The independent watchmaker Vianney Halter created a true masterpiece of the haute horology which, as I believe, will be selected among the best creations in 2013. This futuristic, open-worked timepiece, inspired by science fiction stories about space travel, showcases an amazing three-axis flying tourbillion, rotating inside a spherical crystal dome for a great pleasure of all watch fans. The Deep Space Tourbillon is an incredibly interesting and extremely complicated watch that presents to us some fresh horological ideas.
A member of the AHCI (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants) created this extraordinary timepiece that looks more like some futuristic space installation than a timekeeping device. In the heart of this robust model, there is the triple axis tourbillon, which means that its three carriages rotate separately along different axes. Thus, the internal carriage that incorporates a balance wheel, an anchor and an escape wheel completes a full rotation every 40 seconds. It is placed inside a super-light carriage that rotates once every 6 minutes. Both are parts of the third carriage which makes a circle for 30 minutes by turning around the mainplate.
This high-end flying tourbillon mechanism is created in-house. Known as the VH 113 Calibre, it oscillates with the frequency of 21,600 vibrations per hour and ensures 55 hours of the power-reserve. This hand-winding movement is beautifully finished and decorated manually. The complex construction is surrounded with a curved, silver dial that features the minute scale and four applied hour markers, covered by white fluorescent material. Finally, you can see pretty unusual, peripherally located hands which rotate around the dial, indicating hours and minutes.
Vianney Halter Deep Space Tourbillon watch comes with a 46 mm case crafted in titanium and decorated with polished and satin finishes. It is pretty interesting that the case is just 10 mm thick. However, domed sapphire crystal glass with anti-reflective coating makes it looks very robust and deep. The touch of elegance comes with a hand sewn, goat leather strap with crocodile leather inserts.
This highly complicated timepiece is available for about 187,500 CHF which might sound ridiculously expensive unless you are a good connoisseur of the haute horology. In that case, you are probably aware of the fact that the price is surprisingly reasonable for this level of quality.
