The relatively young watchmaking brand Imperiali Genève unveils the most exclusive cigar chest in the world – the Emperador cigar chest that is priced neither more nor less than one million Swiss francs. It took thousands of hours of work from nearly one hundred professionals to create this monumental work of art that features several international patents and consists of 2,675 high-quality parts.
Imperiali Genève Emperador Cigar Chest is much more than a luxury item. This 70 cm long, 45 cm wide and 30 cm high humidor which is entirely manufactured in Switzerland, also incorporates a fine watch with a tourbillon.
The chest is crowned by a tourbillon timepiece which consists of 323 components. It is encrusted with a traditional ‘Clous de Paris’ guilloché pattern. This exquisite Swiss-made flying tourbillon watch is powered with a hand-wound movement entirely custom-designed and developed by a Manufacture in the Franches-Montagnes district. The impeccable mechanism oscillates at the frequency of 21,600 beats per hour (3 Hz). The hours and minutes are displayed by two central hands, whilst the tourbillon cage completes one full rotation in 60 seconds.
This mechanism is manually wound, but the action of the human hand is here replaced with a system that operates the crown, thus ensuring that the movement never stops, even without human intervention.
The tourbillon is surrounded with 24 exceptional Grand Cru cigars which are wrapped in four gold leaves and arranged in individual glass tubes. These tubs are monitored electronically, so that the box tracks the number of cigars left at all times.
The chest is secured with a personal secret code and it can be open only when its user brushes a finger over one of the nine touch buttons on the cover, spelling the name ‘Imperiali’. After that, the case is woken by a gentle touch which activates the integrated LCD display. This is when the user enters its pass-code by using the golden touch buttons.
The three mechanical dials show in real time the relative humidity and temperature, as well as the power reserve and what is most important – the number of remaining cigars. The Geneve-based manufacturer has developed the world’s first relative humidity and temperature self- regulating system which requires neither water nor human intervention. This luxury product guarantees a constant humidity level of 70% and a temperature between 16 and 18 degrees Celsius, no matter of external environmental conditions.
Imperiali Genève Emperador Cigar Chest also features a cigar cutter, a table lighter and an ashtray, all created with the utmost care and great attention.
From all of the accessories within the Imperiali Genève Emperador Cigar Chest, the cigar cutter is the most advanced. It offers a choice of either cutting the cigar via a guillotine method, or perforating it via a punch in various millimeter seizes. For these two operations, six different movements are needed.
A great attention was paid to the production of the stainless steel gas reservoir which takes up as much space as possible within the chest. This also incorporates a number of mechanical systems. The volume of the reservoir is 25 ml which is large enough to fuel an average flame for several dozen minutes.
The table lighter includes an optoelectronic measurement system which enables the level of the remaining gas to be displayed in addition to the battery level status of the other accessories. The last accessory is the ashtray that is presented in an exclusive gilded and black lacquered case.
The world’s most prestigious cigar chest will be produced in only 12 numbered pieces each year.
