ROMAIN GAUTHIER – Logical One Secret Kakau Höfke Limited Edition NEW
With Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke, Romain Gauthier has created the ultimate synthesis of art, craftsmanship and haute horlogerie to produce a stunning objet d’art that pays tribute to that most vibrant of cities, Rio de Janeiro.
On one hand, Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke is a
resplendent expression of contemporary art. Adorning its integrated 18k
white gold cover, hour-minute subdial and small seconds is a
mesmerising, modernist depiction of Rio de Janeiro, designed by Kakau Höfke. This Brazilian artist is a long-time friend of the Gauthier
family and responsible for designing the Romain Gauthier logo when the
brand was founded in 2005.
Originally featuring in her series of acrylic-on-canvas
artworks,
Höfke’s signature portrayal of her native city
Rio not only
evokes Corcovado – the iconic mountain on which proudly stands the
‘Christ the Redeemer’ statue – but also the pattern that features on the
promenade (calçada) bordering Ipanema beach.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
At the same time, this piece is a consummate celebration of
time-honoured craftsmanship. For
Höfke’s design has been beautifully
adapted and recreated using an intricate micro-marquetry technique based
on traditional stone marquetry, carried out by artisans at the Geneva
atelier of
Olivier Vaucher.
No fewer than
352 unique, mirror-polished, miniature tiles of jade
and agate – each one 0.5mm thin and painstakingly hand-finished and
hand-applied – make up this exceptional micro-marquetry, which required
three months of solid work to create. The sheer complexity of the
marquetry is evidenced by its bombé profile and double layer of tiles.
Light and dark tiles cut from the same lavender jade stone
form the Ipanema promenade pattern; tiles cut from blue agate compose
the Corcovado scenery. Where the two motifs overlap, the cover has been
delicately recessed to accommodate a second layer of tiles, with the
ethereal transparency of the blue agate allowing the lavender jade
marquetry below to remain visible.
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The effect is remarkable, for the beholder can appreciate
not just the varying hues of the different stone types, but also the
contrasting, fragmented patterns of the two tile layers. That the
marquetry seamlessly flows onto the subdials is another outstanding
feature.
The artisan has displayed an extraordinary level of skill to pull off
this feat, using their dexterous hand and experienced eye to fine-tune
and place the tiles so that their joins are barely perceptible while at
the same time ensuring that the overall artwork boasts a subtle
three-dimensional relief.
Indeed, the tile facets act like tiny angled mirrors, with
light shimmering off of each one, endowing
Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke with an effervescent vitality in keeping with the spirit of
Rio de
Janeiro and its people.
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The visual splendour doesn’t stop there. A gentle squeeze on
the pusher integrated into the white gold case unlocks the cover
engraved on the inside with the
Romain Gauthier logo and
Kakau Höfke’s
signature. Lifting up the cover reveals
Logical one Secret’s
multi-patented, in-house movement featuring flat chain-and-fusee style
constant force system with ruby chain links, highly visible balance
wheel boasting a gracefully curved bridge, and ergonomic push button
winding system.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
The sapphire crystal display back affords further views of
this mechanical art, with the superlatively hand-finished movement on
full show, in addition to the 46-hour power reserve indicator.
Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke is a unique piece, created as part of
Manufacture
Romain Gauthier’s 10th anniversary celebrations. It is
accompanied by a unique acrylic-on-canvas
Rio de Janeiro artwork that
Kakau Höfke painted especially to complement the timepiece.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
So accomplished is it that
Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke has been
preselected by the jury of the
2015 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève –
the Oscars of watchmaking – in the Artistic Crafts category.
LOGICAL ONE SECRET KAKAU HÖFKE IN DETAIL
Romain Gauthier and Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is a place that
Romain Gauthier holds dear. The Swiss
watchmaker has visited this iconic
Brazilian city annually with his
family since meeting his Rio-born wife Ana at the turn of the
millennium.
“Undeniably, Rio de Janeiro has a special place in my
heart,” he says.
“The diversity and exuberance of its people – the
Cariocas – coupled with the beautiful, dramatic cityscape never ceases
to fascinate me. There is no other place like it in the world.”
