Tourbillon Solstitium (order now)

In-house Movement

What began as a deeply personal creation soon resonated beyond myself. As
appreciation for the design grew, a collector expressed the desire to acquire the
prototype. I accepted, crafting the piece for him and engraving his initials onto
the movement, transforming it into something uniquely his.

After delivering the original tourbillon, I was fortunate to present the piece at
AHCI and other exhibitions, becoming an AHCI candidate with my work.
Following this milestone, several different commissions naturally emerged.
Among these creations are timepieces displaying 38 time zones with automatic
daylight saving adjustment, a triple axis tourbillon, designing the most
complicated timepiece in the history and creating the easiest perpetual calendar
in the world.

Impression of the tourbillon

Making the Tourbillon Solstitium

The design started on paper, followed by CAD. All the calculations were done
and the creation of the components started from plates of brass, steel bars and
raw rubies. Every component was created from scratch on mostly manually
operated machines. The gears, pinions and escape wheels are made from steel
and brass bars on a 120 year old machine which I adapted for the work, as I did
with many machines.

The tourbillon

I designed the escapement, followed by the tourbillon cage. The balance wheel is made
from gold plated Berillium Bronze and has gold weights, The cage was filed down by
hand to an ultra-thin ring. The in-house escapement features a free-sprung balance
oscillating at 21,600 vibrations per hour in a one-minute tourbillon, all fitted in a big, but
light 14mm tourbillon cage. 2 Gold weights on the cage circumfirance are adjusted to
balance the tourbillon out.

The ‘hidden’ winding indicator

I wanted to incorporate another feature that I really like: a winding indicator. I
did not want to add anything to the dial, so to keep the dial as clean as possible,
I hid the indicator in the logo on the dial. Theactual torque from the two mainsprings is
measured. Once the torque becomes below a certain value, the indicator on the dial shows
up in the logo. The upper part of the logo will turn red, telling you, you have reached the last
10% of power reserve. Once you wind the timepiece, the indicator will ‘vanish’.

The retrograde minutes and jumping hours

The prototype Tourbillon has proven its reliability over many years, but I
wanted to make some changes from the learnings of the prototype.
A fundamental limitation of traditional retrograde system is it’s unidirectional
nature. Adjusting it backwards beyond the ‘0’ is either impossible or potentially
even harmful to the movement.

This constraint became the starting point for innovation and technical
improvements: what if the minutes hand could jump both ways?
The result is a newly developed system in which both the jumping hours and
retrograde minutes can be adjusted forwards and backwards, a rare and
technically demanding achievement, making the timepiece fully fool-proof.

The Subscription order process

Only a few will have the opportunity to join this journey. We will produce just
13 pieces, with number 0/12 being auctioned for local charity. This initiative
allows us to support our community, including the athletics club, sports
organisations and nature preservation efforts (such as De Veluwe and Van
Meurs Park).

As a subscriber, you will receive updates, photos and video’s throughout the
process. Whatsapp will be our preferred communication channel.
You won’t just witness the creation of your timepiece; you’re also invited to the
Atelier to help craft a component for your own timepiece! You’ll follow the
entire process and have the opportunity to make choices regarding decoration,
aestethic finishing and overall design.

Here, you’ll learn some of the real secrets of watchmaking!

To subscribe and order this watch, please contact me by e-mail with your preferred choices for:

Case color (rose gold, yellow gold, white gold or platinum)
Dial, hands -and indexes colors
Preferred timepiece number (if still available)

The remaining finishes and details (like the lower tourbillon bridge design) will
be discussed later. Since this is an in-house project, we can finalize these details
until your components are being made. So, don’t worry if you are not entirely
certain about a colour or combination – there will be ample time to refine your
choices throughout the process.

The timepiece will come with a service manual, so every experienced
watchmaker will be able to service the watch in the future.

The delivery of the 12 timepieces will take between 2 and 2.5 years.