[The watch and car: needless to say when driving the watch was not left attached to the wheel! Note the materials of the wheel: the red brake calipers, the titanium wheel, the carbon fibre brake disc].
It’s a strange thing; you only truly appreciate the watch itself when you wear it in the environment for which it was designed. Only then, only when you are in the driver’s seat of the new Aston Martin Vanquish, flying around the banked outer lane of the Millbrook test track can you see the watch and car as one. At about 140 mph, the last thing you want to do is make sure you hit the correct button to stop the chronograph moving. You want to hit the base of the crystal and stop the clock. I know – I tried it!
The Vanquish, in the words of Aston Martin’s head designer: Marek Reichman is “Everything we know in one car”. It is the flagship car of the Aston Martin range; a V12 powered carbon fibre and aluminium low flying rocket that is aerodynamically glued to the road. Even at speeds around 170 mph, it never enters your mind that the car cannot cope with the next corner, the power out of the turn and the next straight looms into view.
In the same way that the refinement in the Aston Martin range has come down to the Vanquish, the refinement in the vertical trigger chronograph that is part of the AMVOX range has come down to the AMVOX7. The design and mechanism are now refined so that the watch is both more ergonomic in the way it fits your wrist, the way the chronograph starts and stops, but also a more elegant and tactile watch for the driver.
[From right to left the progression of the AMVOX line. AMVOX2 was the first with the vertical trigger; the second from the right is the DBS transponder (the personal watch of Marek Reichman), the middle, the AMVOX5 and AMVOX6, with the AMVOX7 on the far left].
When it was first released, the AMVOX2 ushered in a new start/stop mechanism for the chronograph as a driver’s watch. It was the perfect way to operate the chronograph without searching around for which button operates which action. It was smart, it was cool, and Aston Martin jumped at the chance to use the same vertical trigger for a transponder for the DBS (second from the right in the photo above). For once, the operation of the watch was truly synched and in line with the car it was attached too. Francis Cretin, the designer and engineer behind the vertical trigger told me that originally the idea had been to have both the open/lock as well as the engine start in the transponder, but the latter option was ruled out as being too risky for a watch function. The joint Aston Martin/Jaeger LeCoultre enthusiasm for the AMVOX DBS transponder watch was such that it only took a year from first conversation to finished article on the wrist of the lucky owner.
[A man and his watches: Francis Cretin with the AMVOX2 and AMVOX7 along with his original drawings at the JLC Boutique at 1A Bond Street, London]
[Note the two parts to the AMVOX2 case in the top left of the tray. You can just see the small pins on the outer case that depress the chronograph functions when the top and bottom of the crystal are pressed on the inner case]
AMVOX7 is the third in line to use the vertical trigger mechanism and on meeting Francis Cretin, the chief architect of this micro-mechanical marvel, I had a greater appreciation of the way the chronograph had been thought out, and how the mechanism functioned.
First off, the watch itself: the AMVOX7 has been redesigned with a different styling and materials and now reflects a number of aspects from the Aston Martin Vanquish. Obvious design elements are the dial and the radiator grill from the car. The case has now become curved; the abrupt edges of the AMVOX2 have been smoothed out and the watch (in some senses mirroring the progress of the design of the Aston Martin cars) has become elegantly curved. There is a slight aggressive design to watch (similar to the car), and indeed, I found the styling of the watch to be closely aligned to the Aston Martin Vanquish. The design at the back of the watch learned something from Extreme Lab 2, as the case has a curvature that hugs the wrist.
[The watch also comes with the quick release strap change mechanism]
But aside from the design, the original idea has been refined and with it a more exact and elegant watch is the result. There is still the same safety switch on the left hand side of the case that releases the chronograph mechanism for use, but the actual chronograph mechanism itself is now refined so that the response time is more immediate. Talking with Francis Cretin and seeing the original drawings he sketched when the idea first occurred to him, along with the parts of the case to AMVOX2, it was apparent that the mechanism was to operate a chronograph through hidden pushers. While it appears as if the crystal moves when you press it to operate the chronograph, it is actually the whole case (within the outer case) that moves. As you push down on the top of the crystal to start the chronograph mechanism, two prongs inbuilt into the outer case depress the start button. Likewise if you push down on the base of the crystal for the stop/reset function the same mechanism operates the chronograph. The whole case pivots on an axis that runs just beneath the crown. On the original drawings, Cretin suggested that the case pivot through an axis that would run through the crown. However, considering the idea more closely, Cretin decided that this would put too much stress on the crown and the crown stem.