As a tribute to the city that has given him so much – not least
his beloved –
Gauthier decided to create a timepiece that pays homage
to
Rio de Janeiro. And he has done so by harnessing the talents of
acclaimed artist
Kakau Höfke.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
“Kakau Höfke has been a friend of my wife and our family for
a long time, and I asked her to design the Romain Gauthier logo when I
founded the brand in 2005,” says
Gauthier.
“While I admire her as a
person, I also have great admiration for her as an artist, and I have
collected several of her paintings over the years. Her idiosyncratic
style and colourful depiction of Rio is a joy to behold. I always feel
transported to this magical city when I view her artwork.”
Kakau Höfke’s Rio
Artist
Kakau Höfke has become known for her modern, pop art
style featuring colorful palettes and overlapping transparencies, with
Rio de Janeiro her habitual, glorious subject.
“My artistic inspiration is the love I have for my hometown,” she
says. “
My work is based on the mountains and the promenades of Ipanema
and Copacabana, which are icons of Rio. The best-known mountain is
Corcovado that you can see from virtually anywhere in the city. It
transcends religion – it is the symbol of the city. The promenades too
have become known worldwide as a symbol of Rio.
“Rio is a very beautiful city. Not only because of the
splendid nature, mountains, forest and beaches, but also the atmosphere,
the joy of the people who live there, despite all the challenges they
face every day. Rio does have its problems and social injustices, but I
prefer to paint it happy and colorful, as I wish it were in reality.”
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
She adds:
“I was thrilled when Romain
proposed to feature my artwork on one of his timepieces. It was almost
surreal. I know how hard he has worked to create haute horlogerie of the very highest level, and so to now play a part in his adventure was a real honour.”
Adaptation of Kakau Höfke’s Rio artwork
With
Kakau Höfke on board,
Romain Gauthier asked her to
adapt her
Rio artwork so that all its main elements – the depiction of
Corcovado and Christ the Redeemer statue, and the Ipanema promenade
motif – would comprise a design that could decorate the gold cover of
Logical one Secret.
After that, it was a question of choosing a suitable
medium of expression. Micro-painting? Hand-engraving? Gauthier decided
on an intricate micro-marquetry technique based on traditional stone
marquetry, comprising hundreds of uniquely shaped fine-stone tiles,
including a double layer of tiles where the Corcovado motif overlays the
Ipanema pattern. Not only would it look spectacular, but also it would
evoke the calçadas – promenades of
Rio – including that of Ipanema beach as well as the strand along Copacabana beach.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
Kakau Höfke explains:
“What Romain did
was simply amazing. He managed to add one more characteristic of Rio to
this timepiece through choosing stone micro-marquetry to express my
artwork. The marquetry features irregularly shaped tiles of fine stones,
in a similar way to the promenades of Rio, which are composed of
irregularly shaped ‘Portuguese stones’. Fantastic!”
The stone micro-marquetry in detail
Romain Gauthier enlisted the renowned skills of the artisans
at the Geneva atelier of
Olivier Vaucher to create the stone
micro-marquetry adorning
Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke’s cover. It was a
challenge that
Vaucher and his team relished.
“When Romain approached us to carry out the stone marquetry for this
timepiece, we were really impressed by the idea and were eager to do it.
But we knew it would not be without its challenges,” says
Olivier
Vaucher.
“It was going to be highly complicated. A single layer of
marquetry on its own is a challenge, but a double marquetry – one layer
on top of the other – is virtually unheard of, especially on this micro
scale.”
Vaucher continues:
“The bombé profile of Logical one
Secret’s cover added to the complexity of the task because the tiles
themselves have a flat profile. That meant the angle of the sides of
each tile needed to be carefully hand-adjusted, tile by tile, as the
artisan applied each tile to the marquetry.”
First,
Olivier Vaucher’s team theoretically tested different
combinations of tile shapes and sizes before settling on a harmonious
fragmented pattern of
352 irregularly-shaped tiles, a pattern that was
both aesthetically pleasing and workable. These three- and four-sided
tiles are all 0.5mm thin and their sides 1mm to 2mm long.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
From their repository of fine stones, Vaucher and his team carefully
selected stone types that corresponded to the hues and shades of
Höfke’s
design. They chose light and dark slices cut from the same piece of
lavender jade for the Ipanema pattern and a specific slice of blue agate
to portray the Corcovado scenery.
