Two Hands L Epée 1839 2800 Delémont / Switzerland Tel +41 32 421 94 00 Info@swiza.ch www.lepee-clock.ch
175 years ago was born L Epée. To celebrate this special year the brand has developed a timepiece that will suggest many interrogations. It is time for the manufacture to come back to its history and origins and redeveloped an extraordinary escapement. A Tourbillion, the most noble escapement, garners the full attention. A special Tourbillion had to be made and what a better collaboration than with Vincent Calabrese, a well known figure of the Horology world. The challenge for the teams was to create an exceptional timepiece. It is successfully done with Two Hands, thanks to the dimension, to the design, to the material, to the ideas of Vincent Calabrese and to the dexterity of L Epée 1839 team. The most surprising complication, the tourbillion comes and takes place in the middle of this piece of art. It becomes flying, and stands proudly on the middle of the Turbine shape inspired design. The movement, designed by Vincent Calabrese, includes a double tourbillion. As the movement is rotating on the single axis carrying a fixed center-wheel, the movement is embedded on top of the minute hand, it fulfill the full definition of Abraham Louis Breguet s Tourbillion. The escapement, fitted on the exterior part of the minute hand upon the extension of the escapement wheel pinion, operates in Tourbillion with a period of 60 seconds. The Tourbillon is flying as its mobile parts are fitted on bearing without upper-bridge. All of this to make the Two hands flying over gravity to explore the basics of the tourbillion. Say good bye to the biggest force applied on earth, and welcome the perfection of a movement that canceled its gravity effect. Two hands was fully crafted by L Epée 1839, Switzerland's only remaining specialised high-end clock manufacture, founded in 1839. The highly visible, superlatively finished in-house movement boasts an exceptional power reserve of 40 days with only one small barrel. L Epée 1839 2800 Delémont / Switzerland Tel +41 32 421 94 00 Tel Basel +41 61 699 41 22 info@lepee-clock.ch www.lepee-clock.ch
Hours and minutes hands are as usual used to indicate time but here it is also the main plate for the Tourbillion. The details of the finishing parts of the movement can be fully appreciated by the naked eye. The Full concept of a Flying Tourbillion can be admire and also easily understood by everyone as none of the subtle parts are hidden. This clock therefore threats observers to a fascinating visual full animation display. Almost every component of the superlatively finished palladium (or gold depending on the chosen configuration) treated brass movement is designed and manufactured at L Epée s Swiss manufacture. The gears and mainspring barrels are on full display thanks to the skeletonised Aerospace Turbine inspired design dial and to the minute s hands showing all the parts of the regulation of the clocks. When conceiving The Two hands housing, CEO Arnaud Nicolas and Designer Christian Chabloz set out a new reference to where no clock manufacturer had gone before, manufacturing an exceptional timepiece with 35 Kg of titanium. And as this was not enough, the shape is round and enamel! Two hands is limited to 2 unique pieces ; one in massive Titanium Grade 5 and one in massive brass gold plated.
The Sphere When KnowHow becomes art : No better motto will fit what had been realized by the L Epée team. With this housing, L Epée team pushes forward the limit of a masterpiece. Several challenges had been solve to manufacture this exceptional housing. The First but not the least was, for the black and white configuration, to be able to manufacture a sphere resulting of 35 kg of massive Titanium. To push to the extreme the link between design and material, the raw material used to manufacture the housing is identical to the one used in Aerospace industry: Titanium Grade 5. A unique dressing was also designed and, to be able to machining it on top of the sphere, not less than 2 millions of computer lines made by a specialist, resulting in more than 50 hours of grounding on a 5 axes CNC machine, was required. As it is an anniversary piece, the link with the past had to be visible in the movement but also in the housing, so the choice of enamel was taken. This was the biggest challenges for the l Epée team. The design of the housing is composed of 212 leaves and 167 characters. So, 379 pockets of different size, going form 0.38 mm 2 for the smaller one to 780 mm 2 for the biggest one, had to be enamel on a unique round surface. The sphere shape was a huge constrains but it was one of the key code for this anniversary piece. History is always a cycle and what a better representation than a perfect sphere! The base is also in Titanium and had to be as simple as possible. Everything is in top of it! The L Epée team wanted to have a clock that the owner can enjoy and despite the weight it had to be easily handled. To ease the discovery, to align the dial opening to its desk or to enjoy it from its sofa, the owner can easily turn it; thanks to the free rotation on its pedestal.
