Zenith continues the development of its Academy Columbus collection with the arrival of the Hurricane Grand Voyage model. A timepiece that pays well obviously homage to the Explorer whose name it bears... But above all, a completely exceptional timepieces both mechanical (cage gyro e rocket-chain transmission constant-force) in the know-how used (Microetching, cloisonne enamel, micropeinture, etc.). Ten copies only for a watch collector. Surely.

 

With this new Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane manufacture based will again make the happiness of ten collectors lovers of rare coins. This model was a challenge not only for craftsmen, but also for watchmakers and the engineers who had to rework the movement, sometimes up to the limits of the possible, to accommodate these ornaments in a 45 mm case diameter in rose gold, and under the same domed Sapphire Crystal.

 

Side dial, Zenith has wanted to leave star watchmaking prowess of the watch keeping an open architecture to admire, in action, its three new mechanisms: the barrel with rocket-chain    transmission (at 10 h 30 and 1 h 30), the gyro system of "gravity control" and the regulator high frequency (at 6 o'clock). But this technical and three-dimensional look is here associated with the most beautiful crafts and crafts Zenith strives to perpetuate.

 

The three small auxiliary dials in gold (hours/minutes at 12 o'clock, small seconds at 9 o'clock, power reserve indicator at 4 h) have been finely guilloche, and then enamelled in white and with needles and steel screws blued Recalling the great watchmaking tradition. The deck was fully dug by hand in order to not let in relief as the Zenith logo and a procession of stars; hollowed parts were then filled color lacquer blue night, according to the ancestral technique of champleve enamel. The counterweight of the "gravity control" system also received a poetic and sophisticated décor with a representation of the southern hemisphere in micropeinture, entirely by hand.

 

Side bottom, this timepiece has a surprise with a magnificent evocation in color and relief of the adventures of the famous browser. A real painting miniature, directed by the best specialists in arts and crafts, using a system of applied gold laid down on the movement. In the foreground, share and other mechanism Recalling gimbal knob of marine chronometers, the portrait of Christophe Colomb, finely engraved by hand, and a sextant, the astronomical instrument to calculate latitude.

 

At the second level, a representation of the Santa Maria, the Admiral ship of Columbus during his first voyage in 1492. The decor, microdecoupe and engraved by hand, renders the nave with an incredible wealth of details, particularly at the level of the rigging and ropes. The different sails, carried out on a serious by champleve cloisonne enamel, are decorated with the famous Red Cross, replaced on one of them - wink-connoisseurs by the small star from Zenith. Behind the boat, the Cog bridge was chosen to represent the ocean, with a serious background of small waves, then covered with translucent lacquer.

 

In the background, the barrel Bridge opens the horizon, with a decor in micropeinture contained a shared sky between the day and night. Small detail: the watchmakers of the manufacture have played with the architecture of the movement to reveal a small cog Golden evoking the sun rising or setting sun.

 

The integration of this decor demanded the treasures of ingenuity. It took particular find points of attachment for wall elements and minimize the thickness of the movement and the spaces between the gauge and ornaments (less than one tenth of a millimetre under sails). Fully completed by hand, fabulous adornment of the Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage each watch is a unique piece.

 

Note that this watch combines three mechanisms better accuracy guarantee: a regulator to high frequency of oscillation (36,000 vibrations per hour) for sequencing of time in tenths of a second, a rocket-chain transmission compensating variations force the cylinder during its uncocking and module patented gravity control to neutralize the effects of Earth's gravity on walking of the watch.

 

In other words, it overcomes problems related to wear it (gravity) and the term of contract (the couple down), while maintaining a remarkable precision in the measurement of time (related to the speed of oscillation of the pendulum). These feats are obtained by a movement with a total of 939 components (!), including 354 for the gauge itself within which are housed the 173 elements of gravity control module. The rocket-chain, meanwhile, has 585 components.

 

Remind the RUF and that a mechanical watch unloads, the movement loses amplitude (angle of oscillation of the pendulum), and therefore in precision. Rocket-chain transmission system allows, on the contrary, the driving force to remain perfectly stable during the duration of the power reserve - helical geometry of the rocket compensating the progressive decrease in the strength of the barrel.

 

The majority of watches Pocket from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries were fitted with a rocket. But few are now factories able to transpose this mechanism in the small volume of a wristwatch. With the Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage, fruit of two years of development, the Manufacture Zenith came in this club. The transmission between the barrel and the rocket is ensured by a range of 585 components, to 18 centimetres long. This construction of extreme complexity alternating double and intermediate links. Once mounted, it is able to withstand a force of traction more than 3 kilograms!

 

During the duration of the power reserve, the mainspring transmits its energy to the rocket through the chain from wrap around the barrel. By adjusting the voltage variations, the rocket regulates the force that is distributed to the cog - and thence to the Silicon escapement wheel housed in the gyro cage. If it takes more than 50 hours (duration of the power reserve) so that the chain wraps around the barrel, the stem-wound reserves a captivating show. These seconds can see rocket and barrel turn in the opposite direction to the market so that the chain again wrap around the rocket.

 

Gravity control is also a tribute to history, since it draws the marine chronometers Zenith produced once. He borrowed those instruments of legend the principle of the cardan suspension, introduced in the 16th century on the marine compasses so that they maintain their horizontal position despite the movement of the boat.

 

With his self-regulatory gyroscopic mechanism, the gravity control system to keep the regulator in a horizontal position permanently, regardless of the angle of the wrist, and signed by that even the ultimate evolution of the marine chronometer. The star brand is the only manufacture to master this system - award-winning at the Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix in 2011, in the category watches with complications - invented it after five years of intense developments.

 

Piece of exception, exception setting. The Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage is proposed in a precious Cabinet in mahogany with inlay of beef bone, which can also serve as a humidor for 80 cigars. In tribute to Christophe Colomb, this box is decorated with a silkscreen on papyrus style parchment reproducing Waldseemüller map (1507), the first global map mentioning the name "America".