Luca Soprana Goes Independent, with his New, Minimalist yet Sophisticated Time Only Watch

Luca Soprana is an independent watchmaker, not widely known by a large audience, yet highly regarded by collectors and industry insiders for his work with renowned brands. Situated in Vaumarcus, near Neuchâtel, his Atelier 7h38 focuses on restoration as well as developing and producing high-end movements for external clients. While some projects have been unveiled to the public, such as those for Jacob & Co. or Massena LAB, most are conducted behind the scenes. After years working for others, including the recent and stunning return of Derek Pratt, it was time for Soprana to create watches under his own name through a new company, Soprana Micromécanique Appliquée (a nod to THA, Techniques Horlogères Appliquées, of François-Paul Journe, Denis Flageollet and Vianney Halter). His first creation is a superb, minimalist yet sophisticated three-hand dress watch, simply named the Soprana Time Only.

As its name suggests, the Soprana Time Only focuses on the essentials, bringing the independent watchmaker’s ethos into an elegant three-hander. Yet, as you might expect from this detail-obsessed craftsman, its apparent simplicity leaves nothing to chance. The vast majority of the components (with a few exceptions such as the case and its crystals) are manufactured in his atelier, the traditional way and predominantly by hand.

In the watchmaker’s own words, “its movement is inspired by traditional watchmaking, tourbillon movements from the early 20th century… the idea is to highlight the mechanics and architecture of the movement in all its glory, without ostentation. The attention granted to the finishes is extreme but never in demonstration.”

Less is more

The Soprana Time Only is a pure and minimalist design, with symmetry and linearity as key words, extremely well made but anything but ostentatious. With its sober design, it feels almost Calvinist in its approach, which would almost come as a surprise given Soprana’s Italian origins… The watch comes in a 38.8mm steel case with polished, sloping lugs. The elegant two-tone sector dial is nicely balanced and proportioned with its small seconds at 6 o’clock. It combines ruthenium-plated, finely grained surfaces and circular brushed, metallic areas. Black engraved markings complete its restrained design. The lance-shaped steel hands are flamed blued, and just like the dial, are manufactured in-house.

Altogether, the design of the watch is superbly elegant in its deceptive simplicity. If it is guided by the same philosophy, the movement is a feast for the eyes and radiates expert craftsmanship. There again, the architecture is based on symmetry with a large bridge hiding most of the movement intricacies to majestically highlight its large 12mm balance wheel. Beating at 18,000 vibrations/hour, it is held under a black polished steel bridge. It features regulating screws, plus a beautiful, long index regulator for fine adjustment. The hairspring has a Breguet terminal curve, and it is shaped and counted in-house. The power reserve is rated at 42 hours on a single barrel.

Performed the traditional way, the superb finishes include straight Geneva stripes, superb anglage and black-polished steel parts. The plate and the bridges are crafted from ARCAP (a non-ferrous, non-tarnishing, non-magnetic alloy typically made from copper, nickel, and zinc, and corrosion-resistant, non-magnetic and stable under temperature changes), with the exception of the steel transversal bridge holding in place the balance and perfectly extended by two ARCAP bridges. The integration of the escape wheel cap jewel into a steel setting is another beautiful detail. The captions, Luca Soprana, Vaumarcus and the individual number of the movement are directly engraved on the movement, without using any plates.

The Soprana Time Only comes on an alligator leather strap fitted with a pin buckle. Designing a fine dress watch is not an easy task. Perfection is in the details, and in this respect, the Soprana Time Only truly impresses. Given the handwork involved in its fabrication, the production capacity is about 10 pieces per year. Price is set at CHF 65,000.

For more information, please visit www.sopranawatches.com.