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And again...

 

Why do I always allow myself to be drawn into these discussion ... smile

I've seen a couple of wonderful sculptures of someone meditating. A flatish piece of stone has had the shape of a meditating monk carved inside it - solid stone surrounding a monk-shaped void. A lovely way of showing the "emptimess" of the state achieved by meditation.

Look at a Potter pocket watch - his bridge layout is totally different to most other pocket watches. If you were to run a solid modeler on a watch movement and visualise the bridges, baseplate etc as voids you'd realise that most of the space in a watch is unused. Potter seems to have understood this. The designers of the new AP with the Robin escapement seem to be one of the first to be managing space and volume with an architects' understanding, not a mechanics.

To me, the vast majority of skeletonising isn't an intelligent use of voids or "absence" - it's just using lack of metal as a form of decoration. I wonder if anyone will ever design a skeletonised watch from scratch and use the voids intelligently.

I guess I'm trying to say that the mere absence of something isn't sufficient, but am probably not expressing it well.

nick

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Haldimann fans,

 
By: Valentin Blank : October 1st, 2008-10:30
have a look at this post in the Photography Forum: A little hoto essay and report about Beat Haldimann's latest creation I hope you enjoy it! Thanks, Valentin

WOW!

 
By: Gizmotron : October 1st, 2008-19:17
What a gorgeous piece. Thanks a lot for the pictures and write up.

Wow! An extention of the idea behind ThePuristS model but

 
By: mkt33 : October 1st, 2008-20:04
taken one step further. I love the H1, it is one of my dream watches. Now here is the H8 which now goes higher on the list. Wonderful pictures and essay. Thank you Valentin Thank you Mr. Haldimann for another beautiful creation. Best, Mike

Mike, thank you for your kind words.

 
By: Valentin Blank : October 1st, 2008-21:34
The H1 is indeed a wonderful watch which I like a lot too. But I can tell you, to see this huge tourbillon against the dark (and nuanced) dial with no "distracting" hands is such a captivating experience. We PuristS know how our watches can be magnets to ... 

Beautifull piece!

 
By: CTCT : October 2nd, 2008-01:49
...and your photography is simply superb! Congartulations Valentin.

A great piece of work and wonderful pictures...

 
By: DonCorson : October 2nd, 2008-10:13
but I do have problems with "timepieces" with which you can't tell the time, even if with this one you can tell the elapsed time if you are paying attention, if I understand correctly. So I hesitate to call it a watch. This is not the first time we have h... 

I have the same problem...

 
By: nickd : October 2nd, 2008-11:31
Great photos, great report, I admire the craftmanship...but it's not a watch, it's portable kinetic sculpture, and I honestly don't see the point. nick

Thanks for this report, excellently done with a very personal angle...

 
By: Ornatus-Mundi : October 3rd, 2008-14:56
but I have to concede that I agree with both Marc and Don. To take away the timekeeping indicator of an already existing watch is not exactly what I would call original, innovative or even interesting. Romain Jerome was criticised heavily for coming up wi... 

Magnus, thank you for sharing these interesting deliberations

 
By: Valentin Blank : October 4th, 2008-00:05
Citing my essay you ask, how much the H8 is more a 'wearable sculpture that accompanies [the wearer] wherever he goes' than the H1? Reduction has been a classic means of emphasis in art. We all have already experienced that the absence of something can at... 

Absence...

 
By: nickd : October 4th, 2008-11:46
Hi Valentin, I think my big problem with this kind of discussion is that it reminds me too much of the arts centre I worked in in the late '70s. I remember plenty of exhibitions where someone would hang empty picture frame, or hang two paintings and label... 

Thank you, Nick, for these added thoughts.

 
By: Valentin Blank : October 4th, 2008-12:38
So to remain true to your anecdote, you would belong to "those who went around shaking their heads" and I would belong to "those who held long, meaningless [Do you think so? I don't.] discussions about it in the bar". It's a fact and you just said it your... 

And again...

 
By: nickd : October 5th, 2008-12:16
Why do I always allow myself to be drawn into these discussion ... I've seen a couple of wonderful sculptures of someone meditating. A flatish piece of stone has had the shape of a meditating monk carved inside it - solid stone surrounding a monk-shaped v... 

I love the images Valentin!

 
By: SJX : October 4th, 2008-00:53
I scrolled up and down the article to admire all the images first, before settling in to read the text. I do not view the photography forum as much as I should but clearly I must do it more. - SJX

Magnificent

 
By: gadalex : October 4th, 2008-19:00
Thank you Valentin for your excellent photo essay, and of course for allowing us all to marvel at yet another beautiful Haldimann piece. Since super-accurate timekeeping is not necessarily the paramount objective of haute horologie, the art of the watchma...