Passion

 

Combining both analog and digital displays into a single watch is nothing new. After all, no one wants to be seen with a calculator watch in a tuxedo… but reading time off quickly and setting alarms can come in handy now and then, too. Manufacturers caught on to this dilemma years ago, and started developing hybrid watches with analog and digital displays to offer the best of both worlds.

But Swiss watchmaker De Grisogono has taken the concept to a new extreme with its latest watch, the Meccanico dG. Rather than heading down the easy route and using modern electronic quartz movements and LCDs to put both types of time displays into a watch, the company actually reverted to traditional mechanical movements, and developed a digital-style display that works completely on wind-up power.

From the outside, the watch appears every bit as strange as you might expect such a contraption to look. The top half of the watch face features half of a conventional analog display, with exposed gears showing through from beneath, while the bottom half actually spells out the time as a digital display does, but with miniscule colored pieces that change position to look lit or unlit. Essentially, the company took the same basic grid of lines that form the numeral 8 in a normal LCD display, and converted them to solid pieces that change mechanically.

 

 

As one might expect, this was no easy task. The “digital” display contains 23 individual micro-segments, which are basically four-sided pillars laid out flat in the face. Two sides are black, while the other two sides have color. They rotate on tiny spindles, allowing the color of each spindle to change from “lit” to “unlit” with every 90-degree rotation, which is controlled by a complex series of cams and gears.

The entire movement contains an amazing 631 individual components, working together in a mechanical dance to drive both the analog and digital displays with no battery power to speak of. Instead, a full winding of the watch lasts for 35 hours. Each display can be set individually with knobs on the side, allowing the analog clock to display one time zone while the digital version displays another.

De Grisogono wrapped the complex movement in a 2.2-inch-long rectangular watchcase that comes in a handful of different rare material choices. It’s also water resistant to 30 meters. The watchband, like the watchband on the traditional digital watches the Meccanico emulates, is made of black vulcanized rubber, and embossed with the De Grisogono name.

As you might expect, the Meccanico dG won’t exactly be cropping up at the watch kiosk in your local mall. It’s been designed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of De Grisogono, so only 354 will be made: 177 in titanium and 177 in white gold. The company hasn’t yet announced pricing on the extremely scarce timepieces, but with the company producing conventional watches that run into the tens of thousands of dollars, you can bet it won’t come cheap.

The Meccanico’s backwards approach to building a faux-digital display with yesterday’s technology may confound the practical-minded, but as an example of engineering that’s downright elegant in its complexity, the Meccanico is sure to impress. .

 

Conceived by Fawaz Gruosi and combining a dynamic display and improved legibility, the inventive Otturatore design raises the art of horological complications to a new level of inventive excellence. The centerpiece of this highly original concept is a high-performance mobile “sequencer”, duly patented by de Grisogono, developed by simulation and numerical calculations.

Classic Haute Horlogerie timepieces usually fit all their complications together on the dial, seriously detracting from the latter’s instant legibility. Fawaz Gruosi naturally took, or rather pioneered, another approach, simplifying the dial layout for much improved legibility. His way of doing away with dial clutter was to devise and build a totally original, mechanically driven sequential display selector. Thanks to the Otturatore’s mobile dial, the wearer chooses which indication he wants to consult and his Otturatore will display it – seconds, date, phases of the moon or power reserve – while hiding the three others from view.

A high-performance mobile sequencer

Patented by de Grisogono, the Otturatore’s basic feature is a mobile bidirectional dial (or sequential display selector) actioned by simple pressure on a pair of mechanical pushpieces. The increment of rotation of such a device depends on the number of complications or indications of the watch; the Otturatore’s increment of rotation is 90°. While the principle seems simple enough, its design is totally unprecedented: it propels watchmaking technology from the sphere of slow speeds to that of hyper velocities. In this sense, de Grisogono has challenged one of the fundamentals of horology head on!

