Alchemists-
.Dear Members of Orologi&Passioni,
First and foremost, we want to express our gratitude for the invitation to join the conversation. It is a great pleasure for us to be able to share our common passion with you, on Orologi&Passioni!
We tried to include as much content as we could. We realize there is a lot, we always tried to be generous! We hope you will enjoy the content and please feel free to ask us any questions.
Gazie mille!
A few words about Alchemists.
Alchemists, before anything else, represents an association of persons coming from different, complementary universes, who wanted to share their approach to watchmaking through an alternative watchmaking philosophy.
Alchemists’ objective is thus to conceive, draw and craft exceptional timepieces which creation is founded on ancestral savoir-faire from traditional swiss watchmaking art, all while connecting them to a new dimension, an intention to offer something more intimate to their wearers. At the heart of this concept: horological Art in its greatest tradition, associated with the creation of new, different and non-traditional horological displays.
A philosophy, ‘Creating Better’.
It reflects an art of living in which we try to reveal the best in all things but also and above all in ourselves, delivering a better version of ourselves each day.
‘Creating Better’, two words to encompass the philosophy of approaching all things in a positive way, to reveal their best. It reflects Alchemists’ thought process. The goal is not to compete with contemporary watchmaking performance, but rather to use traditional horological art’s savoir-faire in order to explore a different aspect of our relation to time. The watchmaking application of this philosophy was named ‘Mechanical Healing’.
The Alchemists’ mission is to share this philosophy by finding various different ways to convey it through their art and to apply it to watchmaking. Giving birth to different horological displays which intention is to offer something more intimate to the wearers of their creations.
Cuprum 479, an eternal copper.
A unique, innovative alloy, revealing a forgotten legend.
Copper’s properties are known since time immemorial. Copper is one of Man’s oldest metal. From Ancient Egypt to the Roman Empire and still nowadays, copper has the reputation across cultures to promote positive benefits on the organism and to soothe different kinds of pains.
Inspired by its utilization through centuries of history, the Alchemists captured its essence. While brass served watchmaking for centuries, Cuprum 479 is a new alloy, mainly composed of copper and gold, which could very well be its contemporary successor. Perfectly stable, more durable all while retaining all of copper’s original properties.
This alloy is like an eternal copper. A stability withstanding the test of time.
It is gifted with extraordinary qualities. It does not require any surface treatment, nor any galvanizing process, at all. Perfectly stable, it can be machined to the smallest tolerances before being polished, hand-finished and hand-decorated, following traditional horological art’s most demanding methods. A pledge of durability and long-term reliability. And a gift for the watchmakers who will work on the restoration of these timepieces, even centuries from now.
Lastly, as a certified 9 carats alloy, more noble (usually, the ébauches - bridges and bottom plates - even in Haute Horlogerie, are often made from brass or nickel silver), it participates even more to the value of Alchemists’ creations. The exact recipe remains secret and is patented. Cuprum 479 shall only live through Alchemists’ timepieces.
Rarity, by essence.
Growth was never an objective. Since the birth of Alchemists at the beginning of 2019, the conscious desire to remain “small” guided creative and production choices to preserve a simple and essential life philosophy.
Taking the time to do things the right way. With less than 20 timepieces a year and the ambition to be loyal to this way of working. The Alchemists cultivate a philosophy and an environment in which each watchmaker can fully live his passion while gifting each creation with an authentic and artisanal added value.
Similarly, there are no limited editions at Alchemists. Their production is limited by itself. The team aims at maintaining an organization of less than 10 people. A highly contrasting approach when compared to modern and industrial production processes.
Savoir-Faire.
Transmitting and sharing a universal heritage.
The adventure started with two watchmakers, Hervé Schlüchter and Philippe Dufour, who, beyond an immense common passion for their craft, found themselves bound by values of work and humility. When Hervé presented his work and Alchemists’ concept to Philippe Dufour, the latter, seduced by the project, accepted to help.
