Some ten years ago a radical watch meant something like a daringly large Panerai or a watch with, shockingly, a see-through case-back. Traditionalists seemed to have an iron grip over their design departments and any aberrations from the tried and tested paths of haute horlogerie were to be abhorred.
Concord’s C1 Quantum Gravity is a measure of just how much distance watchmakers have travelled over the past decade and, just perhaps, represents the high-water mark of a movement to take watchmaking beyond the mantra of ‘form from function’.
With its tourbillon set uncomfortably far from the central movement and linked by a set of four gear wheels, the Quantum Gravity flouts not only tradition but also engineering convention. This is the first watch that I have ever seen that risks its ability to function in favour of creating a design effect. There are watches out there that test the limits of the possible, to run novel displays or timing functions, but never just for the sake of it.
When Concord claims that the cantilever wires are there simply to provide the stiffness required for the gear wheels linking the tourbillon to run true, it is all too easy to believe. And given the work put into making gear wheels run true, scarcely credible.
But whether truly required or not, the cantilever is dramatic, engaging – and utterly different. Concord hopes to have a prototype working for BaselWorld and plans to make (and sell) ten pieces. ■ – James Gurney, Editor, QP