[Driving the new Vanquish with the AMVOX7 watch at the Aston Martin test centre at Millbrook].
Driving with the watch on your wrist, that refinement and that tactile response comes from the innovations in the watch that to most go unnoticed. The original AMVOX2 now seems clunky and basic by comparison. As a statement, it takes nothing away from the fact that the AMVOX2 was the first incarnation of the vertical trigger chronograph; or that it is still an excellent watch. Just that the same watch has now been refined and improved in small, but telling ways. Where as before there were distinct edges to the design; the edges have now been smoothed. The case edge that was left open on AMVOX2 to allow the movement in the chronograph function has now been encased. The edges at the top of the case rounded over. The finishing on the case has become more precise to allow the movement of the inner case (that contained the watch movement) within an outer case (without hindrance).
[The grill type dial mirrors the design of the front grill on the Aston Martin cars. I kept the quashed flies on the front of the car for context and effect!]
Describing the design of the Vanquish, Marek Reichman talked about the honesty of the materials in the Aston Martin and how that is shared with the way the watches are made at Jaeger LeCoultre. The watch was designed to match the same tactile experience that there is in driving the car. While the outer appearance of the watch has design cues from the car (the front grill of the car and the lattice work on the dial of the watch), the experience was designed to be more than that. The actual touch on the chronograph crystal matches that of the buttons on the Vanquish central console. All buttons, from the buttons that engage the gear functions, to electronics that control the standing start, are all the same feel and function response as the chronograph. The same pressure applied to the control buttons on the console relates to the same pressure to start and stop the chronograph. It is the same and shared experience with both car and watch.
[Marek Reichman (Head Designer at Aston Martin) getting out of the Vanquish and wearing the new AMVOX7]
Sitting in the comfort of the Aston Martin’s seats, foot on the brake, press the control start and engage the automatic gear change; then when ready, left hand on the steering wheel, right hand on the top of the AMVOX7; press the top of the crystal, right foot floors the accelerator, and the car roars off the standing start, the chronograph racing around the dial. The car, even at speeds around 160 mph is stable allowing the use of the right hand to click the base of the crystal on the watch as you pass the mile marker. A mere few seconds have ticked by; although life was a rush for the short duration the chronograph was in motion.
[Racing around the outer banking of the Millbrook circuit]
In the same way that 6 years ago the AMVOX vertical trigger watch was not styled as it is now, so it is with the Aston Martin cars. The use of carbon fibre for the outer shell means that new forms can be applied to the design and shape of the car. Older Aston Martins, in the same way as older AMVOX watches, appear similar but not quite so stylized.
[From left to right: Stephane Belmont, James Gurney, and Dr Ulrich Bez introducing the AMVOX7 and Aston Martin Vanquish to the gathered crowd].
Last week at SalonQP AMVOX7 was officially unveiled to the world by Stephane Belmont and James Gurney to the capacity crowd. Stephane Belmont and Dr Ulrich Bez (CEO of Aston Martin) gave introductory talks about their new machines: respectively the AMVOX7 and the Aston Martin Vanquish, highlighting how both companies had learned from the other. For Jaeger LeCoultre the emphasis was on materials and tactile response; for Aston Martin it was micro-engineering and finishing.
[The AMVOX7 watch unveiled!]
While we read a great deal, almost week in, week out, (or so it seems) about a ‘car/watch relationship’ through co-branding, shared principles and all that, this is the first time I have actually ‘felt it’. Wearing the watch, in the car, while flying around the Millbrook circuit timing the laps, gave the feeling that driver, car, and watch were all at one. An over used statement perhaps, but it definitely applies in this instance. The watch has learned from the car, and the car from the watch. For me, it was a near ultimate watch wearing driving experience!
Andrew H
