Harry Winston

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The Opus 6: the first Opus of a new era

Creating the Opus 6 was obviously not an easy task. First of all, it was the first Opus under the leadership of Hamdi Chatti and as you can imagine, succeeding Max Büsser was not an easy task. The Opus collection was his project and the question which arose was to know if this collection was able to continue without him. Secondly, the previous Opus was maybe the most iconic one: the Opus 5 by Felix Baumgartner. The Opus 5 had everything what makes a watch unforgettable: an impressive design, a new time display system, a magic atmosphere. Moreover, it defined a trend which is still lasting: the large UFO watches. Look at the first 4 Opus and look at the Opus 5: we jump to another dimension in terms of case sizes. Last obstacle in front of Chatti was the schedule. Due to his appointment at Harry Winston, he was obliged to find a solution to be able to release an Opus 6 at the 2006 Basel Fair.

Because for Hamdi Chatti, there was no option: he had to keep the Opus collection alive... maybe to give the proof that the collection is more than a Max Büsser project: a Harry Winston one.

Quickly after his appointment, he organized a meeting with Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey to start a brainstorming discussion about what would be the key features of the Opus 6. With Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, Chatti knew that his will to present an innovative Tourbillon could become a reality.

6 months later, the Opus 6 was unveiled at the Basel Fair. At this stage, it was almost a miracle.

How can we describe the Opus 6 ?





Some may say that it is a watch with a large and unusual Double-Tourbillon. I would say that Opus 6 is a large and unusual Double-Tourbillon in a context of a watch. All the watch, the movement, the design, are dedicated to highlight the Double-Tourbillon. The time display was changed not as an objective by itself but to create enough room to put the Double-Tourbillon at the center of the stage.

When we look at the Opus 6 now, we feel several emotions.

We feel that it is a strange child between the Greubel and Forsey technical mastery and the Harry Winston daring style. In a Greubel & Forsey watch, the case is adapted to house the Tourbillon. Each Greubel&Forsey model has its own case. With the Opus 6, the case keeps the classic traits of a Harry Winston one: the shape, the lugs, the parts around the crown, we recognize easily the Harry Winston style.

I often speak about the feeling of depth of the Harry Winston dials. The Opus 6 doesn't really have a dial as the main part of the front is dedicated to the Double-Tourbillon. This front is far from being flat: it is a gathering of volumes, with different layers, different shapes, diffrent heights. The Double-Tourbillon is located on the left side of the watch on a blue area. Its bridge is hanging and supported by two pilars. Visually speaking, the Double-Tourbillon seems to be totally isolated from the movement and to have a sole purpose: to animate the dial.





Let's have a closer look to the Tourbillon now: the combo between the Greubel and Forsey skills and the Opus context can't lead to a classic Tourbillon. And the Opus 6 Tourbillon is far from being a classic one. It is a Double-Tourbillon with a system which inclined it at a 30-degree angle. Double-Tourbillon, two cages with 128 components, 30-degree, 3hz, 72 hours of power reserve, an inner cage which makes a full rotation every minute while the outer one does it in 4 minutes, these are the main features of the Opus 6 Tourbillon. They are its strength (the view of the revolution of the Tourbillon  is amazing), they are also its weakness: due to the short time they had to respect the schedule, Harry Winston, Greubel and Forsey couldn't bring new characteristics to this Double-Tourbillon. We get exactly the same performances with the Opus 6 than with the Greubel-Forsey Double-Tourbillon which was released two years before. And that's a key point: for example, the Opus V was bringing something new with a different time display, not seen in any Urwerk watch. With the Opus 6, we get a sort of evolution, redesign of a previous Greubel&Forsey watch.





It may appear as a disappointment but again, it can be explained very easily. Moreover, this Opus 6 hides some very nice aesthetical tricks... and of course, it fulfils our expectations in terms of finishings.

A reproach which is sometimes made to the Greubel&Forsey watches is the very busy side of the dial and the baroque style: obviously, they wish to create a sort of contrast between the front and the back of the watch, between the dial and the Tourbillon.





An opposite way was chosen with the Opus 6: the time display was spread on two places, close to the bezel: the hours and the minutes on the right cylinder, the seconds on the top cylinder. Even if it requires time to be able to quickly read the time, the red hands make it easy. As I said, the large part of the front is dedicated to the Double-Tourbillon: the lay-out of this front gives a feeling of a peaceful atmosphere despite the impressive differences of height of the elements.

Harry Winston and Greubel & Forsey names are written on the bezel to seal the partnership between them. Like a symbol, it is the hours and minutes display which unites them.If you look carefully in and around the same display, you will notice that a large 6 appears on the right side of the front. It is very funny because despite its size, you don't notice it easily!





The white gold case has a 44mm diameter which gives a bulky side to the Opus 6. It is something which will be find again with the Histoire de Tourbillon 2: the Opus 6 is a mix between some big and large elements and the delicate view of the Tourbillon revolution. On the wrist, the people who are used with the large Ocean case won't be lost... if you have a large wrist, the watch can be worn with comfort thanks to the efficient lugs. If you don't, forget it.

Well... "forget it" is a strange sentence because we can't have thousands of potential happy owners of the Opus 6: there are only 6 Opus 6 in the world.





The Opus 6 is not amongst the list of the fav Opus watches. The context of its creation explains why it is not innovating like the Opus 5. It doesn't make a breakthrough in the watchmaking history but it is a worthy interpretation of a watch which belonged in this category: the Double-Tourbillon from Greubel&Forsey. But at the end, I think that the main virtue of this watch was to keep the Opus collection alive... it is a sort of hyphen between the Max Büsser period and the next Harry Winston area which started with Hamdi Chatti's arrival at the end of 2005.

I would like to thank a lot the whole Harry Winston staff for the warm welcome at the Manufacture. As you can see it, the watch on the pictures is the prototype (number 0) which belongs to the Harry Winston Manufacture.

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