This year, the Zenith watch factory continues to pay tribute to the great navigator Christopher Columbus, using the most exquisite master craftsmanship, such as enamel, engraving and micro-painting, to embellish the time when the maritime precision is reflected. A distinguished collection of Columbus Hurricane Watches. This extraordinary work is limited to ten pieces. It is entirely handmade and is equipped with three major achievements of watchmaking technology: patented gravity control system, sesame refining transmission mechanism and unique high frequency of 36,000 times per hour.
Avant-garde spirit, bravely meet challenges, eager to explore: the famous navigator Christopher Columbus and watchmaker Georges Favor Jecot have the same passion, continue to explore new areas, the former sails, and the westward journey opens up to India. The road by sea, which in 1865 founded Zenith, the first industrial watchmaking factory. A century and a half later, this star-branded brand still adheres to the tradition of pursuing precise timekeeping and continuous innovation, and has more than 300 patents. In 1969, the brand introduced the legendary El Primero automatic movement, which is still the most accurate series production timing movement in the world today. Zenith adheres to the tradition of creating exquisite timepieces (especially worth mentioning, the watch factory has launched countless enamel pocket watches). It has never stopped on the road to pursue the beauty of machinery, condensing the efforts and wisdom of countless skilled craftsmen. The Zenith Prestige Columbus Hurricane Limited Edition was born. This extraordinary timepiece is a challenge for the master of craftsmanship and watchmaking. It is equipped with three breakthrough achievements in the field of watchmaking-patented gravity control system, sesame refining transmission mechanism and unique 36,000 times. / Hour high vibration frequency-based on the integration of gorgeous and stunning enamel painting process and ingenious engraving design, finally this delicately crafted movement is packed into a rose gold case with a diameter of only 45 mm, while ensuring that Does not affect its accuracy and stability. This work is undoubtedly the best manifestation of Zenith’s bold creativity that combines the extraordinary decoration from traditional master craftsmanship with fantasy machinery, making watch collectors and connoisseurs alike.
On the front, Zenith uses the dial side of this watch as a stage to showcase the achievements of watchmaking. With its open design, three new mechanical devices can be seen at a glance: a barrel with a sesame mill drive system ( (Between 10:30 and 1:30)), gyroscope gravity control system and high frequency adjustment mechanism (at 6 o’clock). This highly three-dimensional and technological sense complements the exquisite master craftsmanship inherited from Zenith to this day. Three small gold dials (hour / minute at 12 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock, power reserve indicator at 4 o’clock), beautifully engraved, then decorated with white enamel, blue steel hands and screws Adding to each other’s interest, following the great tradition of watchmaking. The splint is completely carved by hand, and only the embossed Zenith and the stars are retained; then the intaglio part is filled with night blue paint. The balance block of the gravity control system also uses the poetic exquisite decoration, and reproduces the starry sky map of the southern hemisphere by using pure hand micro-drawing technology.
Back, invite you on an adventure
的 The back of the Prestige Columbus Hurricane Grand Sailing Watch represents the adventures of the famous navigator Columbus with gorgeous colors and vivid reliefs, creating perfect details between square inches, which is breathtaking. Skilled artisans who are proficient in master craftsmanship use a delicate and complex gold panel fixed to the movement to complete a veritable micro-painting. The mechanical components on the first layer of foreground patterns outline marine instruments and hand-engraved Columbus portraits, as well as the astronomical instrument sextant used to calculate latitude. On the second layer of foreground graphics is Columbus’s flagship Santa María when he sailed for the first time in 1492. The hand-decorated micro-engraving pattern is subtle and subtle, even the sail rigging and ropes are clearly legible. The sails decorated with filigree enamel bear the famous Red Cross pattern, and one of them is cleverly decorated with Zenith stars, making collectors who know the history of the brand smile. The gear bridge behind the hull is used to represent the ocean. It is engraved with a small wave pattern and coated with a translucent lacquer. The clockwork box bridge in the background is more profound, and the sky changes day and night with a micro-painting. It is worth mentioning that the watchmaking masters of the watchmaking factory ingeniously use the movement structure to reflect the sunrise and sunset with a carefully decorated pinion, which is clever. And this exquisite decoration requires craftsmen to select fixing points for the applique components on the movement and minimize the thickness of the movement and the space between the movement and the decoration (the space between the sails is less than one tenth of a millimeter) . The exquisite decoration on the prestigious Columbus Hurricane Grand Nautical Watch is completely completed by skilled craftsmen with both hands, making each watch unique and worthy of collection. Prestige Columbus Hurricane Watch (back)
The ultimate pursuit of precision ‘core’
If Columbus is brave enough to push the boundaries of space, this watch with the same name uses three mechanical mechanisms to ensure precise timing to break through the limitations of time measurement: a high-frequency tuning device (36,000 vibrations / hour) can measure Accurate to one-tenth of a second; Sesame Refined transmission system can maintain stable power output during power storage, while gravity control system can offset the adverse effect of gravity on the watch’s travel time. In other words, this watch fundamentally solves the problems of wearing and running time, ensuring precise timing. This extraordinary movement consists of a total of 939 components, of which 354 are part of the movement, 173 are gravity control module components, and 585 are sesame mill components.