This is how, regularly since 2019, Hervé is Philippe Dufour’s apprentice, who guides him in the mastery of his savoir-faire. The objective is to continue this chain of transmission and safeguarding of these gestures lasting since hundreds of years. Philippe with Hervé. Hervé with the young generations. He is also invested with a responsibility: transmitting this savoir-faire to the next generation of watchmakers. It begins in the Alchemists’ workshop.
A reflection on beauty, passing through the gesture, itself induced by thought.
Creation according to the Alchemists - it really is about “creation” and not “fabrication”, despite being a watchmaking workshop - is a process where each step means evolution and transformation. The idea is born on paper. The original sketch is always made by hand. With the Alchemists, everything revolves around the hand at each and every step of creation. Switching from a traditional, manually operated machine to a polishing tool, always in the same hand, each component “ascends” and is sublimed by the hand. A reflection on beauty, passing through the gesture, itself induced by thought.
What if the Alchemists’ vocation was to humbly contribute to the preservation of a watchmaking heritage? Perpetuating its savoir-faire and teachings through their creations?
Alchemists’ watchmakers are invested every day to preserve this heritage. They are committed to safeguarding and cultivating this savoir-faire in a rare working environment open to those who want to be trained in these techniques. A concrete application.
Because it is impossible to reproduce the exact same gesture twice,
each timepiece is a unique and eternal creation.
Perceiving the beauty of these minuscules pieces, invisible once the movement assembled. Witnessing the precision under which they were shaped, polished and sublimed. Both are necessary steps to understand the hidden philosophy behind the Alchemists.
From the smallest to the largest components, each is gifted with an emotional charge. They require no less than absolute precision at every step of the process. The components, down to the smallest screws, are hand-finished, whether being visible or not, without compromises.
Each movement is assembled twice, nothing is left to chance.
There is no decoration workshop nor watchmakers dedicated solely to timing at Alchemists: each watchmaker receives all the “blank” components constituting the timepiece on his workbench. He assembles the movement a first time to verify than everything functions perfectly as it should, allowing him to perform the mechanical preparation by hand, following traditional methods - the pivots are traditionally rolled on a lathe roller and the polishing of the pinions’ leaves is made with wooden wheels mounted on a specific machine, among other techniques.
Then, the movement is entirely disassembled. Each individual component is then very meticulously hand-finished and hand-decorated before the movement is ready to be assembled again, and fine-tuned for the final control. The skill level and passion required from each watchmaker of the Alchemists is particularly high. Only very few craftsmen in Switzerland are still capable of assembling, hand-finishing and fine tuning each of his creations by himself. As it was done at the end of the 19th century.
Each creation of the Alchemists will be the child of a single individual watchmaker, from its assembly and adjusting to its most detailed hand-finishing.
The Cu29, Inaugural piece of the Alchemists
The first, founding creation.
Behind an apparent simplicity, there were no compromises.
The Cu29 introduces the eternal copper - Cuprum 479. It also represents a true collection of numerous ancestral savoir-faire, as much in the amount of research surrounding watchmaking aspects as in the decoration of each individual component. Its Manufacture movement’s architecture, composed of multiple levels, is inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon’s architecture, offering a truly unique mechanical landscape to the wearer.
Hours of work by hand and patience, sparking the emotion.
Traditionally buffed and polished corners, drilled and hand-polished balance bridge and sweep second cock, escapement wheel on black-polished end stones, rounded and moveable Geneva hairspring stud holder, moulded, ringed and beveled wheel and intermediate wheels, and black-polished, hand-blued screws. The hours, minutes and seconds hands are rounded by hand and then blued and lacquered… Each caliber leaving the Alchemists’ workshop is then individually numbered.
The “atmosphere”-shaped sapphire crystal.
No bezel nor flange, the movement occupies the entire space.
65% of the case is made in sapphire crystal, designed as an atmosphere, soft, enveloping.
