Horological Meandering

Thoughts on the Antoine Martin Perpetual Calendar

 

We often see a watchmaker create a brand under his own name only to cede or lose control of that name as the nature of the corporation changes, yet he keeps on creating new and exciting timepieces. Mr. Daniel Roth now makes specially crafted tourbillons in his home in Le Sentier under the Jean Daniel Nicolas name while the Daniel Roth brand is property of Bulgari. Similarly, the late Gerarld Genta had to create new watches under the Gerald Charles name when Bulgari took possession of the Gerald Genta brand.

Mr. Martin Braun joins this set of watchmaking entrepreneurs with a new brand, Antoine Martin, as the Martin Braun brand name is now the property of the Frank Muller Group.

Stefan (nitediver) gave us an excellent introduction to the Antoine Martin brand with his three part write-up:

Part 1, on the company: home.watchprosite.com /

Part 2, on the calibre AM 39: home.watchprosite.com /

Part 3, on the watches: home.watchprosite.com /

I met Antoine Martin CEO Bruno Jufer when he was touring the United States, showing the watches at collector events and taking meetings with retailers and distributors to develop a retail network for this young brand. Naturally, I took some photos and got a first hand impression of the watches.

My first response was one of surprise that Martin was not making a watch employing astronomical complications. I associate his name with interesting watches like the EOS and Selene, which feature sunrise, sunset, equation of time and moonphase complications. These watches were built on existing movements. With Antoine Martin, the horological approach has been to focus on a unique movement, the calibre 39, which has some unique technical features, and build complications on top it. Two initial models are a perpetual calendar and a tourbillon with perpetual calendar with regulator layout and retrograde date. My focus is on the perpetual calendar model.


The watches themselves are BIG, 46 mm in diameter and 16.40 mm high, and the case has a sculpted quality with a number of lines, angles, and edges that are highlighted by a captivating mix of satin and polished surfaces. There are a surprising 84 component parts to the case, which is offered in either white gold, rose gold, or DLC stainless steel.


The dial echoes the case’s sculpted quality, having a numerous layers of depth, with cutouts for the day, month, and large date display, and a sunray guilloche pattern on the inner dial. The Roman or Arabic numbers are engraved into the hour chapter ring, and the minutes are around the circumference of the rehaut. Despite all the detail, reading the time is of foremost importance and easily done, while the calendar functions are also easy to see.


The watch has a tremendous visual impact, and left quite an impression.

Like the watch, the calibre 39.001 powering it is massive, with a diameter of 39.5 mm and a height of 8 mm. That size allows for two mainspring barrels that give the watch a 144 hour power reserve (indicated through a hand on the sapphire case back). That size also allows for an extra large 17.5 mm balance wheel, made from titanium, beating at 18,000 VPH. Antoine Martin, like other top brands, has incorporated silicium components in the movement, with the pallet lever, escape wheel, and impulse pin being all being in silicium in this free-sprung design.

The movement is finished in a more modern style, with little emphasis on the high decorative finishing that are the hallmarks of the established luxury brands, and this seems appropriate to the overall design of the watch, akin to what Panerai and De Bethune are doing with their in-house movements.

I wish Martin Braun and his team at Antoine Martin much success with this new venture.

Bill

 

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For Bill's original post in HoMe forum: home.watchprosite.com