To be honest, I can’t think of any recently unveiled timepiece to work and look as nice as the latest Zenith Christophe Colomb. Dubbed the Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane, this has to be the best timepiece launched so far in 2013.
Boasting with a staggering escapement encased in a sapphire crystal cage that stands up right by being mounted on a gyroscopic-like gimble and weighted down. And when it comes to the miniature movement, it is composed of so many parts that we’d have trouble counting them. Furthermore, it has been created thanks to some exquisite manufacturing techniques, extremely intricate and with stunning attention to detail.
Yet, the sapphire crystal sphere we were mentioning earlier, encompassing the gravity module escapement, present both on top and bottom of the dial, is totally not uncomfortable, nor does it disrupt the overall aspect of the wristwatch. The only worry related to the bubble would be not to hit it against anything, as it is quite fragile. Furthermore, the hurricane system, apart from the weirdly beautiful escapement, also includes a fusee and chain complication. As for the case, it measures 45 mm in diameter and it is crafted from 18-carat rose gold.
Moving inside the case, an El Primero Caliber 8805 manually wound movement can be noticed ticking. But, by far the most astounding fact of the lot is that the number of parts of the mechanism is absolutely mind-boggling – the main movement comprises a total of 354 parts, the chain comprises 585 parts, while the gyroscopic carriage includes 173. In addition, this nicely skeletonized piece has to finally show something – well, it does, via a time dial and a subsidiary seconds dial, alongside the power reserve indicator.
According to Zenith, just 25 of these will be manufactured, each of them priced at a whopping $280,000.
[Ablogtowatch]