A case drawn as a cradle, supporting the Cu29’s movement. Thin, aerial, it is made from Cuprum 479 and covered by an immense crystal, drawn as an atmosphere. Its complexity and design are unmatched and go beyond all conventions.
The base of this atmosphere glass has a smaller diameter than that of its outside edge, meaning that the glass’ diameter gradually expands from the base until it takes on an atmospherical curve at its apex—exactly like the Earth’s atmosphere, from whence it gets its name.
Because of its large size, another challenge was to pierce it in order to insert the crown tube - which is usually found in the case middle. This atmosphere glass has forced the Alchemists to perform the casing from above. The movement is thus screwed to the case middle. By this unique conception, this sapphire crystal offers an unprecedented emotional spectacle to the wearer.
We tried to include studio pictures as well as pictures 'in the wild' that we did ourselves, we hope you enjoy it!
The Cu29, Inaugural piece of the Alchemists
The movement.
Below you will find a couple more information about the movement's architecture and characteristics, as well as a few blueprints that we prepared to detail the assemblies, you are the first to discover them online, we hope you enjoy them!
Bulkiness and complexity, a rare regulating organ.
The Cu29 movement’s energy is transmitted through the double barrels, a tribute to Sir George Daniels. This choice does not come without a technical purpose. Splitting the energy between the two barrels allows to attain a greater stability, each of the two springs giving a stable a linear torque. This is the reason why the Cu29 offers a power reserve of 72 chronometric hours.
When carefully observing the double barrels, one can notice the two moustache-shaped pawls. Black polished and shaped by hand, their design and location just above the barrels are uncommon and bring an additional interest in the timepiece. The indirect small second is suspended above the barrels and completes the assembly, the elevation of the small second derogates to horological tradition and represented a technical challenge in the conception of the movement, the gears had to be conceived in such manner as to remove potential play between them.
The Cu29 is a timepiece equipped with a variable inertia balance with weight screws and a cylindrical hairspring (a tribute to ancient Marine chronometers, which once represented the apogee of horological precision), located at 8 o’clock. The regulating organ is maintained by the hairspring’s stud on a titanium bridge, rounded-off and polished by hand. Its finish and curve make this bridge a spectacular piece in the Cu29’s mechanical landscape.
Just above, between 10 and 11 o’clock, the power reserve is indicated by a cursor moving along a peripheral gear rack indexed from 0 to 72 hours. By definition, the display is made along a curve, and the display arm is suspended in a vacuum, reinforcing the lightness and the aerial aspect of the architecture.
On the opposite side, between 2 and 3 o’clock, lies the functions selector, a visual indicator for the user of the Cu29. The user is always aware of the position of the crown, and can easily wind or set the timepiece, W (for “winding”) and S (for “set”, setting the time), eliminating risks of wrong manipulations.
A movement that puts on a spectacle, thanks to its inverted architecture.
According to tradition, the Cu29 is built around the notions of volume and symmetry. However, the atypical construction of the case led to a complete reversal of the movement’s architecture.
This conception offers the display of hours, minutes and seconds, but also and above all, the visual spectacle orchestrated by the 362 components of the movement and more precisely by the symmetry of the double barrels, located at 6 o’clock, during the winding process. This conception makes it possible to see each spring of the suspended moustache-shaped pawls wind with each click of the ratchet until the timepiece is fully wound.
The Alchemists also invested a lot of attention and effort into the movement’s acoustic. Its winding process. All the components were designed in order to offer a sensitive experience, comparable to the emotion felt when winding a traditional pocket watch.
The hours dial, crafted from ‘Grand Feu’ enamel or gemstones, is located at 12 o’clock, displaying the hours and minutes, while the small second is off centered at 6 o’clock and its ring, graduated on 60 trailing seconds, overhangs on the two barrels.
Edited by alchemists - 22/3/2021, 10:02
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Standing ovation!
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Welcome on O&P!!
Top presentation!!
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Impressive, no other words.... . -
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Wonderful . -
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Wonderful introduction 
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Wonderful presentation. . -
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Wonderful work !!! . -
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