WORLDTEMPUS - 23 December 2010
Elizabeth Lilly Doerr
The promise that unfolds in the words composing this watch's name is kept by the minimalistic mechanics of Thomas Prescher's latest oeuvre.
Much of Prescher's independent work has centered around the idea of making the fascination of his single and multiple-axis tourbillons eminently visible. The latest addition to his line does this in an exemplary way using one of the oldest illusions known to watchmaking to achieve it. The “mysterious” timepiece, quite popular in the nineteenth century, seems to display the time without any visible connection to the movement. During the heyday of the style, Cartier was famous for its mysterious timepieces. Following the tradition, Prescher's Mysterious Tourbillon only allows the observer to see the time, the tourbillon, and the oscillating weight within the frame of the rectangular 40 x 35 mm platinum or gold case. Crowns are placed on either side of the case; one for winding and one for setting.
Prescher not only achieves the mysterious illusion, but he does so with an automatic movement. Needless to say, the rotor for this mechanism is not the garden variety, but rather a horizontal block located at the bottom of the case that revolves in a back-and-forth motion. This oscillating block mass is also home to the displays for the date and month. The time is digitally displayed by two barrel-like disks between which a three-dimensional moon is placed to exhibit the moon phase.
Amazingly, the movement of this masterpiece contains 394 components, though all you really see are just a handful of them. The rest are hidden in what would appear to be the sides of the case, with the inside flanges acting as two base plates. Almost as a matter of course, the main object of our fascination – the double-axis tourbillon –takes center stage between the two panes of sapphire crystal and mesmerizes the eye. It, naturally, has an added kick that has never been seen before: the tourbillon cage of the first one-minute tourbillon (the second also revolves at this speed) also houses a constant force device with inertia acceleration according to Jaenneret. It reloads six times every second.
