainly, most of us will expand our views on this watch, but below is the text as released by de GRISOGONO:



RETURN TO THE FUTURE!

The inventors and designers of Haute Horlogerie enjoy a rare privilege: the luxury of choice. Existing constructional principles and concepts can of course always be revisited and reinterpreted but a design team can also decide to strike out in an entirely new direction. Founder and president of de GRISOGONO, Fawaz Gruosi naturally favors the second approach. With the MECCANICO dG, the Geneva-based house's latest entry, de GRISOGONO is introducing a design that projects hallowed horological traditions far into the future. With its 651 components, the MECCANICO dG's mechanical movement is one of the most intricate made today. A Haute Horlogerie timepiece with two distinct timezones, it is the first to display both analogue and digital time by mechanical means. This world first - and de GRISOGONO patent! - features a highly complex time mechanism inside a particularly contemporary design.

For his company's fifteenth anniversary, Fawaz Gruosi, founder and president of de GRISOGONO, was determined to break new ground and explore an area no watch manufacturer had ever ventured into: a digital display driven by an exclusively mechanical system. Although it took considerable confidence and even a touch of rashness to involve himself with a project of this kind, Fawaz Gruosi never looked back, intent on leading the brand into uncharted and definitely challenging territory.

With its patented double time display, both analogue and digital, the MECCANICO dG design inaugurates a totally novel concept in mechanical Haute Horlogerie. A single mechanical movement, twin timezones, two types of display - the MECCANICO dG embodies a major innovation, combining for the first time in the history of horology a digital time display and a mechanical power supply.

A NEW DIMENSION

The digital display is a child of the quartz era. At the time, electronics seemed to have won the day and mechanical timekeeping was under threat. Three decades later, magnificently intricate mechanical movements are more in demand than ever and Haute Horlogerie enjoying unprecedented success. The intervening years saw traditional watchmaking recover and reinvent itself. Generating invention after invention, creating ever more stunning, gloriously finished designs, traditional watchmaking has conferred objet d'art status on its most cunningly complex timepieces. Yet up to now, it had never revisited the digital time display. With the MECCANICO dG, this reluctance is now a thing of the past. The design propels horological history forward into a new dimension.

The MECCANICO dG can be described as a dense cluster of microsystems featuring extremely elaborate cam and gear assemblies. Its exclusive de GRISOGONO handwound mechanical movement comprises 651 components. It is composed of an analogue display of the hours and minutes on the upper dial and a digitally displayed second timezone on the lower dial. The mechanically operated digital display of the second timezone shows tens of hours, single hours, tens of minutes and single minutes, all displayed by mobile microsegments driven by an assemblage of 23 cams connected to a set of gears and a triggering and synchronization system.

The time information is displayed by an array of 23 horizontally and vertically positioned microsegments. Vertical segments are 9 mm high and weigh at most 25 milligrams while the horizontal segments measure 2.90 mm in length and weigh only 10 milligrams. The segments have four faces: two opposing visible faces fitted with colored strips and two opposing unmarked faces. Time changes are effected by 90° rotations of the required segment or segments. Involving one to twelve segments, time changes are lightning fast.

GROUNDBREAKING DESIGN

The MECCANICO dG's exclusive Haute Horlogerie technical design is matched by striking contemporary styling. Its intricate mechanical systems are visible through its transparent dial plate. Also featuring colored strips, the analogue time display's hour markers seem suspended in thin air so as to reveal the underlying mechanism. Like every de GRISOGONO movement, the MECCANICO dG's own caliber is meticulously finished and its components blackened. The words “de GRISOGONO” and “Swiss Made” are inscribed directly on the movement while the back of the watch features a nameplate bearing the name “MECCANICO dG”.

Despite the power needed to action the double analogue and digital display and the torque required to effect the instantaneous rotation of the digital display's microsegments, the MECCANICO's handwound mechanical movement, exclusive to de GRISOGONO, provides a power reserve of some 35 hours, visible through a cambered sapphire backplate on a 90° sectoral display on the movement's reverse side.

The MECCANICO dG case does justice to its exceptional movement. Notable for generous dimensions (56 x 48 mm) and camberedlines, water-resistant to 30 meters (~ 100 feet), this pioneering design is available in a choice of styles: titanium, titanium and red gold, titanium and rubber and titanium and platinum. In keeping with the design's futuristic allure, its correctors and the crown guard are fashioned from vulcanized rubber. Its analogue display is set by the crown opposite 3 o'clock while the second timezone is set by a pair of correctors - for hours at left, for minutes at right. Also crafted from vulcanized rubber, the strap is fitted with a deployment clasp buckle featuring the de GRISOGONO crest.

