| I would like to insert the text of the press release for Quill and pad.
It should be noted that the Karel Rotation project was not intended for series production.
It is a study from which experience is drawn for other projects.
Karel Rotation by Ludek Seryn: a movement rotating360° every eight hoursLudek Seryn studied horology, then expanded his portfolio of artisanalskills with goldsmithing, jewelry, and stone-setting.Karel Rotation is the watch that Seryn worked on day in and day out for twoand half years. There’s a reason for the unusual name that I will explain below.It took about 1,000 days of hard work to realize a seemingly unrealisticvision. Completely independently at his workshop in Prague’s Vinohradyquarter, Seryn created a mechanical steampunk timepiece with an innovativemovement design.Of the 264 components making up Karel Rotation, Seryn produced 75percent of them – without the use of CNC machinery. The other 25 percent ofthe components, including the hairspring, mainspring, and bearing jewels,were outsourced to specialists; however he then hand-polished and beveledmany of these outsourced parts to the high standard he thought his watchdeserved.The fully functional prototype already has an owner: a Mr. Karel (Karel isCzech for “Charles”), the first name of the client. But this patron is not just aclient: he helped Seryn with the financing and preparation of a possible small-scale production.With the Karel Rotation, Seryn has crafted a new kind of manufacturemovement with original architecture using a rotating base (hence the word“Rotation” in the watch’s name) and two independent movements sharing onespring barrel. The entire movement is supported on a single shaft aroundwhich everything else revolves like planets around the sun – including thespring barrel, plates, automatic winding assembly, and even the hands.The owner witnesses the rotation three times each day as the movementmakes one complete rotation every eight hours – an interesting way tomeasure work time?The Karel Rotation has a power reserve of a 42 hours. Both of its old-school 2.5 Hz balances and their gear trains (two escape wheels, two secondwheels, two intermediate wheels, and two minute wheels) share a single springbarrel. Though this is an interesting construction, it is also a challenging one asboth oscillators must be tuned absolutely perfectly.The dual movements – exuding symmetry and harmony – are entirelydependent upon one another.The Karel Rotation’s origin storyIn his attic studio overlooking the beautiful city of Prague, Seryn firstdeveloped innovative models of his parts in a ratio of 8:1 with a3D printer.Although this made the construction work on his in-house complicatedmovement easier, nothing about designing the movement was simple.Designing and manufacturing the wheels and gears as well as a custommechanism to control the hands took time, though the gear train andescapement is from the Czech classic Prim Caliber 66. Seryn had already usedthe Caliber 66 in his Carabus watches,Skeleton Tonneau, andSkeleton Round.
Seryn’s automatic movement, which cannot be wound manually, uses asapphire crystal oscillating weight with a heavy platinum segment occupyinghalf of the periphery of the transparent disk.Setting the time is done by a leveraging mechanism, using a key Seryncrafted at the 12 o’clock position where there is a corrector with a triangularprofile (the client can of course modify the shape according to his or herwishes).Moving the corrector to the right and into its first position pushes theminutes forward, while in the second position they can be set backward.Shifting the key to the left in the corrector slot moves the hours forward orbackward, which is wonderfully observable from the front due to theskeletonized nature of the movement and nonexistent dial – the charcoal blacklever shaped like a “devil’s tail” moves the visible central gear with 12 teeth.A unique movement requires an appropriate case, and the generouslysized 45 mm case of the Karel Rotation allows room for appreciation of thispiece of mechanical kinetic art from almost every angle.The gold frame of the case is completed by glass produced in the CzechRepublic: while the front and the back components are conventional sapphirecrystal, the sides comprise a custom-blown ring of mineral glass.Quick FactsLudek Seryn Karel RotationCase: 45 x 20 mm, goldMovement: original automatic caliber using the Prim 66 as a base; two sets ofgear trains and escapements; 2.5 Hz/18,000 vph frequency, 42-hour powerreserveFunctions: hours, minutesPrice: starting from €200,000 |
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