Cartier - Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon

Cartier - Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon NEW


The Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon watch is the fruit of a technical and creative ambition that for Cartier consists of bringing together two complications in a daring display. Removed from its strictly horological role, in which it serves as a guarantee of precision and prestige, a tourbillon has been incorporated into a moon phase complication, with each one dependent on the other.

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 The watch owes its name to the stylised portrayal of the globe and the moon represented by a tourbillon. Together, they form a creative and animated world with skeletonised Roman numerals surrounding this dynamic feat of watchmaking.

An innovative blend of complications

The moon-phase mechanism of the Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon watch is founded on a creative and complex design that combines a tourbillon, moon phase on demand and a second time zone.

The tourbillon, or how to escape the earth's gravity

The Tourbillon mechanism is a complex complication that falls within the expertise of a limited number of watchmakers. Its main function is to fight against the effects of gravity when the watch is in a vertical position.
 
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The Tourbillon mechanism is a complex complication that falls within the expertise of a limited number of watchmakers. Its main function is to fight against the effects of gravity when the watch is in a vertical position.

Moon phase on demand: a double innovation

Because it appears in its original form and exists only when its user wishes it to, the moon phase on the Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon watch reveals a technical creativity that is doubly innovative.

By pressing the push-button situated at four o'clock on the side of the case, a panels descends and partially obscures the Tourbillon carriage. The crescent thus formed reproduces exactly the moon's shape in the sky.

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Second time zone: a bespoke development

The second time zone of the Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon watch is indicated by a 24-hour disc that was entirely redeveloped by for the calibre 9440 MC due to the sophistication of its disc display.

Exceptional finishes in an ode to craftsmanship and creativity

The result of painstaking work, polished lapis lazuli is used for the dial and the moon panel on the Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon watch. The hours and the second time zone are surrounded by a meticulously polished grid in 18-carat white gold. A three- dimensional dial is one of the signature features of the Cartier Fine Watchmaking collection, alongside Roman numerals that are openworked and chamfered by the hand of a master decorator in a manner akin to a skeleton movement.

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The exceptional finishes of the 9440 MC are all the more remarkable because the semi-skeletonised bridges on the back of the movement are structured in a star shape, echoing this precious timepiece's lunar and terrestrial character on the case back.

With the the Rotonde de Cartier Earth and Moon watch, the Maison Cartier has created a timepiece that displays an exceptional level of creativity and craftsmanship.


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CHOPARD - L.U.C XP Urushi Rose Gold “Year of the Horse” Edition

CHOPARD - L.U.C XP URUSHI “Year of the Horse” Special Edition NEW

A compendium of traditional skills

Chopard honors traditional forms of craftsmanship by associating the charms of Urushi, an ancestral decorative technique, with the understated lines of its L.U.C XP: an extremely refined ultra-thin timepiece equipped with a mechanical self-winding movement, L.U.C Calibre 96.17-L.

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The quintessence of the ancestral Japanese art of Urushi, combined with the ultimate degree of Swiss horological refinement: such in a nutshell is the nature of the new L.U.C XP 2014 “Year of the Horse” special edition. Its entirely hand-painted dial honours Asia by celebrating the year of the horse in the Chinese calendar using Japanese-inspired traditional artistic techniques. It depicts a noble prancing horse, adorned with lotus flowers – a plant symbolising personal fulfilment due to its ability to rise unsullied from the muddy waters where it is rooted, in order to blossom in the light. The horse, the seventh sign of the Chinese calendar composed of 12 animals, loves to travel towards new horizons. It is a free-spirited creature endowed with a nomadic spirit. Ancestral wisdom credits it with a strong attachment to defending family values and the cause of the weak. Tradition thus holds that people born in the year of the horse are generally characterised by their devotion, their energy and their creativity.

Urushi – a time-honoured Japanese pictorial art

Urushi is a long-established lacquering art. The varnish is derived from the sap of the Urushi tree, also called the “lacquer tree” or “Japanese varnish tree”, mainly found in Japan and China. Somewhat like rubber from the hevea brasiliensis tree, the resin can only be harvested once a year, and in very small quantities. Three to five years after it is collected, the resin is treated to transform it into an extremely resistant, honey-textured lacquer. It is applied in very thin successive layers, traditionally on everyday objects such as bowls or boxes.

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Maki-e, a technique derived from the art of Urushi, consists of sprinkling the lacquered coating with metal powder – in this case gold – in order to accentuate its outlines.

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The gold dust is applied using bamboo tubes and small natural-hair brushes in order to trace extremely fine lines. This art requires a degree of skill and meticulous care such as only a few experienced Urushi specialists still master.

L.U.C, exceptional watchmaking expertise

Such exquisite works of art could not have been better showcased than by the refinement of the L.U.C XP. A supremely elegant ultra-thin timepiece measuring 39.5 mm in diameter and 6.8 mm thick, it is the symbol of Chopard’s horological mastery. Developing and producing a mechanical self-winding movement equipped with two barrels ensuring a 65-hour power reserve that can fit into such a slender case is an impressive achievement indeed.

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The watchmakers of Chopard Manufacture in Fleurier have accomplished this feat thanks to the clever construction of the off-centred micro-rotor. Entirely hand decorated by the House artisans in accordance with the principles of traditional fine watchmaking, L.U.C Calibre 96.17-L may be admired through the exhibition back of the 18-carat rose gold case.

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Fitted with a black alligator leather strap, the L.U.C XP Urushi 2014 “Year of the Horse” special edition is delivered in a dedicated presentation box, also decorated using Urushi techniques. Black on the outside and Maki-e gold on the inside, it is shaped like an octagon – the oriental symbol of gaiety – complete with a silk fastening cord.

Watchmaking at Chopard

Chopard is a family-owned brand with a strongly independent corporate philosophy. The various stages in the making of L.U.C watches are all conducted in-house at the group’s Meyrin and Fleurier production sites. Movement development; finished product design; gold casting; case stamping and machining; traditional hand-crafted decoration; surface treatments; polishing; assembly; adjustment and quality control: each L.U.C watch undergoes this full range of watch production stages, all entirely mastered by Chopard.

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 Technical details

 
Ref. 161902-5052

Specifications
INDICATION(S): hours and minutes
MOVEMENT: L.U.C 96.17-L
TYPE OF WINDING: self-winding mechanical movement
MOVEMENT DIMENSIONS: Ø 27.40 mm
MOVEMENT THICKNESS: 3.30 mm
POWER RESERVE: 65 hours, L.U.C Twin Technology (two stacked barrels)
FREQUENCY: 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations per hour)
OSCILLATING WEIGHT: 22-carat gold
BALANCE WHEEL: with three spokes
BALANCE SPRING: flat
DECORATIONS ON MOVEMENT: bridges adorned with Côtes de Genève, circular-grained mainplate
JEWELS: 29
NUMBER OF MOVEMENT PARTS: 172
MATERIAL: 18-carat rose gold
CASE DIMENSION(S): Ø 39.50 mm
CASE THICKNESS: 6.98 mm
DIAL: Urushi dial with Horse motif
FRONT GLASS: glareproofed scratch-resistant sapphire crystal
CASE-BACK: see-through sapphire crystal
CROWN MATERIAL: 18-carat rose gold
WATER-RESISTANCE: 30 metres
STRAP: black alligator leather strap (matt) with hand sewn matching tones
BUCKLE MATERIAL: 18-carat rose gold
BUCKLE TYPE: pin buckle

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