Horological Meandering

The Concorde flew for 27 years and in its time became an icon of air travel, a glance into the future. 20 were built at such immense cost, plus the plane cost so much to operate, that it never really made money.

Yet the Concorde never really went anywhere; it didn't change the industry, neither did it spawn a new generation of supersonic jetliners. Today's A380 and Boeing Dreamliner owe more to the 747 than the Concorde. But the aircraft was beautiful, instantly recognisable and widely loved. It was ahead of its time.

What is its equivalent in horology?

- SJX

This message has been edited by SJX on 2009-02-09 04:59:14

Hi JiaXian,

Only time will tell but I'd be tempted to bring the Gyrotourbillon 1 on the list, or the Grande Complication a Triptyque.

The Gyro1 is sublime, expensive, limited, loved by many, and yet its added value on precision is necessarily limited by the overall performance of simple watches on the market today!

The GCT is a tour de force, hardly adapted to existing wrist sizes, but technically impressive, with different faces, precision, romantism, eternity!

But time will tell!

Dje

It's a showcase for modern technology, proving what can be done at the extreme.  Based on the reworking of the escapement that UN had to do, and not really charge for, I can't imagine they are making much money on the piece long-term and I doubt it will really revolutionize watches.....

Hopefully the Freak won't ingest a bird and have to stop telling time
A

... introduced silicium into watchmaking, wich I am convinced will change this industry.

Marcus

Was the first civilian plane to use fly-by-wire....

And I believe that the "consortium" model that built it led to the formation of Airbus

A

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...particularly the Freak, but considering that per SJX's criteria it should be instantly recognisible (and I interpret this as 'instantly recognisable to the general public'), I think that makes the job much harder.

I'm going to put on my flame suit and suggest.....the LED watch. Instantly recognised, was a technical tour de force when released but ultimately a dead end. And most importantly a contemporary of the Concorde.

 

timepieces went in my mind trying to find the ONE which fit all the criteria above. Hmmm. Not being well versed at all in watch history, I would have to put my chip on GP 3 bridges Tourbillon. Beautiful, instantly recognizable, don't think economies of scale allow it to be a money maker for GP... I see some facsimiles in other watch houses but not an entire generation of newcomers or established ones for that matter doing anything with the idea of using it as an inspiration...

Such a GREAT topic!!! Certainly thought provoking to say the least... Thanks for this one JX

The Crash was never made in big numbers, and instantly recognisable as a unique piece

of art ( thanks to Salvador Dali). Unconventional and unique design created by accident.

Indeed watches were never made like this before.

 

This message has been edited by VPREGULATOR on 2009-02-09 20:14:08

When I saw the title of your post I wondered for a moment, VP, if you were being serious. J

 

However, I can see the reasons you chose the Crash and I tend to agree with you.

 

A

Paris 2000 Concorde disaster.

Andrew - You have a very sharp and fine mind.

I couldn't find any pictures showing the crash.

I will leave it to the viewers to draw the analogy.

Regards

Ling

The JLC Future Matic, the IWC Deep One are watches which can be compared to the Concorde.

Innovative, original, but they cost too much money for their respective brands that they were quite quickly stopped.

5 years for the Future Matic, 2 years for the IWC Deep One.

Best.

Nicolas

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201 and 202 are by far the most innovative and futuristic timepieces IMHO.

and yet a recognizable form, it could only be:

A 'Concorde moment' as the Top Gear team like to say (for the Bugatti Veyron).  If they solve this one then everyone would be impressed.  The person on the street would recognize this as a digital watch, BUT, would not even start to realize the engineering required to complete it.

Concorde was more than just an aircraft.  I symbolized how small the world was to become, how the 'white heat of technology' from the late 1960's could be harnessed to overcome barriers that were previously assumed to be insurmountable.  Like the moon landings, when the idea was conceived, they did not have all the solutions to the engineering hurdles that would have to be passed, but they went for it anyway.  For example, the expansion of the aircraft as it altered between sonic and supersonic flight - without killing the passengers by cracking the wings or the body of the plane.  Just stunning.

Great idea for a post SJX

Andrew H

... as written in "Wings", the third part of the Nomes Trilogy: "Twice as fast as a bullet, and you get smoked salmon on it." But I recall another description, that much better expresses my feelings whenever I saw that plane (I am quoting purely from emory here, maybe it is wrong altogether): It appeared as if they had taken a piece of sky and shaped a plane from it. It expressed pure speed, even when standing on the ground.

Regards,
Marcus

There's only one watch that makes me think of Concorde - it's not a sensible connection but I'll let you see why I feel that way

Because that's what I was wearing back in the day... I mean, back ON THE DAY

When I was a boy my dad worked on the US Supersonic Transport program with Boeing. It was a failure but I saw how much work they put in on it.

Then decades later I lived and worked in Weybridge in the UK, and every evening Concorde would fly over our house.
I'd look up and say "I'll be on that bird someday"  - as did everyone else.

Well one day they announced it was going to stop flying. I booked that day. And I have never regretted it.

Cheers

Mike

Oh, yeah. Watches.  Where were we?

This message has been edited by cazalea on 2009-02-10 19:52:49

I loved reading it.

Best, my friend.

Nicolas

in Somerset with my parents, Concorde was running a test flight right over head in a remote part of the county.  We caught it on cinefilm (for the youngsters here, that was with a cine-camera that you had to load, wind, and then film at a set rate, f-stop, and focus - a lot to think about).

Concorde from then on was always a magical plane for me.  When I heard it was going out of service, I was too busy to book and I now wish to God that I had.  I feel as if it will be another century before we see its like again.  It would be like finding out that some lucky people in the 1930's were running around with and using an Apple i-Phone.  Given that kind of requirement, not sure any watch really does fit the description.  Given this requirement - if the Freak will revolutionize the industry, then the series 1 Freak would qualify as the Concorde watch (for so many reasons - materials, design, aesthetics, ability of Ludwig Oechslin to design and implement new forms, that UN probably made no money at all on the first series of the Freak due to R&D, and construction costs).

Still love the plane and wish it was flying.

Andrew H

I kinda agree on the Cartier Crash as well,
but Urwerk it is.
Geo

The Jules Audemars Chronometer with AP Escapement...43,200 vibrations per hour.  VROOOOM!!!

technology way ahead of its time, the FIRST & ONLY true sweep second hand because of its 300hz speed(sorry folks, but a mechanical watch will never be true sweep second. its a physical impossibility), supremely accurate when adjusted correctly. so good that it was actually in the Concorde flight deck and the Apollo modules. killed off because of the Quartz revolution and similar to Concorde in that it will never come back.. 4 years ago i sold a Smart roadster too someone who worked on the Concorde project in Bristol and he still wears the accutron that he bought when working on it. 

the beta 21, in the form of an Omega Electroquartz, is a quartz watch, but it hums and has a sweep second hand so i'll include it in the above. some sources i've read claim it to be a tuning fork, but the majority state it is a quartz so i'll go with the majority.

Graham 

Opus 3 and Urwerk 201 (202).
I have had tried Concorde once and I must say it was the best flight experience I ever had. Truly amazing and a lifetime experience.
*CL