Developed and produced with the help of the highly renowned watchmaker from La Chaux-de-Fonds, Olivier Mory, CHPTR_Δ (pronounced Chapter Delta) brings a duality between the circular time of the minutes and the hypocycloidal time of the hours, enclosed in a triangle, in the foreground of the dial. This asymmetrical reading of time, which slows down and starts again, like a choreography, is part of another temporality, symbolizing the carousel of life.
A hypocycloidal reading of time
This project, initially imagined by the designer Diego Böttger-Zevallos, turns out to be complex to realize. Thomas Baillod takes on the challenge. To ensure its technical development and production, he once again calls upon the brilliant watchmaker Olivier Mory, who is already responsible for the paternity of the BA111OD Chapter 4 Tourbillon. "There is hardly anything but the transcendent beauty of mathematics to obtain a triangle using only things that rotate in circles! And it is a discreet tribute to the several centuries-old use of the cycloid in watchmaking. Galileo, Newton, Huygens, Euler, Cantor or Roberval, to name but a handful, have all worked on the amazing properties of these curves," says Olivier Mory.
Rather than simply rotating a hand around a central axis, the movement was designed to "roll" a satellite hour wheel around a fixed central hour wheel. When a wheel is rotated around another wheel, the trajectory described by any point on this satellite wheel is a cycloid. There are several types of cycloids, some of which have particular trajectories, depending on the size ratio between the fixed wheel and the satellite wheel, as well as whether the satellite wheel rotates inside or outside the fixed wheel.
In this new chapter for BA111OD, the chosen cycloid is a deltoid (with a ratio of 1/3), and as a result, the trajectory described by the tip of the hour hand is... a triangle.
A particular shape highly appreciated by BA111OD is the triangle. With its three legs, this geometric shape that rises up represents direction and determination. It symbolizes stability and balance. This balance echoes the brand's business model, which is based on three letters, BAC (Business → Afluendors → Clients), breaking with the linearity of traditional distribution (B2B, B2C). Even the name BA111OD incorporates the number 3, with its three 1's.
Swiss made NFC Technology – the watch industry’s first connected glass
BA111OD is proud to be the first watch brand to offer models with an NFC (Near Field Communication) connected sapphire glass, which allows for contactless communication between two devices in close range, within 1 cm. This technology provides a link between the physical watch and the digital world, but only if the customer desires. By scanning their watch, the NFC glass allows them to transmit their business card or any other predetermined link directly to the phone of their interlocutor.
