Thread: Some Prefer Things Complicated

Can you say vulcanized stainless.....

That's a really nice UN. They always seem to have some crazy combinations.

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Finally got to the end of this thread, such amazing works of art.

Damn shorty that must have taken a while. Congrats!

Originally Posted by Salduchi

Damn shorty that must have taken a while. Congrats!

Took a week, checking it out at night after work.

I gotta write my novel, if I wanna get some Richard Mille pieces!

Grieb & Benzinger Blue Danube

43mm platinum case, manual wind movement made by Patek Philippe for Tiffany & Co. circa 1890, fitted on a navy blue alligator skin strap with platinum buckle







The base plate was first hand-skeletonized and hand-guilloché before being coated with the blue platinum developed by GRIEB & BENZINGER. The three-quarter plate was also hand-skeletonized and guilloché, coated with rhodium and rose gold. Every single bridge was skeletonized, guilloché and rhodium-plated, the hand-engraved balance cock was rhodium- and rose gold-plated. The visible spring barrel was guilloché. Even the wheels were guilloché, and the heads of all steel screws were polished by hand and classically tempered a cornflower blue over an open flame.





The 26-jewel movement is based on an historical minute repeater with split-seconds chronograph and manually wound. It was made by Patek Philippe for Tiffany New York about 1890. With a diameter of only 36.5 mm, this tremendous assembly of complications is rare in such a small movement.







The compensation screw balance with blued Breguet spring beats at 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour. Keeping in mind that this movement is already about 120 years old, it is doubtlessly a sensation and tribute to historic watchmaking. The detailed restoration of the more than 400 components of this extraordinary, complicated movement required intense attention:




anti-reflective, domed sapphire crystal and flat sapphire crystal on case back; pusher and crown are made of solid platinum and decorated with guilloché








Did You Know?

Breguet Frosting

Abraham Louis Breguet, one of the greatest watchmakers of all times, once again is the source of inspiration for the Frosted Finish on Grieb & Benzinger dials. Like in the late 18th and early 19th century, the dial surface is worked on using a combination of oxidation by means of an open flame as well as a special acid mixture. The result is a silvery-white surface which reminds of frost. Thus the name, Breguet Frosting.

The ‘frost’ served as a surface sealing, protecting the dial from oxidation (tarnishing of the silver). The fascinating silver-white colour is a feast for the connoisseur’s eye which so far could never be reached, even by means of the most modern galvanic methods…

Today, the original Breguet Frost Finish is exclusively applied by Grieb & Benzinger.

Who's the member that wanted to skeletonize his own watch? Well here's your how to video.

The dial is clean, but yet features delicate engine turned guilloche patterns. As this is a chronograph, the pride of place on the dial is given to the seconds counter for the chronograph, while the time is indicated on the subdial at 6 o'clock.

The movement is equally fascinating, the surface of the bridges are finished in a frosted 18k gold plating. And the hand anglaged sides glistened as they are polished to a shine contrasting with the frosted plate tops





A closer look at the chronograph wheel and its bridge, showing the contrast on the polished anglage against the frosted top:




Another look at the beautifully set and polished column wheel, which commands all the chronograph functions with precision:





Another side view of the movement, showing the 3D watchscape: