Independents

As one of the rarest complications at all, the Foudroyante à la Habring² is additionally unique in that it is an addition to a Chronograph mechanism (e.g. Girard-Perregaux), but it is added as a stand-alone complication (well, together with the jumping seconds, of course!). Thus, with a Habring² Foudroyante one acquires a timepiece with two fast jumping time indications (Foudroyante & Jumping Seconds):

I'd like to highlight three separate issues to illustrate how it is achieved. First, we look at the Foudroyante hand: Note how tiny it is compared to the balance wheel:

It is quite obvious that specific production techniques are needed to produce such a watch. In this case, the hands are stamped into extremely thin aluminum sheets and subsequently cut out with scissors:

Second, the large Foudroyante hand merits a closer view:

With patience and care Richard puts together wheel and bearing:

To illustrate how tiny and lightweight the wheel is I asked Richard to tell me the weight of the wheel. His answer: "Sorry, we don't have a balance that would be sensitive enough... but its so light it swims on water!" - which he gladly proved to me:

Mounting the bearing on the wheel requires patience, a steady hand and good eyes:

Fixing it:

(Almost) Finished:

Only the axis needs some polishing:

The third part is the small Foudroyante wheel. Its also of minuscule dimensions:

Like the Foudroyante hand, it comes as a sheet of galvanised aluminum:

Polishing of the hole:

Now the components of the mechanism are finished and can be assembled:

The results is a watch that certainly demonstrates watchmaking aptitude in an unusual implementation. Like my neighbour said: "Its a watch that really mirrors my very hectic life!"

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