Quintessential and subtle! From the Luxembourg Grand Duchy to the historical watchmaking terroirs of the Swiss Jura Valley, Duke’s “Clarity Tourbillon” eulogized absolute purity. Its powerful design is at the heart of the 2023 watchmaking agenda.
Une sélection de Shaniah Asha Gibson / @TRP, Public Relations Cabinet
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Expertise in chronometry and master complications. The development of an in-house caliber, the 9600, for eight timepieces only, is a matter of entrepreneurship daring driven by a passion for the extreme and the rare. A strong message for collectors around the world and for some retail very special players.
Manufacture 9600 Caliber, an ultra-silent mysterious rotor
Right from the start, the Duke brand has placed its timepiece among the greatest names in watchmaking. For there are only a few movements with the Tourbillon complication paired with the automatic winding complication.
Here, and this is quite specific, the oscillating weight is totally unnoticeable since it has been crafted in sapphire glass. Even better, listening to the piece while waving it by ear, one needs a keen sense of hearing to perceive the to-and-fro of the rotating rotor that runs on ceramic ball bearings. This oscillating weight, in a caliber beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour (i.e. a frequency of 3 Hertz), is no less efficient since it is generating a self-removing energy whose power reserve covers 72 hours.
A free-of-gravity Tourbillon
The other remarkable transparency of this 8- piece ultra-limited series is its vivid design, which, from a 100-degree opening with softened edges, is a celebration of the complicated Tourbillon mechanism. This horological complication and its floating cage provide a new perspective to Abraham-Louis Breguet‘s famous invention of over 200 years ago: a micromechanical structure that is performing its whole circumvolution every one minute, i.e. at a rate of 60 pulsations per minute.
Carbon fiber and grade 5 Titanium, individually hand-finished
The “Duke Clarity Tourbillon” First Edition, with its touch of orthogonality, is breathtaking. It merges the expertise of materials and the characteristic finishes of horological craftsmanship. Water-resistant to minus 50 meters (equal to 5 atmospheres), its case structure and its bottom flanks are made of titanium carbon fiber, while its bezel, including the lugs, as well as its case back and its crown, is made of Grade 5 Titanium, a material whose machining requires some extra soul and skill.
The handmade finishes are then twirling in a subtle festival of visual effects. High-added human value touches hand beveling, polished-mirror effects, and reliefs made of alternating-grained, sun-brushed, or shot-blasted surfaces.
With its own workshops in a stunning architectural location in Luxembourg as well as in the fabric of the watchmaking factories and ateliers in La Chaux-de-Fonds, the Manufacture Grand-Ducale enables the Duke brand to grow under the flag of independency while relying on the age-old know-how of watchmaking, chronometry, and a sharp and pure aesthetic. A Manufacture’s level of Maturity.