A slight pressure on the pushpieces – whose travel is of the order of one millimeter – is enough to harness enough power to drive the mobile dial (or sequential selector) by 90° in a few dozen milliseconds, equivalent to a linear speed at the edge of the dial of something like one meter per second. In a standard mechanical construction, a finger pressing a pushpiece for a brief instant exerts insufficient force to set in motion mechanical components with strong inertial resistance. The Otturatore’s sequential selector can achieve this because in a few dozen milliseconds it can action fifteen dynamic functions (controls, connecting and disconnecting operations, mechanical memory, gears and so forth) while taking into account power drain, inertia and friction.

Technical specifications

Reference: DG 037

 

Caliber: Exclusive de Grisogono/Soprod 9015

 

Movement thickness: 9,35 mm

 

Movement dimensions: 31.4 x 32.7 mm

 

Number of components: 200 including over 100 for the auxiliary module

 

Jewelling: 21 for the movement and 18 for the module

 

Frequency: 28,800 v.p.h. (4 Hz)

 

Indications: Hours,minutes, seconds, date, phases of the moon and power reserve

 

Case:18K red gold; sapphire crystal and case back

 

Water resistance: 30 meters ( 100 feet)

 

Dial: In two parts; Clou de Paris cobbled pattern, applied figures

 

Hands: “Dauphine” style in 18K red gold

 

Strap: Croco leather

 

Clasp: Double deployment construction in 18K red gold

 

The famous INSTRUMENTINO collection takes on a miniature appearance while retaining its sophisticated contemporary design equipped with an exclusive moon phase. Feminine, very refined models to wear with or without diamonds for small and big occasions.

Everything small is cute. Taking inspiration from this maxim, de GRISOGONO has produced its symbolic INSTRUMENTINO collection in adorable proportions that will adorn the most delicate of wrists. Exclusively available in pink or white gold, the INSTRUMENTINO SMALL surprises with its miniature 155 mm and its lightweight 106 grams. With their modern beauty that falls perfectly within the spirit of the collection as well as their precious elegance, these timekeepers will appeal to women confident in their appearance, to wear everyday or for a distinguished event.

ONE FACE, FOUR VERSIONS

The INSTRUMENTINO collection is characterised by a daring contemporary design that doesn’t hesitate to have fun with the hours. Impertinent certainly, but never without reason. The INSTRUMENTINO SMALL now arranges the numbers asymmetrically, willingly forgetting to mention the 4 and the 8 in a highly sought-after casual attitude. A unique face rests on a sophisticated dial displaying scroll motifs in matching tones on a black gloss or honey bronzed back.

Perfectly mastering the art of jewellery setting, de GRISOGONO never neglects to offer watch making collections adorned with the most beautiful precious stones. Clad in its pink gold cover, the INSTRUMENTINO SMALL offers three refined versions besides its non-set version. White diamonds thus adorn several parts of the models from the bezel to the whole of the watch in a complete paving, via a semi- setting situated on the dial, the bezel as well as the strap’s first fastening links. Traditionally plain with precious stones, the white gold INSTRUMENTINO SMALL presents four versions entirely set or not, with a very elegant half-paved model, aligning several rows of small white diamonds on each of the strap’s fastening links.

AN EXCLUSIVE MOON PHASE

In general, timekeepers equipped with a moon phase display a curved shaped aperture situated at midday. Reputed for its avant-garde watch making tradition, the de GRISOGONO brand innovates by creating a totally unique moon phase design that displays a big moon at 6 °clock. A surprising feature thanks to a moon disc in an opposite colour concealed beneath a round aperture, placed just below the fixing of the hands on the INSTRUMENTINO SMALL.

Since its creation de GRISOGONO has been setting itself apart with designs with a certain daring and exquisite delight. Pushing sophistication to its limits, the INSTRUMENTINO SMALL’s quartz movement has been entirely covered with a circuit cover in blackened brass engraved with scrolls in matching tones. This meticulously finished cover is concealed in the watch, thus invisible from the outside. Because genuine luxury doesn’t necessarily have to reveal itself.

TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Calibre:
Quartz, R 788, moon phase, de GRISOGONO circuit cover

Indicators:
Hours, minutes, moon phase

Case:
5N pink gold or Pd 125 white gold

Water resistance:
30 metres

Dial:
Lacquered with appliqués or paved with appliqués

Hands:
Dauphine Strap 5N pink gold or Pd 125 white gold

Fastener:
Double folding clasp in pink or grey gold