ZENITH – EL PRIMERO Revival A384 ‘Edge of Space’ for MR PORTER

ZENITH – 50th EL PRIMERO Revival A384 ‘Edge of Space’ for MR PORTER Titanium Anniversary Limited Edition

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

MR PORTER collaborates with Zenith and Bamford Watch Department on a second exclusive:
The El Primero Revival A384 Edge of Space Limited Edition

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

14 OCTOBER 2019 (GLOBAL) – MR PORTER, the award-winning online destination for men’s style, has once again partnered with Swiss fine-watch manufacturer Zenith and British watch customiser Bamford Watch Department in creating an exclusive limited-edition timepiece, the El Primero Revival A384 Edge of Space Limited Edition, with only 50 produced, available for sale on 18 November 2019. 

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

This is the second collaboration between the three parties, having launched last year’s sell-out success, the Solar Blue.  For the El Primero Revival A384 Edge of Space Limited Edition, Mr George Bamford of Bamford Watch Department and MR PORTER worked alongside Zenith in the design of this watch, which was entirely developed and produced in-house at Zenith’s Manufacture.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Inspired by the Zenith El Primero Revival A384 model, the watch takes inspiration from several of the brand’s historical design elements. These subtle touches include the tachymeter, which references back to a 1984/86 El Primero, sub dials inspired by the calibre 146-HP from 1970, aesthetic reminders of a vintage chronograph case alongside vintage dial text font restored from the original A384.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Its unique “Edge of Space” blue dial is framed by a 37mm titanium micro blasted case, fitted with a navy blue Cordura-effect rubber strap featuring minimal white stitching designed to complement the white dial markings. Combining all of these various touchpoints, Zenith, Bamford Watch Department and MR PORTER have created a watch that is both familiar and yet altogether minimal and modern. Each of these limited-edition watches will feature a special open case-back engraved and individually numbered one to 50.

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

“Following on from the success of last years ‘Solar Blue’ Limited Edition, we are excited to launch our next exclusive collaboration with Zenith and Bamford Watch Department – the ‘Edge of Space’. Taking inspiration from Zenith’s archive and weaving iconic elements into the El Primero A384, the end result is supremely modern and unique.”

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Ms Fiona Firth, Buying Director, MR PORTER

"I’m always positively surprised when I see how Bamford Watch Department reimagines one of iconic watches. For the 50th anniversary of the El Primero, the A384 was the perfect canvas to create something outstanding yet typical of Bamford’s distinctive style, exclusively for MR PORTER.”

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

 Mr Julien Tornare, CEO, Zenith

“I am so excited to be working on another limited edition created by the amazing team at Zenith exclusively for MR PORTER. Using the historic case of the El Primero A384, this edition feels almost like a prototype straight out of Zenith’s skunk works, with a titanium case and a black-blue dial paired back to the essential elements of the original A384, creating a fresh interpretation of this watch model. The classic references meeting the modern design has been an amazing process from a designer and manufacturer perspective.”

Click, to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

---------------------------------------
TECHNICAL DETAILS

Collection: 50th Ll Primero Anniversary
 
Model:  EL PRIMERO Revival A384 ‘Edge of Space’ Limited Edition

Reference: 97.A384.400/27.C821

UNIQUE SELLING POINTS

• Based on the original revival of the A384
• Automatic El Primero column-wheel chronograph
• Prototype inspiration for the whole design
• 37-mm titanium micro blasted case
• Special “Edge of Space” dial

MOVEMENT
Movement: El Primero 400, Automatic
Caliber: 13 ¼ ‘’’ (Diameter: 30 mm)
Movement thickness: 6.6 mm
Components: 254
Jewels: 31
Frequency: 36,000 VpH (5 Hz)
Power-reserve: min. 50 hours
Finishes: Oscillating weight with “Côtes de Genève” motif

FUNCTIONS
Hours and minutes in the centre
Small seconds at nine o’clock 
Chronograph:

• central chronograph hand
• 12-hour counter at six o’clock
• 30-minute counter at three o’clock

Tachymetric scale
Date indication at 4.30
CASE
Dimeter: 37 mm
Material: Titanium case with dark grey microblasted finishings
Dimeter opening: 32.3 mm
Thickness: 12.60 mm
Crystal: Domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment on both sides
Case-back: Transparent sapphire crystal engraved with limited edition
Water-resistance: 5 ATM
DIAL & HANDS
Dial: Special “Edge of Space” blue dial with black counters.
Hour-markers: white dots in Super-LumiNova®SLN C1 – Blue emission
Hands: rhodium-plated, faceted and coated with Super-LumiNova®SLN C1 – Blue emission
STRAPS & BUCKLES
Strap: Blue “cordura effect” strap and white stitching
Buckle: Titanium micro blasted pin buckle

