Horological Meandering

Concord goes berserk again with its new collection, especially with its C1 Tourbillon Gravity.

By Timmy Tan, Irene Ang & Liviana Loka

The speed of sound or Mach 1 in air at sea-level is 1,225 km per hour (761.1 miles per hour or 340.3 metres per second or 661 knots) when the temperature is 15 degrees Celsius. At 60,000 feet, the Concorde supersonic jet can cruise at 1,350 miles per hour or twice the speed of sound or Mach 2.

But hang on, we should be reporting on Concord –the watch brand. Even then, this Concord is just as fast, relatively speaking. Within a year of revamping the brand and introducing an entirely new collection comprising 11 SKUs (stock keeping units), head honcho Vincent Perriardis bent on introducing 40 SKUs in 2008. "These 11 references [for 2007] are nothing. We have only done the chronograph and the big date. We need new versions of chronographs and new movements," says the chief of Concord.

As of the November-December period, only 1,100 new pieces from the revamped Concord were produced for the 2007 calendar year. For 2008, Perriard is estimating a three-to fourfold jump in production units to between 3,000 and 4,000 pieces. How is that for speed? Going by the pace the company is moving, Concord’s speed is way above the ‘sound barrier’ and definitely ‘supersonic’.

Not only that, the brand is defying gravity in more ways than one – not only are SKUs and production units going up, the very first tourbillon for the collection will be officially unveiled at the 2008 Basel Fair. [Recall that the function of a tourbillon is to negate effects of gravity on the precision of the watch movement.] "Not another tourbillon!" some may protest. But this is no ordinary tourbillon – it is a ‘vertical’ tourbillon or one that is displayed on its side as opposed to those we are accustomed to which are positioned ‘horizontally’ or lying flat with the movement. Moreover, the tourbillon is housed in carriage that is positioned away from the main movement parts or "a tourbillon carriage on the fringes of the actual body of the watch", according to information provided

The Concord C1 Tourbillon Gravity was developed in partnership with BNB Concept and believe us, the ‘wow’ factor is great! Meanwhile, the ‘madness’ factor for this vertical tourbillon is even greater! But is it truly madness?

Consider this: the pocket watches back in the old days were placed in an upright position in the waistcoat pockets of gentlemen. The balance isochronism of the watches was thus negatively affected due to gravity. To overcome this problem, a mobile carriage which housed the balance, hairspring and escapement while spinning on its own axis and completing one revolution in 60 seconds, was invented to counter the effects of gravity on the movement. As this regulating organ revolves, it will be in all the possible vertical positions, meaning that the variations in rate would mutually cancel each other out. It was called the tourbillon and Abraham-Louis Breguet was the genius behind this invention.

Tourbillon wristwatches of today will not spend most of their time in a vertical position in a pocket, unlike tourbillon pocket watches of the past. The owner’s wrist will be constantly moving about. Moreover, the tourbillon is placed on a ‘horizontal’ position in line with the dial of the watch. "The vertical position of the [Concord C1] tourbillon – the only justifiable one for a wristwatch –enables it to serve its initial and primary function; namely to compensate for the effects of gravity in a vertical position", according to Concord. Through such an explanation, Concord’s decision to have this ‘vertical’ tourbillon may not be so crazy after all.

Why the idea to house the tourbillon carriage away from the main components? "To have more space in the watch for other complications within the watch itself," the answer springs back from Perriard. "The flyback chronograph in particular," he adds. Interestingly, the there is an off-centred dial for the hours and minutes, ensuring that basic time is highly readable.

Apart from the tourbillon and the flyback chronograph complications, you’d also be able to see the power reserve and the ‘trust index’ indications on the dial. The trust index provides information on the amplitude of the balance wheel. The trust index should ideally be within the middle range of the scale. It should ideally be kept within this range to achieve optimal precision, a point to be noted especially when winding up the mainsprings (this will prevent over-winding).

For the benefit of those who are extremely curious and want to discover more about the Concord C1 Tourbillon Gravity, we have indicated how the dial layout looks like on the left of this page.

While the idea to have the tourbillon outside the dial was to make space for other complications sounds logical, it is nonetheless, still a ‘crazy plan’. Recall that Concord first went ‘berserk’ under the new leadership of Perriard when in 2007, he discontinued the entire existing collection and declared a new watch and brand identity would be unveiled at the 2007 Basel Fair. This was ‘unsound’ because Concord is an established brand which celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2008!

[Vincent Perriard became the President of Concord in June 2006. He is well-versed in the watch trade, having worked for the Swatch Group and Audemars Piguet. He also started his own consulting firm called ‘Brand DNA’ before joining Concord.]

What future is there when there is no past? Fortunately, the DNA of Concord remains. The C1 collection for example, is based on the previous Concord Saratoga line. What about critical comments such as the new C1 is a ‘copy’ of the famous Royal Oak from Audemars Piguet?

"The C1 design is inspired by the Saratoga, an octagonal-shaped piece launched in 1986. Compare the Saratoga which was born 22 years ago with the C1 and you’d see some of these elements," says Perriard. "When Hublot launched the Big Bang, many said it was the ‘new [Royal Oak] Offshore’. A year later, many of the same critics went quiet. It was because the Big Bang was a re-invention from a Hublot model of the 1980s," notes Perriard. "The only thing true is that we have entered the business in terms of looks –what we have is a big statement watch. We are in the category of strong, bulky statement watches. The watch is octagonal in shape but the bezel is round," he highlights.

The C1 Chronograph has made a huge impact for Concord not just because of its size because of the bravado of Perriard (through his actions and leadership in re-introducing the revamped brand and watches). Kudos too, to the owners of Concord – obviously, Perriard has the blessings ofEfraim Grinberg (the Chief Executive Officer of Movado Group, the company that owns the Movado, Concord and Ebel watch brands, among other things).

The C1 Chronograph can be summed up through a few questions which may be read from Concord’s corporate advertisements (this ad may be found in this issue of TimeWerke). Here are the rhetorical questions:

What other watch:

Has a 3.3mm thick sapphire crystal?
Has 7 side screws for greater structural strength?
A distinct 3-level dial?
Has a case made of 53 elements that stands 16.7mm tall?
• Has a formula for the ultimate construction?

The good news is that though the case is rather large with 44mm diameter, it can fit well even on small wrists (this applies for the gents’ pieces as well). That is because of the design of the straps or what Concord calls the attachment system. The white rubber straps are firmly attached to the side of the case by two screws; the straps do not protrude outwards but fall downwards, thereby being able to grip the wrists more comfortably. The main difference between the ladies version and the mens’, apart from the colour, would be the diamonds which adorn the bezel and the middle of the case.

CONCORD TOURBILLON

GRAVITY SPOTTED?

How can this possibly be so when this particular timepiece will only make its debut at the 2008 Basel Fair in April? Well, with a little bit of creativity and digital imaging skill, TimeWerke has superimposed the Tourbillon Gravity onto the wrist of Raymond Lim, executive director, Cortina Watch. Cortina Watch, through its subsidiary Pacific Time, are the exclusive distributors for Concord in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.