Vianney Halter, the award-winning master watchmaker behind many iconic and complex horological complications, unveils Deep Space Tourbillon, a futuristic styled three-dimensional triple axis tourbillon wristwatch dedicated to Deep Space Voyagers.
The Vianney Halter Deep Space Tourbillon is a navigational and time reading instrument for outer space adventures. Just like marine chronometers that used to save many valuable lives during ocean journeys in old ages. So he developed a huge central 3 axis tourbillon surrounded by the hour & minute hands that could offer a four dimensional effect of time and spot calculation.
For example, explorers of the XVIIth century used to take onboard vessels marine chronometers, to calculate the location – in longitude – of the vessel at sea. The method consisted in comparing the local time – as it could be deducted from measuring the height of the sun in the sky – to the time of the departure harbor – as it can be read on the dial of the onboard chronometer.
These antique instruments were a source of inspiration when he designed his Antiqua Perpetual Calendar, presented in 1998 as the first timepiece branded “Vianney Halter”.
Marine chronometers were accurate timekeepers and used for navigational purposes by the crew at sea .In harsh conditions of the sea, the Marine chronometers were performed as life saving navigational instruments for the lost sailors at sea by directing them to sail in correct geographical positions and precision time keeping.
In space trips, the voyagers use radio communication links with the control centers in earth to know about his/her position. As the most recent scientific experiences show, man in space gradually loses the perception of positioning as well as the perception of time passing by.
In space, due to low gravity, there is no more top, no more down, no more depth. In outer space the sun has become a star like any other and the Earth in an invisible mass of rocks. There is no daylight or night shade. There is only the infinity of surrounding universe, a deep dark black sky pitted by trillions and trillions of motionless stars.
Even more, the link with Earth is slackened as the radio communications with the control centers take hours or days to reach spaceships hurtling through the cosmos. A human being in space is lost as were lost sailors at sea. Considering these factors, Vianney Halter has started thinking about ultimate time instrument that a human being shall take with him for his trip in outer space.
Vianney Halter has imagined a wristwatch that would be likely to remind the man in space the four dimensions (length, height, breadth and time) that are his frame of reference while on Earth. Rather than a scientific instrument, this watch is a philosophical artifact that maintains the link between the crew of a spacecraft and the mankind that has sent them as explorers and ambassadors. This futuristic wristwatch not only displays the time, but also describes the motion in every dimension of space.
A sapphire dome surmounts a round shaped titanium case and houses a big triple axis tourbillon implemented in the centre of the watch. The latter is surrounded by an index ring with a surprisingly classical “chemin de fer” graduation. Two curved blued steel hands lean out of the watch periphery and spread above the tourbillon.
The tourbillon cage – that contains the balance wheel, the anchor and the escape wheel – rotates in only 40 sec. Here is the 1st axis. It is installed inside an ultra-light structure that rotates in 6 min around a 2nd axis which is perpendicular to the one of the tourbillon cage.
The whole set is suspended in a cradle that turns in the plane of the watch main-plate in 30 min. This is the 3rd axis. Due to these desynchronized revolution speeds, the tourbillon moves in a never-ending ballet, showing second after second a different point of view onto the graceful mechanism.
Nothing chronometric in these various durations of revolutions; it is rather philosophical: each dimension (axis) has its own rhythm, its own time. Time is represented by the hour and minutes hands which surround the triple axis tourbillon. This achieves the 4-dimension-space representation envisioned and wanted by Vianney Halter for the deep space voyager.
Technical details
Model: Vianney Halter Deep Space Tourbillon
Type: Triple Axis Central Tourbillon Wristwatch
Collection: Halter Tempus
Case
Dimensions: 46 mm diameter – 10 mm thickness
Overall Dimensions: 50 mm x 53 mm x 20 mm
Case material: Titanium
Crystal: 40.6 mm diameter sapphire glass with anti-reflect coating.
Movement
In-house developed VH 113
Balance frequency: 21,600 v.p.h.
Tourbillon cage revolution time: 40 sec
Crossbar revolution time: 6 min
Cradle revolution time: 30 min.
Number of jewels: 41
Hands: special peripheral curved shape hands
Winding: manual
Power Reserve: 55 hours
Strap
Hand sewn, goat leather special strap with crocodile leather inserts
Buckle: Titanium folding clasp
