Kari Voutilainen, Chronometre 27 collection
| Ref.: | Chronometre 27 |
| Description: | Timekeeping was once a domain dedicated to the pursuit of pure accuracy, and to this end, so-called ‘observatory watches’ were created. These watches possessed exceptional accuracy concerning all the important technical areas of movement functionality; however visual finishing was of secondary importance. The surfaces of pinions and wheels were completely true and highly polished with exceptionally accurate tolerances; balance and winding springs were pre-tested and hand chosen, the dimensions of shafts, bearings and pivots perfectly realized. Watches such as these, created solely for accuracy and nothing else, are capable of a mean accuracy of only tenths of a second per day in test conditions, something virtually unheard of even in 21st century mechanical watchmaking. Observatory watches were in general never offered for sale to the general public since they were destined solely for timing trials, a gesture of competitive spirit amongst watch companies jousting to prove their individual merit through the attainment of the greatest possible accuracy. After the introduction of so-called ‘high-beat’ mechanical movements followed by the perfecting of electronic, quartz based timekeeping during the 1970’s, the culture of official observatory testing declined and slowly died out. This was replaced by a method of electronic batch testing uncased movements en masse as a method of quality control for large production numbers. With ever-larger amounts of movements being offered for testing each year, an institution called COSC was created to handle the chronometric measurement of movements in large quantities. |
| Condition: | Brand new in box with papers & certificate |
