The tempestuous wunderkind of Swiss watch creativity, Rodolphe Cattin, founder of Manufacture Rodolphe Cattin (MRC), has just released details of another special watch which will be making its debut at Baselworld 2011.
The Witness Tourbillon Squelette
The Witness Tourbillon Squelette is hailed as a subtle mix of the best Swiss watchmaking expertise and Rodolphe’s audacious artistry.
So select is the watch that we are only provided with one picture to show it off. It’s an eye catching 45-mm white-gold case with a curved sapphire crystal. Underneath vibrates a skeleton movement at 2,600 vph, with Rodolphe’s signature high-quality finishes. The drawn, bevelled and block-polished tourbillon carriage allows you to glimpse the quality of Mr. Cattin’s complication. The movement’s skeleton showcases all the gear trains and mechanics of the movement. With a power reserve of 72 hours, the winding mechanism is visible through the transparent case back.
The emphasis for the Witness Tourbillon Squelette is very much on the power of the curves, with satin-brushed finishes and polished facets adorning the middle. There’s a ladies version where tiny bubbles form the lugs, here they have been transformed into slender drops to accommodate a black alligator-skin strap.
The watch is available in a variety of materials, from white gold to pink gold, including a fabulous version in satin-brushed steel. The Witness Tourbillon Squellete forms part of a limited edition series of just ten pieces, so it’s going to be strictly family, friends and maybe Roger Federer who end up with one of these beauties.
Here is a picture of Rodolphe Cattin in the obligatory thinkers pose adopted by all the movers and shakers in the upper echelons of the Swiss watch industry.
Photographers obviously ask them to strike this pose so as to show off their formidable weapons of time telling, but unfortunately, as is clearly the case with the Rolex boys, it can easily become contrived, and Pascal Raffy opted to leave his watch on his desk. Not to be outdone, even watch blogger Ariel Adams assumes the approved contemplative pose for the cameras. Think on.