One of the factors in determining the stone was its workability at a
thinness of 0.5mm. If the stone were too fragile at this thinness,
cutting and hand-adjusting such fine tiles would be impossible. What’s
more, the Corcovado scenery needed to be represented by a genre of
see-through stone, to allow the layer of marquetry below to remain
visible. This was the first time
Olivier Vaucher’s atelier had
superimposed a layer of transparent stone marquetry over an underlying
layer of marquetry.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
The selected slices of stone were mirror-polished and then
precision-cut by laser into the
352 tiles. Each tile was purposefully
created ever so slightly larger than needed so the artisan could later
adjust it manually to fit the curved profile of the gold cover.
It was important that each tile side touched an adjacent tile side,
with no gaps between them. This was no easy feat to achieve, and here
the artisan’s skill and savoir-faire really came into play. Working tile
by tile, the artisan adjusted the angle of each side of the tile with a
small hand-held grinding wheel, before applying a little watchmaking
glue to the tile and fixing it in place on the gold cover. All in all,
the magnificent stone micro-marquetry took three months’ solid work to
create..
Logical one Secret’s mechanical art
With the stone micro-marquetry of
Kakau Höfke’s
Rio de Janeiro taking
centre stage, it is easy to forget that
Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke
also features a mechanical work of art – the innovative,
Grand Prix de
Genève-winning movement of
Logical one which was conceived, developed,
produced, decorated, assembled and regulated in-house at Manufacture
Romain Gauthier.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
This pioneering movement features
Romain Gauthier’s
21st-century
reinterpretation of a traditional chain-and-fusee style constant force
mechanism.
Gauthier’s invention contains a revolutionary ruby-link
chain, snail cam and sapphire-lined mainspring barrel to offer nearly
two days of constant force – the holy grail of precision watchmaking. Pressing the caseband pusher at 4 o’clock unlatches the cover,
allowing the wearer to lift it up and admire
Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke’s palladium-treated movement though the sapphire crystal. The
snail cam and ruby-link chain are on full show, as are bespoke gear
wheels with graceful circular arms; polished screw heads with
distinctive s-slot; balance wheel with curved arms and calibrated
eccentric weights; hand-frosted bridges; and
Romain Gauthier-invented
triangular pallet lever.
Click on the mouse wheel to see the large size ... BIG FOTO
More of the outstanding movement can be viewed through
the display back; bridges and plates bearing a number of angles –
including several sharp internal angles – feature rounded bevels that
have been meticulously created by hand. This type of eye-catching anglage brings out the inherent beauty of the components.
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Technical Specifications
Name:
Logical one Secret Kakau Höfke
Reference number:
MON000168
Limited edition: Unique piece
Features and indications
Intricate stone micro-marquetry adaptation of
Kakau Höfke’s
Rio de Janeiro artwork on white gold cover and subdials
Movement features chain-and-fusee style constant force system, push-button winding and superlative hand finishing
Hours, minutes, small seconds and 46-hour power reserve indicator
Stone micro-marquetry on white gold cover and hour and minute subdials
No. of lavender jade tiles:
270
No. of blue agate tiles:
82
Tiles cut by laser then adjusted, finished and applied by hand at
Olivier Vaucher’s atelier
Dial and hands
Lavender jade marquetry on hour and minute subdials
Skeletonised hour and minute hands in 18k white gold
Solid small seconds hand in 18k white gold
Subdials fixed via
Romain Gauthier polished screw with distinctive s-slot
Movement
In-house manufacture movement
Dimensions: 35.5mm x 10.5mm
Power reserve: 46 hours
Number of jewels: 37 in movement, 34 for chain
Number of components:
357
Balance frequency: 28,800 vph / 4Hz
Movement plates and bridges: titanium, stainless steel and brass
Movement finish: palladium-treated
Finishing:
Highest level haute horlogerie finishing, including hand-polished screws and jewel countersinks; Hand-bevelled and hand-polished bridges and plates
Case and strap
Case material: 18k white gold
Dimensions: 43mm x 15mm
Water resistance: 30m /3atm / 100ft
Sapphire crystal with anti-reflection coating front and display back
Crown for time-setting at 2 o’clock
Push button for winding at 9 o’clock
Pusher for unlocking cover at 4 o’clock
Strap and buckle:
Alligator leather strap hand-stitched in Switzerland with 18k white gold pin buckle
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