Limited Edition
Available for sale on 18 November exclusively only 50-Piece 


 Mr George Bamford, Founder, Bamford Watch Department
Prices: €8,900 EUR / £7,200 GBP / $8,600 USD
Customers can sign up and register interest at MR PORTER here ▶️ http://bit.ly/2Be0v2D


--------------------------
About MR PORTER
Since launching in February 2011, MR PORTER has established itself as the award-winning global retail and content destination for men’s style, with an unparalleled product offering from the world’s best menswear and lifestyle brands, including own labels Mr P. and Kingsman. MR PORTER publishes unmatched content through its weekly shoppable digital magazine, The Journal, its bimonthly newspaper, The MR PORTER Post, and its bite-sized, several-times-a-day digital news source, The Daily. MR PORTER offers express worldwide shipping to more than 170 countries, including same-day delivery to New York and London, and provides a seamless shopping experience across mobile, tablet, and desktop, with easy returns and multi-lingual customer care and personal-shopping teams who are available 24/7, 365 days a year.  
MR PORTER.COM
=======================
=====================----
Press Release - 2019
----------------------------------
-----------------------------------------
ZENITH | Swiss Watch Manufacture Since 1865
Rue des Billodes 34-36 | CH-2400 Le Locle
Minh-Tan-Bui
Tel. +41 32 930 65 59
Mobile +41 79 515 47 54
Email: minh-tan.bui@zenith-watches.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------
www.facebook.com - Zenith Watches
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.Zenith-Watches.com

GREUBEL FORSEY – HAND MADE 1 Edition

GREUBEL FORSEY –  Major Projects HAND MADE 1 White Gold Edition 2019

The Summit Of True Hand-Watchmaking

With 95% of this timepiece – including the hairspring – made using only hand-operated tools, one single timepiece requiring an extraordinary 6,000 hours work (equal to three years man-hours), Hand Made 1 by Greubel Forsey takes traditional watchmaking to a new unprecedented summit. Never before has a hand-made timepiece exhibited such a high level of workmanship and precision. This timepiece, unique in the history of watchmaking, is the fruit of a technical and human endeavour of epic proportions, enlisting extraordinary talents and setting the course for the future.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Before the Industrial Revolution and the advent of mass production, watch components had to be made one by one requiring very specific skills, tools and completely hand-operated machines. Today, with industrialisation, excellence in hand craftsmanship has virtually disappeared and these skills are not even taught in schools. Throughout their training and careers, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have amassed extensive experience of hand craftsmanship, both in prototypes or replacement parts for restoration.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Deeply attached to these ancestral skills at the core of such a rich irreplaceable watchmaking heritage, the Naissance d’une Montre 1 adventure with Time Æon Foundation and their determination to pass on their know-how to future generations, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have now gone to unprecedented lengths by creating Hand Made 1, the first incarnation of this out-and-out approach.

An extraordinary challenge

Greubel Forsey is well known for pushing back boundaries in its research and creations to accomplish what had never even been thought of before. Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have already demonstrated this by inventing and perfecting a completely new generation of tourbillons (Tourbillon 24 Secondes, Double Tourbillon 30°, and Quadruple Tourbillon) that have since become references in mechanical watchmaking. They have also proven their inventiveness by opening up new horizons in terms of energy and space in the field of nanotechnology.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

This quest for excellence and the conviction to explore each new venture’s full potential has been a key driving force for the Hand Made 1 project for several years. For Greubel Forsey, it’s not only about reviving ancient techniques, forgotten gestures and skills. The aim is to take these skills and know-how to a previously unattained level of excellence and precision, furthering them in the same spirit of constant improvement that has always guided the Inventor watchmakers.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The goal is to resurrect the ancestral art of hand craftsmanship and reinforce it with standards of workmanship and precision rivalling even modern production equipment. To fulfil this exceptional challenge and reach micron- scale accuracy using ancestral tools, the artisans must obtain a precision that such traditional machines themselves cannot easily offer. They rely on “the intelligence of the hand”, endlessly correcting minute details to edge ever closer to perfection, achieve the required quality and ensure perfect and flawless operation. In this process, the time spent is of secondary importance.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

A project of this scale could not be simply incorporated within existing structures or even to just one or two watchmakers. To complete this epic feat, Greubel Forsey had to build a team of the most skilled craftsmen in each field, principally from its workshops, as well as several external talents. This true “family” worked together in complete harmony.

