Niche brand Cyrus has yet to celebrate its 10th anniversary (the brand was only founded in 2010) but over its relatively short lifespan it has always come up with original products, including a three-dimensional moon phase indicator and crowns on both sides of the watch. For Baselworld 2018 the brand reveals an equally original interpretation of the tourbillon, which takes pride of place at the centre of the watch with a totally original vertical alignment.
One of the main problems watchmakers face with a central tourbillon is that the tourbillon is located where the axles for the hour, minute and seconds hands would normally be. That means that more innovative ways of displaying the hours and minutes need to be used. Often this comes in the form of discs driven from an off-centred location or from the circumference of the dial. Cyrus has, however, added an additional layer of significant complexity by not just locating the tourbillon in its new Klepcys model at the centre of the watch, but by rotating it through 90 degrees so that it is aligned vertically.
Architecture and symmetry
An imposing arch holds this vertical tourbillon in place and fills the entire case diameter from 12 o’clock to 6 o’clock. This arch makes it impossible to have an hour and minute indication that moves around the entire dial, but this posed no great problem to Cyrus, which has a tradition of retrograde displays. There is a pleasing symmetry in the two retrograde indications, with the hours on the left and the minutes on the right. But the two pointers move in opposition, with the hours moving from bottom to top and minutes from top to bottom. It is perhaps purely coincidental that the time of 10.10 often used for press photos thus has the same alignment on the Cyrus Klepcys Vertical Tourbillon, even though Cyrus strangely has the watches in its press photos set to 10.30. The one-minute tourbillon beats out the seconds with an original touch of five-minute indicators around the tourbillon carriage in the form of blocks. The seconds can thus be read from the very centre of the dial, with an equally innovative sphere at 12 o’clock indicating the remaining hours of the impressive 96-hour power reserve.
A new case
The Klepcys case retains its twin crown arrangement, with the crown at 3 o’clock used to set the time and wind the movement and the one at 9 o’clock for rapid adjustment of the hour.
But the case has been reworked with a new design with a 44mm diameter, shorter lugs and thinner bevels on the bezel. Furthermore, there is no inner flange on the dial, as there is on the chronograph, which compensates for the slightly reduced diameter and actually makes the dial look bigger. The Klepcys Vertical Tourbillon will initially be available in 18-carat rose gold (in the less common 4N colour), rose-gold and black DLC titanium and all-black DLC titanium. The dial is also in black DLC, with contrasting rose-gold accents for the models using rose gold and the manually wound vertical tourbillon movement can be viewed in its entirety through the transparent sapphire crystal case back. The three versions available each come as a limited edition of just 38 and are matched with crocodile leather straps.
