Search
Close this search box.

The Blancpain flying tourbillon’s delicate, decorative movement

The Villeret Tourbillon Volant Heure Sautante Minute Rétrograde alters Blancpain’s blueprint with startling results.

The Blancpain flying tourbillon has been an integral part of the traditional watchmaking scene for nearly three decades. This construction offers an unsurpassed view of the tourbillon’s key components, unobstructed by the upper bridge featured in conventional tourbillon designs. The new Villeret Tourbillon Volant Heure Sautante Minute Rétrograde takes this concept one step further, as the lower bridge has been removed and replaced by a clear sapphire disk. The tourbillon cage, its balance wheel and its escapement seem to be floating in space above the tourbillon’s fixed wheel attached to the clear disk.

 

Neither the jump hour nor retrograde minute complications have appeared in Blancpain wristwatches – this new timepiece marks their debut within Blancpain’s archives. These hours and minutes displays are grouped together, with the hours window placed on the retrograde minutes counter.Villeret Tourbillon Volant Heure Sautante Minute Rétrograd front

 

The new model features a grand feu enamel dial handcrafted in the Blancpain Métier d’Arts studio using the traditional champlevé technique. The artisans begin by hollowing out the solid gold base of the dial to create small compartments. Several layers of enamel are hand-painted onto the dial and fired at a temperature of around 800 degrees Celsius. Adding diamond-polished gold rings around the hours window, as well as the tourbillon porthole, lends a further sophisticated touch, before the minutes counter is applied to the dial, creating an intriguing depth effect.

 

This concern for detail is also reflected in the movement, of which the bridges are adorned with a hand-guilloché pattern. Through the transparent sapphire case back, the ratchet-wheel featuring Blancpain’s famous beveled wheel-rim design, as well as consulting the power reserve indicated by a guilloché disk, can be seen.

 

The new Villeret Tourbillon Volant Heure Sautante Minute Rétrograde is housed in a double stepped 42 mm red gold case. It is teamed with an alligator strap or metal bracelet, both secured by a folding clasp. A 50-piece platinum limited-edition version is also available. blancpain.com

RELATED ARTICLES
hermes

Discover the new Hermès Arceau and Slim D’Hermès

bulgari

Bulgari New Icon Campaign: B.Zero1

rolex

Oyster Perpetual Explore: One of Rolex’s very first Professional watches

auction

Imibala Summer Gala Auction Lots Announced

Sign up to the Private Edition Newsletter to view our latest magazine