The four most interesting novelties of 2024: editor's pick at Qlekta.com.

 

Not so long ago, big-name brands would only introduce a maximum of four to six interior clocks per year. Each novelty remained a sensational talking point for a long time, as they tended to be extremely complicated mechanisms with a perpetual and astronomical theme.

 

But what appeared to be far more telling was how the few movement makers for interior clocks were practically fighting for survival. But now the tables have turned. So much so that it's now easier to list the major maisons that don't manufacture interior clocks than the ones that do. 

 

The ones who mostly stay on the sidelines are Rolex, A. Lange & Söhne, Audemars Piguet, IWC, Girard-Perregaux, Breguet and Omega. All the others are in on it. Want a list of names? Sure thing! It has never crossed minds at Patek Philippe to discontinue their famous dome table clocks — they've done the opposite and stepped up production.

 

Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Arca Table Clock, 2015
Vacheron Constantin Métiers d’Art Arca Table Clock, 2015
Vacheron Constantin Caliber 926 with constant force mechanism, 2015
Vacheron Constantin Caliber 926 with constant force mechanism, 2015

 Just like Jaeger-LeCoultre has developed their iconic Atmos clock collection. From time to time, Vacheron Constantin reminds us of the existence of table clocks — we recall their Métiers d’Art Arca table clock collection.

 

The legendary Maison Cartier has dramatically increased their production of interior clocks, and the same goes for Van Cleef & Arpels. Direct competitors are striving to keep up with the luxury leaders: Hermès, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, and Chanel.

 

It isn't even rare for the Italian watch brand Officine Panerai, with a clear-cut military and naval heritage, to use fanciful planetarium clocks to remind the public that their native Florence is also where Galileo Galilei was lived and worked (born in the Duchy of Florence).

And this can't help but delight the collectors who can afford to decorate their homes with such technically perfected, rare, and therefore naturally very expensive items like interior clocks.

 

Parmigiani's "Tempus Fugit" in the "Objets d'Art" Collection

 

Parmigiani has long made stunningly beautiful and very complex interior clocks in fairly large quantities. After all, these were quite often the timepieces that founder Michel Parmigiani would repair and restore when he was starting out on his career as a young restorer.

 

That must have been when he fell in love with creating advanced interior clocks in every sense of the word. Oh, and as this background would suggest, Parmigiani creates clocks in the traditional, classic style. And this is the type of classic that's timeless. 

 

Parmigiani “Tempus Fugit” Objet d’Art
Parmigiani “Tempus Fugit” Objet d’Art

To celebrate the Year of the Dragon in the Chinese zodiac calendar, Parmigiani has made yet another dragon chasing a pearl. We say yet another because exactly twelve years ago, Parmigiani introduced this clock called Le Dragon et la Perle du Savoir (reportedly priced at just over USD 3 million at the time).

The story it tells is Chinese civilization's ancient legend of the Dragon and the Pearl of Knowledge. The mightiest creature on Earth pursues an elusive pearl, which symbolizes spiritual energy and power, self-betterment, wisdom and wealth, health and immortality, and of course, happiness.

But it would probably be more accurate to say that this clock was enhanced in a restoration process rather than manufactured, perhaps on the new owner's request. That's why it was given the new name "Tempus Fugit" (Latin for "time flies"). The updated dragon is an automaton clock with strikeworks. 

Its majestic body is made of 925 silver with 20-micron gold plating, and decorated with jade, rubies and carnelian. The shining pearl is also made of gold encrusted with precious stones: diamonds, rubies, and yellow sapphires. The dragon swirls in pursuit of the pearl, although the pearl speeds up six times per hour, slipping from the dragon's clutches.

A gong sounds each time the pearl moves. The automaton measures 28 cm in height and weighs 6.12 kg. The glass-like cylindrical base is made of rock crystal. Near its upper rim is where you can find a scale for the traditional Chinese 12-hour day with smaller Arabic numerals below for the familiar 24-hour day.

 

It's a rotating gilded silver ring, where a jade-set pointer indicates the hour. The lower half of the base holds the extremely complicated hand-wound PF670 striking and automaton movement, which has an eight-day power reserve. The price for the new dragon has unfortunately yet to be disclosed. But it certainly won't be any less than USD 4 million.

 

Chanel Couture O’Clock Musical Clock

 

Maison Chanel is in its infancy when it comes to interior clocks — but growing up fast. In 2018, the luxury fashion house introduced a table clock designed by Chanel and developed by the company L'Epée 1839: the Monsieur de Chanel Chronosphère Clock.

 

It was a glass sphere inspired by a rock crystal ornament in Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel's apartment. The hours and minutes were displayed in the globe by two rotating drums, which also wind the movement. Buyers may have complained that they thought it was overpriced, but all five models were still purchased for around EUR 200,000.

 

Chanel Monsieur de Chanel Chronosphere Clock
Chanel Monsieur de Chanel Chronosphere Clock

Last year saw the premiere of the Lion Astroclock model — a glass sphere propped up on an improvised glass cage with a lion — Leo was Coco Chanel's zodiac sign. At the center of the sphere, you can find the Earth with an hour scale running along its equator, and a five-point star.

 

One of the star's rays serves as the hour hand. The clock was also more expensive: USD 350,500 for each of the five pieces. Chanel has introduced a new and far more complicated model this year featuring a music box: the Couture O’Clock Musical Clock.

 

It's dedicated to the great fashion designer's work. This is no crystal ball on a cage. It's an elongated dome measuring around 24 cm in height that stands on a round base made of black onyx, which is approximately a little over 10 cm in height (the clock's full dimensions are 34.2 cm by 19.8 cm).

