Absolute: the Art of emptiness
That is the spirit of the Escape II Absolute Sapphire. Transparency in its purest form, highlighting the very best of what Purnell creates: pure, Swiss made craftsmanship and the world’s fastest double triple-axis tourbillon movement. What you don’t see here is what matters. The case, dial, power-reserve, hour geartrain and dial bridges are made of transparent sapphire, revealing the skillfully constructed six barrels powering the diamond-set double Spherion movement.
Laid bare, with nothing to hide.
“After several years of R&D I am delighted to present a full sapphire Escape II collection which enhances the caliber’s weightless appearance and mesmerizing Spherion motion at its best. A collection of unique pieces with other color tinted sapphire will follow this year such as: pink, green and blue. I am looking forward to personally presenting you this collection digitally during Watches & Wonders 2021 – see you on screen!”
Sapphire Material Specifications
100% Swiss made sapphire: case, 3 movement bridges, dial & top crystal sapphire
- 1 monobloc case
- 1 monobloc caseback
- 1 monobloc domed top crystal sapphire with an 90° angle at 6 o’clock
3 sapphires raw block units are necessary – the machining process consumes 80% of their original mass. Grown under 2,050° Celsius – the sapphire resists temperatures up to 1,000° Celsius and is scratch-proof, except by diamond (Sapphire hardness: 2035 Vickers or 9/10 Mohs’ scale).
The flawless sapphire transparency guaranteed by Purnell Swiss partner Novo Cristal located in La Chaux-de-Fonds is achieved by the use of the highest purity oxide aluminum crystals and by the diamond granulometry grade used in the polishing process. A polishing process which reaches in its last steps an extremely fine diamond granulometry grade.
In total, the machining and polishing process require 150 hours excluding the development and machine programming and sapphire bloc unit growth.