Hand Made 1, a landmark in the history of watchmaking

Greubel Forsey unveils the result of this unprecedented watchmaking approach: Hand Made 1 – an hours/minutes/seconds timepiece with a tourbillon. This creation took an uncharted course because simply replicating an existing calibre by hand was out of the question. The Hand Made 1 has been entirely created from scratch.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The movement construction, traditional machining and hand-finishing specialists reflected at length on each of the 272 movement components and 36 case parts, understanding and concentrating on what the hand-made approach allows and how to get the very best out of it. The same questions were asked at every stage: “How can we design this part to be able to make it using traditional tools or machines such a jig borer or lathe? And which shape can we give it so the artisans’ intelligent hands can ensure extraordinary precision and the finest craftsmanship?”

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The Hand Made 1 therefore demanded a total overhaul of the creative process, involving the people who would make and decorate each component from the very beginning. This project’s daring was only matched by the creativity and inventiveness required to find new technical solutions. Some parts of the movement were redesigned in order to simplify them. Meanwhile for other mechanisms such as the tourbillon, the number of components had to be increased to allow each part to be made by hand. The timepiece’s relatively modest dimensions (43.5 mm in diameter and 13.5 mm thick) further heightened the difficulty of this task.

An almost unimaginable feat

Finally, an entirely handmade timepiece, from the movement to the case, to the leather strap, the dial and the hands – the only exceptions being the sapphire crystals, the case gaskets, the spring- bars, the jewels, and the mainspring. To achieve the 95% handmade level with such a high standard of excellence required an astronomical 6,000 hours of work for one single timepiece – the equivalent of three years man-hours, where this total time only takes into account the pure watchmaking – and not the creation and development time.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

To obtain the 308 components of the Hand Made 1 respecting Greubel Forsey criteria, over 800 individual parts had to be made. It took almost 35 times longer to make the complete tourbillon cage than for a standard high-end tourbillon. When just a dozen operations on an automatic lathe effortlessly yield some 500 screws, a single screw, as small as it may be, requires up to 12 individual operations taking up to 8 hours to make just one. Finally to hand make one wheel of the Hand Made 1 takes 600 times longer than that of a high-end industrial wheel.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Greubel Forsey’s attention to detail naturally includes the performance of the timepiece. Here, Hand Made 1 displays unprecedented prowess for a hand-made watch, its performance certified by Greubel Forsey.

Hand Made beauty

In this unique endeavour of Greubel Forsey’s handmade craftsmanship, each component tells a tale. It has its own development process and journey that makes it unique, undergoing long hours of cutting from the raw material guided only by the eye and the human hand. The technical and aesthetic perfection of this Hand Made 1 timepiece is immediately visible and in true Greubel Forsey style, it attributes equal importance to the invisible beauty of all the parts concealed inside the case.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The journey begins with the regulating organ, entirely produced by hand in Greubel Forsey’s workshops, including the balance spring, fashioned from an alloy in the Atelier. The balance spring is then rolled in a hand operated rolling mill (without computer assistance), a process that is certainly an endangered know how – only a few balance springs can be made at a time – whereas in contemporary industrial production, hundreds or thousands are automatically produced at once. The balance wheel is also entirely hand-made with an extraordinary standard of precision and finish. The escape wheel, with its 20 individually-cut teeth, each with four surfaces that are later ground, is a true tour de force. Meanwhile the machining and finishes of the escape lever alone require a month and a half of work.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The hand making of the tourbillon carriage – with its 69 components weighing a total of 0.521 g – represented another sizeable challenge, as it is not possible to replicate the same geometry of a CNC machine on a traditional jig borer. An increased number of parts are consequently required to form this exquisite, almost airborne mechanism.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

All the movement’s components are of course then hand finished true to the finest watchmaking tradition, including the bridges with their polished inner and outer vertical flanks, the unique “Gratté” mainplate, and the wheels with hand polished bevels top and bottom (40 sharp internal angles for a five-spoke wheel).

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

The open dial stands out with its hand-enamelled chapter rings, paired with elegant, finely shaped flame-blued steel hands.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Naturally, the 18k white gold case is also, handmade, thanks to a pantograph mechanical lathe fitted with turning tools, before being patiently satin-finished on the sides and polished on the upper surfaces.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

Created as just two or three timepieces per year, the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 is destined to become a new watchmaking landmark that unites both past and future.

Click , to see the large size. ▶ BIG FOTO

This new step towards the summit in the finest of craftsmanship is substantiated on the dial at 6 o’clock, where the inscription HAND MADE replaces the usual SWISS MADE.

-----------------------------
Press Release - 2019
-----------------------------
-------------------------------------------------
GREUBEL FORSEY SA
For further information: 
Communication Department 
press@greubelforsey.com – +41 79 194 2884
Eplatures-Grise -16 P.O. Box 670 
2301 La Chaux-de-Fonds - Switzerland
+41 32 925-4545
+41 32 925-4502
----------------------------------------------------------------------
www.facebook.com - Greubel Forsey
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
www.GreubelForsey.com