 

Chanel Couture O’Clock Musical Clock, closeup
Chanel Couture O’Clock Musical Clock, closeup
Historical photo of Coco Chanel's private room at 31 Rue Cambon Paris
Historical photo of Coco Chanel's private room at 31 Rue Cambon Paris
Chanel Couture O’Clock Musical Clock, musical box cylinder
Chanel Couture O’Clock Musical Clock, musical box cylinder

The dome shelters a tailor's studio with five revolving mannequins and a stylish avant-garde chandelier hanging over them. All of these elements help create the atmosphere of Coco Chanel's workshop-apartment on Rue Cambon in Paris, where Chanel's flagship boutique is now located.

 

A well-calibrated 24-hour scale with 12-minute intervals can be found where the dome meets the base. It mimics a tailor’s tape measure. The scale rotates, while the hour is indicated by a fixed pairing of a large pearl and a baguette-cut diamond at the base.

 

When the music box is activated, the studio begins to twirl to the melody of the song "My Woman" by the South African-British vocalist Al Bowlly, who Coco Chanel is said to have adored.

 

Chanel Couture O’Clock Musical Clock
Chanel Couture O’Clock Musical Clock

The mechanism is by the music-box maker Reuge, which was recently acquired by De Bethune. The one-of-a-kind model has already been sold for EUR 2.6 million.

 

Urwerk SpaceTime Blade

 

Urwerk has introduced the most unusual interior clock — you could describe it as either a beam of light where darkness prevails in an intergalactic vacuum, or just a Jedi's lightsaber. It's actually a glass tube measuring 162 cm in length with smaller Nixie tubes inside.

 

They contain neon gas and have anodes arranged in a metal grid and cathodes to form the numerals. The clock stands on a small metal base. The base comes in bronze, the material used for scientific instruments like telescopes and microscopes, but a client could request to have it made of a different metal.

 

Urwerk SpaceTime Blade
Urwerk SpaceTime Blade

The entire construction weighs 40 kg. Its eight Nixie 8 Nixie blown-glass bulbs indicate hours, minutes, seconds, plus tenths and hundredths of a second. So we may be tempted to write that there's never been such an accurate interior clock before. Only there has been. It was unveiled in 2018 — also by Urwerk co-founders Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner.

 

It was called the AMC (Atomic Master Clock), and it came in the shape of a metal briefcase with an atomic clock featuring a removable Urwerk wristwatch inside a capsule. Timekeeping was powered by rubidium in this clock. So one of the displays on the briefcase was a constantly running digital milliseconds indicator.

 

The watchmaking partners set a limit of three sets priced at USD 2.7 million a pop. The Atomic Master Clock has yet to resurface on the pre-owned watch market. Prices for Frei and Baumgartner's new SpaceTime Blade start at CHF 55,000. The first unique-piece version sold in May at the Only Watch auction realized CHF 65,000.

 

Urwerk Atomic Master Clock
Urwerk Atomic Master Clock
Urwerk Atomic Master Clock
Urwerk Atomic Master Clock

That sure is pricey for a device that measures time with rudimentary neon tube lighting that was mass-produced a few decades ago. But the co-founders insist that these are no ordinary Nixie lamps. Each bulb has 88 components and is individually custom-shaped using a blowtorch before being filled with low-pressure neon gas.

 

So their lifespan won't be limited to a few months or years — they should last forever. Moreover, the clock also features an indication for the kilometers covered by the Earth in a day's rotation at the equator, as well as two indications for the kilometers traveled by the Earth as it revolves around the Sun per day and per year.

 

These readings can be shown using a remote control that comes with the clock. The apparatus is powered by an electrical spinal column. It isn't vulnerable to voltage swings or short-term power outages.

 

MB&F x L’Epée 1839 Albatross

 

This isn't Maximilian Büsser's first steampunk-style interior clock, but it is the biggest, brightest, and most complicated. It's named after the aerostat flown by the protagonist in Jules Verne's novel "Robur the Conqueror". Not only does the Albatross tell the time, it also strikes the hours.

 

In other words, the L’Epée movement is far more complicated here than in interior models from previous years that the manufacturer created for MB&F. And the 32 propellers don't just rotate for show here. They perform the function of manual winding to power timekeeping and the striking hour.

 

And there are three barrels here: two mounted in parallel are responsible for timekeeping and the striking mechanism, while a third provides the energy for the propellers. Basically, the propellers at the front power timekeeping and the strikeworks, while the ones at the back wind the automaton mechanism.

 

MB&F x L’Epée 1839 Albatross
MB&F x L’Epée 1839 Albatross

By the way, Büsser asked the manufacturer to keep the propeller rotation down to a minimum (one full revolution every 14 seconds). So they won't blow pages off the desk or an annoying breeze in the owner's face. Oh, and the chiming function can be deactivated if you want.

 

The case made of aluminum, steel, and brass measures 60 cm in length, 35 cm in width, and 60 cm in height. The airship weighs 17 kg. Some of its components are painted in either blue, red, green, black, or a champagne color.

 

Eight models will be released in each color. The model is priced at CHF 119,000 (excluding VAT), which is significantly more expensive than previous interior clocks by MB&F x L’Epee. We'll soon see how this affects sales.

 

Credits provided by: www.jaeger-lecoultre.com, www.vacheron-constantin.com, www.louisvuitton.com,
www.parmigiani.comwww.chanel.comwww.urwerk.comwww.mbandf.com