Segment transmission system ensures balanced power
When the power of a mechanical watch weakens, the vibration swing of its movement will become smaller, which will affect the accuracy of the watch’s travel time. On the contrary, with the power transmission system of sesame seeds, the power of the watch will remain stable during the power reserve period, because the device can offset the effect of the gradual reduction of the power of the barrel.
Most of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth century pocket watches were equipped with sesame seeds to regulate the power transmitted to the gear set. However, watchmaking factories that can fit this device into a square inch of space with a diameter of only 45 mm are rare. Zenith, after two years of research and development, has finally succeeded in producing a sesame refinery transmission system suitable for the prestigious Columbus Hurricane Grand Sailing Watch, and has entered the ranks of a handful of high-end watchmakers.
Between the winder barrel and the pagoda wheel, a 585-piece sesame mill with a length of 18 cm ensures transmission. The sesame refining structure is extremely precise and complex, consisting of a double refining section and an intermediate refining section. The sliver bars installed in the watch can withstand more than 3 kg of pulling force.
During the entire power reserve process, the power spring transmits energy to the pagoda wheel through the smelting bar curled around the barrel. The Pagoda Wheel obtains balanced power by correcting the tension error and distributes it to the gear set and the silicon escape wheel located in the gyroscope frame. The barrel is smelted by a very attractive method of smelting, and it takes 50 hours (the process of power reserve release) for the smelt to gradually wind up around the barrel. Subsequently, the pagoda wheel and the barrel were turned counterclockwise within a few seconds so that the smelt could be wound tightly around the pagoda wheel again. The shape of the pagoda wheel is carefully designed by Zenith watchmakers to maximize power transmission to the barrel. The grooved pagoda wheel is like an animal horn, and the groove size is skillfully calculated in the seven steps of the production process. It would not have been possible for the Sesame Refined Transmission System to come to fruition without the cooperation of all process departments of Zenith Watchmaking (especially the movement sample department) and the use of precision equipment. This is also one of the advantages of the integrated watch factory.
Gravity Control: Challenge the Law of Gravity
The prestigious Columbus Hurricane Grand Nautical Watch offsets the isochronous (equivalent to the swing time) error with the sesame refining transmission system, and also eliminates another adverse effect that affects the movement of mechanical watches: the effect of gravity.
Keeping the adjustment device in the horizontal position can make the oscillating weight have the best possible swing amplitude, thus bringing the best travel time accuracy. Based on this principle, Zenith designed a new and revolutionary patented module, the gravity control system, to keep the adjustment device and escapement system in the horizontal position for the best performance.
This avant-garde design gravity control system is not only a manifestation of the boldness of the watch factory, but also draws inspiration from the maritime precision timepieces made by the watch factory in the past and pays tribute to the glorious history of the watch factory. This mechanism draws inspiration from the nautical compass that came out in the sixteenth century and borrows its suspension design to maintain the horizontal position no matter how bumpy the ship is. The gravity control system is equipped with a gyroscope automatic adjustment mechanism. No matter how the wearer’s wrist moves, the adjustment mechanism always maintains the horizontal position, which is similar to the sailing timepiece. Zenith is currently the only watch factory to master this design, and won the first prize in the complication watch category of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2011. This design took five years. To develop results.
Unique watch box
超 An extraordinary work, with a unique watch box. The Prestige Columbus Hurricane Watch is equipped with a precious mahogany box decorated with cow bone inlays. It can also be used to collect 80 cigars. Decorated with a parchment-style papyrus silk screen motif, it reproduces the first map of Waldzemuller (1507) with the name ‘America’ (America), a tribute to Columbus.
Zhen Lishi condenses the glorious history of the Great Nautical Age between the delicate and delicate squares, combines bold creativity with original spirit and fun and childlike innocence, conquering a new field with this limited series that combines high-end watchmaking and master craftsmanship.