Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. Introducing The Cyril Brivet-Naudot Eccentricity Réserve de Marche
The Eccentricity now with power reserve indication… and a movement still "CNC-free"
Independent watchmaking has received a growing level of attention and respect over the past few years. Indie creations are exclusive, personal and for some, crafted to a level of detail that you simply cannot get with mass-produced watches. This is exactly what makes the works of Cyril Brivet-Naudot unique. Miles away from Switzerland or from the French watchmaking region, this young watchmaker is established in Brittany where he crafts his watches entirely by hand. Presented two years ago, his first opus, the Eccentricity was already a remarkable piece of horological ingenuity, with exquisite craftsmanship and exceptional details. It now comes in a new edition, fitted with a power reserve indication… and it is still created without the use of CNC machines or subcontractors.
If the traditional inspiration is quite obvious, the Brivet-Naudot Eccentricity Réserve de Marche is a truly personal creation. Originally commissioned by a collector, as its name suggests, it is based on the original Eccentricity watch, with an additional power reserve indication. This beautifully crafted watch stands out with its original construction with a dial-mounted and slow-beating oversized balance wheel and off-centred concentric hour and minute indication. A small inner dial displays the hours while the minutes can be read on the outer rotating silver ring thanks to a fixed pointer. The power reserve indication is now added at 6 o’clock allowing the wearer to know the amount of energy remaining in the barrel spring. It thus indicates when to wind the watch to prevent the movement from stopping but also, to avoid the extreme zones of arming and disarming of the mainspring to ensure a more constant power delivery.
Like the first Eccentricity, this new model has no crown. Turn the watch over and the sapphire crystal features keyholes for winding and setting. It also provides a view of the superbly finished movement and its “libre excentrique” escapement.
Inspired by a 19th-century escapement by Louis Richard (échappement Richard libre excentrique à ressort et irrenversable, circa 1860), it has been modernized by Cyril Brivet-Naudot and his friend Luc Monnet, and it has been made available as an open-source escapement. With this lost-beat direct-impulse escapement, the balance wheel is fitted with an oversized eccentric thrusting roller with an oil-free impulse jewel and a crescent shape passing cut-away. An offset pallet fork, with two locking pallets, controls the motion of the escape wheel. This fork is fit on a lever with a counterweight coupled with a safety spring. As the spring engages in the cut-away, it drives the lever causing the escape wheel to unlock and lock on the fork’s pallets.
For the power indication, Brivet-Naudot opted for a screw differential with a polished steel cone: the power reserve indication hand is driven by a suspended truncated cone connected to the barrel and moving up and down. A feeler spindle reflects the barrel’s state of wind thanks to its position on the cone.
Just like for the Eccentricity, every component is meticulously hand-crafted by Brivet-Naudot using traditional tools and techniques. The only parts that are “bought” are the jewels, the crystal, the mainspring and the hairspring (that is shaped by hand). The engravings are performed by an engraver, not by a machine. No CNC machine is used to create the case or the parts of the movement, which are entirely shaped, cut, filed, decorated and assembled by hand… or at least without modern machines.
The Cyril Brivet-Naudot Eccentricity Réserve de Marche comes on an alligator leather strap with a pin buckle. Exclusively made-to-order, it is priced at EUR 120,000.
For more information and to contact Cyril Brivet-Naudot, www.Brivet-Naudot.com.
1 response
Technologically interesting but not remotely attractive