Independents

Hi all, I'm sure almost all of you've heard of the cabinotiers of old Geneva, those watchmakers working in the small workshops, often located in the garrets of Geneva's town houses. It was the place with the best availlable daylight, the most time of a da...  

I particularly like the No. 7 Tourbillon. Do you have a more frontal shot of it? Thanks for showing us the environment that these beauties were born in as well.

...here're two more, but no frontal dial shot - I'll upload one later. Due to the flying third wheel design, there's an amazing transparency for the tourbillon area. As you may see both, the flying tourbillon and the third wheel are supported by ball bear...  

what an amazing tourbillon cage!

Hi Allen, but, they're not that good and I've to go through the pic files again, if there's some better, more doing justice to the work. As you say - the tourbillon cage is particulary beautifull ! Best regards Suitbert...  

. . . tourbillon that rotates on ball bearings, or are there others? Cordially, Art

Hi Suitbert, My understanding is that Mr. Klings was living and working in California about the time I got interested in watchmaking, but unfortunately he had already moved before I had ever heard of him, otherwise I would've loved to have visited his wor... 

I think we had some discussion about him way back in 2004.

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Thanks Suitbert, for these fantastic pics, of a real classic looking movement ! The finish seems incredible! BTW, in this country, the best tasting ice cream is,..... Klings :-) Cheers Doc

And thanks a lot for your kind words! Best Suitbert

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It clearly shows his talent and savoir faire, and also makes the manual process and execution visible. For me, this is much more desirable than a 100% perfectly finished end-product, which may look a bit sterile. I shall not forget to say that his technic... 

nt

. . .Suitbert. Tourbillon no. 5. Ohhh, my goodness Love to hear more about that one. . . pleeeeeeeease??? Jack

Thanks a lot Suitbert. Amazing work, fascinating to teh extrreme. I'd love to knpw more about his "no-tourbiilon" watches!! Cheers Dje

. . .I first became familiar with Kari Voutilainen's work. This is HOT stuff Jack

.... No. 5 is a most fascinating piece, your pick isn't surprising to me It's a long story and perhaps much better to go into Christian Klings desmodromic escapement first as it's part of this very special piece as well. And, I should also point out that ...  

. . . are those really two pallet forks. . . ?!? Jack

Hi Jack, that's a constant force mechanism! During his countless hours trying to get it working, i.e. to achieve a little better rate stability, he realized that this escapement was very sensitive to this problem and he decided to add a constant force. Yo... 

. . .constant force escapement (!) impulsed through the hairspring, not directly to an impulse jewel on the balance? That's just wild. That it was done in a 7.5 second tourbillon just adds to the tastiness, even if it IS tempermental. I'd just love to hea... 

...only a "horologically obsessed" one would have started to build something like this I asked Christian for some drawings and he told me he might have some....let's see ;-) I'll put together some more about the desmodromic escapement the next days . Best... 

Somewhat reminiscent of Urban Jurgensen yet subtly different. His movement work is quietly stunning, I like the careful finish that doesn't focus too much on unnecessary decoration. Kudos to Mr Klings. - SJX

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NT

Independent watchmaking, as much as it can be! Thanks a lot, that´s truly eye opening! Can´t wait to see and hear more! Cheers, Peter

Please do share more pictures and your insightful comments on these pieces. Great new surprise this morning, and I am very fond of the traditional design.

to read/see more about Mr Klings work.

In the Nr 5 Piece, do I assume that a 7.5s tourbillon does just that? Circulate in 7.5s. What tourbillon cages? I "see" no cages - only air; like faerie dancesteps on dandelion seeds Regards, MTF

true genius.

Great report ! Many thanks! BTW, another tourbillon (No. 6) by Klings: click here photo by "Armband Uhren", 2005 Best regards....  

... for Lottermann & Soehne (2003 / 4): click here Cheers, otho...  

very nice, semiclassical regulateur tourbillon...  

... unfortunately I don't have pictures of No.6 - :-( If I'm not mistaken this is the only tourbillon made by Christian for Lottermann&Söhne - very interesting design. While it does look like a flying tourbillon, it's in fact supported on both ends. On th... 

truly thanks for your equally important & interesting details ! Additional en face view of Klings's tourbillon for Lottermann: , ... and very exciting table clock in glass case with one-minute flying tourbillon escapement made by C. Klings (also signed by...