The Dial A Contemporary guilloché dial plated with All -Black associated with curved arms reveals the back side of the movement. Nothing is hidden, everything is shown in this turbine like dial. 3 main-plates composed the movement. The first one and the second one have this wave shape that gives a sensation of movement to the clock. The last one is placed on the back of the movement to add some kind of deepness of infinity. The deepness of the space into which the movement is flying. The Vincent Calabrese and L Epée 1839 Signatures are engraved respectively at 3h00 and 9h00 to underline the 3 and 9 of 1939, date of foundation of L Epée. The 12 numbers are sun satined finish to highlight the dial contrast and to re-enforced the turning effect. Like in a vortex, everything seems to come out from the center.
The Flying Tourbillion A new generation of Tourbillion have been developed. This flying Tourbillon lays on top of the minute hand doing a revolution in 1 hour. The influences of gravity on the accuracy of the 40-days movement disappear over the continuous and mastered rotation of the escapement. This Tourbillon, signed by Vincent Calabrese, is a revolving system as the movement is rotating on the single axis carrying a fixed center wheel. The movement is a Double Tourbillon as the escapement is rotating within the minute hand, itself rotating in 60 minutes. The escapement, fitted on the exterior part of the minute hand upon the extension of the escape wheel pinion, operates in Tourbillon with a period of 60 seconds. This Tourbillon is flying as its mobile parts are fitted on bearing without upperbridge. To enhance the visibility and so the fascination of a Flying tourbillion, the team has decided to make the cage turning anti-clockwise in an atmosphere where everything is turning clockwise.
L Epée 1839 40-days Movement L Epée 1839 has a long experience in 40 days movement. Nevertheless, this new movement has the particularity to only bear one Barrel and to place most of its wheels on top of the minute Hand. The wheels are driven in a continuous motion by the minute hand, while the barrel is attached to the dial of this masterpiece. Developing a 40 days movement, with only one unique barrel, was the only way to reach the flying effect we wanted for the movement here says Arnaud Nicolas.
Vincent Calabrese Vincent Calabrese is recognized worldwide as a prodigious watchmaker. His original creations, from very different nature, are still more and more surprising. This is a man who loves to create, to assemble and overcome the challenges that comes to him with a touch of poesy and philosophy. He is the famous guy that, in 1990, at the 62th Congress of the Swiss Chronomeric Society, shake the watch industry by stating and proving (with the first realization of Two hands) the difference between a Tourbillon and a Caroussel, between Breguet and Bonniksen realizations. Vincent Calabrese had expressed his wish to surprise again the watch industry. Through the L Epée 1839 partnership, he has revisited his first idea of creating an exceptional timepiece visually aesthetic and mechanically interesting. With over 35 years of experience, his Horological prowess creations are countless. Not to mention the Corum T- Bridge, the new extra flat tourbillon from Blancpain.and now this new flying tourbillon with L Epée 1839. This is a man who loves transparency, beauty and purity of the mechanical movement.
L Epée 1839 For 175 years, L'Epée has been at the forefront of watch and clock making. Today, it is the only specialised manufacture in Switzerland dedicated to making high-end clocks. L'Epée was founded in 1839, initially to make music box and watch components, by Auguste L Epée who set up the business near Besançon, France. The L Epée hallmark was that all parts were made entirely by hand. From 1850 onwards, the manufacture became a leading light in the production of platform escapements. By 1877, it was making 24,000 platform escapements annually. The manufacture became a well known specialist owning a large number of patents on special escapements such as antiknocking, auto-starting and constant-force escapements and the chief supplier of escapements to several celebrated watchmakers of the day. L'Epée 1839 has won numbers of gold awards at International Exhibitions throughout its history. L'Epée is now based in Delémont, in the Swiss Jura Mountains. Under the guidance of CEO Arnaud Nicolas, L Epée 1839 has developed an exceptional table clock collection, contemporary design clocks (Le Duel) and avant-garde, minimalist design clocks (La Tour). L Epée 1839 clocks feature complications including retrograde seconds, power reserve indicators, perpetual calendars, tourbillions, striking mechanisms... all in-house designed and manufactured. Ultra-long power reserves have become a signature of the brand as well as superlative fine finishing.
Technical Specifications Reference Movement 10.2014/001 10.2014/101 Exclusive mechanical movement Swiss-Made Exclusive mechanical movement Swiss-Made Caliber 175 T 175 T Decoration Gold Plated massive brass All-black Dial and Bridges. Palladium plated Massive brass All-black Dial and Bridges. Jewels Rewinding 19 Manual with a design key 19 Manual with a design key Power Reserve 40 Days 40 Days Functions Hours, Minutes, Flying Tourbillion Hours, Minutes, Flying Tourbillion Fréquence Dimensions Edition 2.5 Hz Ø290 mm (71kg) Unique piece 2.5 Hz Ø290 mm (40kg) Unique piece Cabinet Gold plated brass 63kg Cabinet (34kg) Pedestal & Bezel : Titane grade 5