Bernard Favre, Neuchâtel-based craftsman unveils Planet winding system, a device essential both to collectors and owners of complication mechanical watches, enables to keep their timepiece at all times, without having to return it to the watchmaker for repair.
A true craftsman in the noblest sense of the term – manually producing refined, aesthetically perfect objects, using the finest materials – Bernard Favre has for more than twenty years cultivated special relationships with watchmakers.
The Planet winding system was developed in his Neuchâtel-based workshop. With a wealth of business training, uncommon in an artist of his calibre, Bernard Favre runs a technical and a manual activity in parallel. He owes to his gold smelter father a real passion for custom working, and quickly opened up a workshop specialising in working leather for use by watchmakers.
His firm has been producing display cases, presentation cases, carrying cases, showcase supports; everything that create an ideal setting for the watch. For 18 years, he would practice his art using the finest Italian and French leather, while developing an activity in metal parts. Case making, joinery and mechanics made for a logical combination.
After creating a winding system for a fine Swiss Haute Horlogerie brand, Bernard Favre is now aiming his invention, in his own version, at anyone wishing to preserve ultra-delicate mechanisms. What makes his creation completely original is that for the first time, the winding stem perfectly reproduces the motions of the wrist, thanks to a two-axis movement.
Made from anodised aluminium, featuring chromium-plated parts, and endowed with a glass transparent shell protecting it, the object, a paragon of aesthetics to the point that some are showcasing it without a watch, is focused on further development.
Bernard Favre has just developed holders for aligning up to three or five winding stems, as well as furniture items: wall-mounted cabinets or built-in safes, featuring a reinforced glass that changes colour or a silvering-free mirror, thereby enabling enthusiasts to showcase their watches without risking them being stolen. So there is everything to make up a real collection.
Currently mounted on a black base, this perfectly designed device can take on an infinite variety of forms. The Planet winding system is available in a gold or coloured version, to meet all possible desires, and blend in with all decors.
Technical details
Designed, developed and manufactured by Bernard Favre in Switzerland, “Modèle depose” CE certificated , 6 standard programs, 800 and 1000 revolutions/day, to the left, right or alternating; e.g. 400 revolutions to the left, 400 revolutions to the right, etc.
3 positions for custom programming:
The user can program on their computer the number of revolutions, using the USB cable, according to the recommendations for the calibre of their watch brand.
Power supply: battery with a 100-day life, rechargeable via a PC or the mains, (likewise an I-Phone). The system can remain permanently connected to the mains.
Magic touch: to find out the operating state of the winding stem, you need only touch the watch support; the indicator light will come on and tell you the state of the device via the colour emitted.
Dimensions:
Diameter: 124 mm, height (without glass shell) 155 mm
Height of the bell: 215 mm
Accessories included:
– USB cable + charger
-base + glass shell
– travelling cases
Warranty
2 years
Price
CHF 1’290.-(1194.45 + Swiss. vat. 95.55 )
