Although it is not officially launching until Baselworld 2013, Zenith was in Geneva this past week promoting the latest addition to the Christophe Colomb family of watches, the latest of which has been christened Hurricane.
The Christophe Colomb, part of Zenith’s complicated Academy collection, is characterized by the unmistakable protrusion at the 6 o’clock position. Zenith’s quite specific goals with the Christophe Colomb models has been to create comfortable and ergonomic wearing of the watch (despite the sapphire crystal protrusion) and to extend the duration of the movement’s operation while maintaining precise time measurement. The suspension of the escapement and balance in a cage, resulting in what looks like a little ball, is aimed at reaching these goals. The cardanic suspension means that no matter which way the wearer moves his or her wrist, no matter what position the watch is in, the balance will always remain in a horizontal position. This gyroscope component in the cage boasts 173 parts.
The Hurricane attempts to further develop on these goals by using a chain-and-fusée element to control variations and stabilize force as the mainspring unwinds.
Only a handful of watch brands today have attempted this, and according to Zenith, it took two years to fine tune the chain and fusee for the Hurricane. The chain is 18 cm long and composed of 585 individual components. The Hurricane’s power reserve is fifty hours. The base movement used is the manual wind El Primero 8805.
As for the rest of the watch, the hours and minutes are at 12 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock, and power reserve indicator at 3 o’clock. The hour markers are black lacquer and the hands blued steel. The 45 mm rose gold case has an open case back for the owner’s viewing pleasure.
With the use of the rather vintage chain and fusée in this new Christophe Colomb watch, Zenith is clearly determined to prove to everyone how far it can push itself technically.
(ref: worldtempus.com).
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