meteorite – International Wristwatch

The Watches October 18, 2023

Frederique Constant Celebrates Tourbillon Anniversary with Meteorite Dial

Frederique Constant marks both its thirty-fifth anniversary as a watchmaker and the fifteen years since its debuted its first tourbillon with the release of the Classic Tourbillon Meteorite Manufacture, a stunning limited edition 39mm watch cased in platinum.

The new Frederique Constant Classic Tourbillon Meteorite Manufacture.

The Geneva-based watchmaker stresses the individualized nature of the thirty-five piece limited edition. As its name suggests, each hand-finished watch features a meteorite dial with a “Heart Beat” cut-out at the 6 o’clock location exposing the firm’s own tourbillon.

Frederique Constant explains that two of its watchmakers spent weeks finishing each of the commemorative watches, using traditional instruments and tools.

These included a buff file for beveling, a hammer and punch for hand-punching and nine-micron sandpaper for the fine charbonnage finishing of the bridge and the base of the tourbillon cage.

To finish each bridge requires two to three days of work.

The high-end finishing extends to the unique meteorite dial cut from a meteorite sourced from Gibeon, Namibia. Again, fine hand-finishing is required to cut out a flat, smooth disc without damaging it as well as to polish it.

Artisans then protect each dial with a coat of ruthenium, enhancing its natural color while also shielding the surface from oxidation.

The finished meteorite provides a spectacular frame for the tourbillon’s escapement wheel and anchor, both of which are linked to the anchor pallet. A hand atop the tourbillon cage indicates the seconds.

On the back of the watch Frederique Constant fits a brass and tungsten oscillating weight coated with ruthenium, which delivers power to the Manufacture FC-980 tourbillon movement.

You may recall the watchmaker first developed this movement in 2008, fitting it with a silicon escapement wheel and anchor, both of which are visible thanks to the clear sapphire back.

Price: $44,994.

Specifications: Frederique Constant Classic Tourbillon Meteorite Manufacture

(Ref. FC-980MT3HPT, a limited edition of 35)

Movement: FC-980 in-house caliber, automatic, finished with chamfering (anglage),hammering, circular graining (perlage & cerclage), flanks drawing and mirror polishing. All decorations made in-house. Silicon escapement wheel and anchor, 38-hour power reserve, 28,800 vph.

Case: Polished platinum 39mm by 10.99mm three-part case, scratch-resistant and anti-reflective convex sapphire crystal, see-through case back, water-resistant to 30 meters.

Dial: Grey meteorite, hand finished.Applied diamond cut indexes, hand-polished silver color hour and minute hands, opening at 6 o’clock with 60 seconds tourbillon, silver color seconds hand.

Strap: Black alligator leather with matte finishing.

Price: $44,994.

Watch Of The Day October 14, 2020

Hermès Offers Special U.S.-Edition Meteorite Dial

Hermès this week adds sixteen pieces to its artistic moonphase watch collection with the launch of the new Arceau L’heure de la Lune New York Meteorite Dial limited edition.

In the style of existing models in the Arceau L’heure de la Lune collection, Hermès highlights the watch with a light brown quilted-pattern dial created using a thin slice of meteorite discovered by fisherman and sold in New York in 1965. The new models will be cased in platinum.

Known as siderite, the meteor-sourced dial’s material appears metallic brown, which signifies that it comes from the center of an asteroid. Owners of the Arceau L’heure de la Lune New York Meteorite Dial limited edition, which will be exclusively sold in the United States, will also be able to claim possession of a section of the only meteorite legally bearing the name New York.

You may recall that in 2019 Hermes wowed observers at that year’s SIHH when it debuted the first models in the 43mm gold-cased Arceau de la Lune collection with stone dials and at least one model crafted with a dial made of lunar meteorite. Earlier this year Hermès added several new models to the collection with dials of celestial origin, including one fashioned from a piece of Martian meteorite.

Quirky displays

The 43mm platinum-cased model, a high-end alternative to the classic moonphase watch, offers a simultaneous display of moon phases in both northern and southern hemispheres. Two discs, one indicating the date and one showing the hour and minute, rotate around the dial. As they do, their position above two mother-of-pearl moon discs syncs exactly with the moon’s phase at the time and date indicated. Blued hands contrast nicely to display both time and date on white lacquered discs.

In a quirky Hermès touch, the southern hemisphere’s moon is displayed at the top of the dial while the moon as seen in the northern hemisphere rests at the 6 o’clock position.

Jean-Francois Mojon (who has worked with MB&F and Harry Winston, among others) created the dial’s 59-day lunar dance for Hermès by developing a patent-pending module linked to the Hermès H1837 automatic caliber.

Each Hermès Arceau L’heure de la Lune New York Meteorite Dial is priced at $69,950.