Launched to mark an exceptional horological year at de GRISOGONO, the MECCANICO dG is being produced in a limited edition of 177 watches.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS



Reference DG 042

Caliber Exclusive to de GRISOGONO

Movement thickness 11.45 mm

Movement dimensions rectangular: 38.10 x 34.70 mm

Number of components 651 for the movement, 70 for the case
Jewelling 77 (movement and display)

Frequency 28,800 v.p.h. (4 Hz)

Power reserve about 35 hours

Indications Hours, minutes and second timezone

Case titanium; 5N red gold; titanium and gold; titanium and platinum, titanium and rubber

Water resistance 30 meters (~ 100 feet) = 30 atm.

Hands “dauphine” style in 18K red gold

Strap black natural rubber

Clasp Double deployment construction in titanium and 5N red gold.


Pink gold Version

Wristwatch pink gold fitted with a black natural rubber strap featuring
a de GRISOGONO deployment in clasp in pink gold.

Handwound mechanical movement, an exclusive de GRISOGONO development.

Digital display module patented by de GRISOGONO.

Movement black-finished by a process exclusive to de GRISOGONO.

Impressive (56 x 48 mm) cambered rectangular pink gold case with sapphire crystal and back.

At top, analogue display of hours and minutes; dauphine hands.

At bottom, second timezone displayed by mobile microsegments driven by a set of 23 cams.

Analogue display corrected and set by the rubber-capped crown at 3 o’clock.

Second timezone corrected and set by two rubber-sheathed pushpieces, the left one correcting the hours, the right one single- and double-digit minutes.
35-hour power reserve. Water-resistant to 30 m/100 ft.

Limited edition of 177 watches.

Titanium and rubber

Wristwatch in titanium and rubber fitted with a black natural rubber strap featuring a de GRISOGONO deployment in clasp in titanium.

Handwound mechanical movement, an exclusive de GRISOGONO development.

Digital display module patented by de GRISOGONO.

Movement black-finished by a process exclusive to de GRISOGONO.

Impressive (56 x 48 mm) cambered rectangular titanium and rubber case with sapphire crystal and back.

At top, analogue display of hours and minutes; dauphine hands.

At bottom, second timezone displayed by mobile microsegments driven by a set of 23 cams.

Analogue display corrected and set by the rubber-capped crown at 3 o’clock.

Second timezone corrected and set by two rubber-sheathed pushpieces, the left one correcting the hours, the right one single- and double-digit minutes.

35-hour power reserve. Water-resistant to 30 m/100 ft.

Limited edition of 177 watches.

Jaw

[eddiesng]

Thanks for sharing Jaw.

The watch is visually unique and it transmits a sense of complexity in simplicity... if you know what I mean.

As mentioned, it is the first watch to display analog and digital on the same display using a mechanical movement. Innovative indeed.

Great stuff and thanks for sharing.

[damien]

its almost like a mechanical philippe starck timepiece. Its really good to see the younger brands like grisogono and maurice lacroix up the ante on the establishment. thanks jaw.

[Jürgen]

I had to look twice to see it , but what a beautiful design. It's a good candidate for the price of the most inventive watchmaker. Great design, surely I go to visit the new stand in Basel.

[RobCH]

Looks like a phenominal piece ! Can't wait to see it in the flesh.

[Monochrome]

WOW...WOW...WOW... what an amazing design of movement!! WOW! DiGrisogono has made some very nice pieces already, but this is more than amazing and i love it

[pj.m]

Jaw, thanks for the report. I think the watch is awesome and would love to see it in real life one day. Question though, is it a dual time zone? how come the time is 10:09 and the digital is 12:09?
Love the watch though.

Phil

[Jaw]

Sharp eyes, yes, it is a two timezone watch.

Jaw

[ei8htohms]

nt

[IanS]

First we have Journe with a dead second (tourbillon) looking for all the world to move like a quartz movement and now this looking like an electronic display.

[take5]

Wow, what a fantastic innovation! Very big watch, but absolutely very cool!

[Fred925]

Thanks Jaw, amazing watch, amazing design, amazing complication, and amazing size LoL!