One of the defining characteristics of modern independent watchmaking is creativity. There are many designs and complications that would surprise, probably even shock, historical watchmakers. And we’re not talking about ancient history. If a watchmaker, plucked from the 1980s, time-traveled to the present, they would be in awe of what exists today.
Where there used to be a select few complications in watchmaking (especially during the lows of the Quartz Crisis), we’ve moved far beyond the mold of traditional chronographs, tourbillons, and annual and perpetual calendars. Today, we’re looking at some of the more unusual complications that have arrived through modern indie watchmaking from Armin Strom, Urwerk, De Bethune, and Ludovic Ballouard.
Armin Strom’s Orbit
The Orbit is a testament to Armin Strom’s style of watchmaking. There’s an immense focus on technical development, but not always on haute complications. The Orbit returned to find novelty in one of the most tried-and-true complications – the date function. A complete reimagining, the monopusher can turn the date function on and off, causing the date indicator to jump to the current date and then return to 12 o’clock when deactivated. It’s a novel complication that leverages components typically found in chronograph movements to power the date function, all in service of heightened interactivity with using the timepiece in day-to-day life. Also, quite obviously, it reimagines the bezel’s use by placing the date along the outside of the watch. Not your “everyday,” it’s a fascinating and novel use of design and mechanics.
For anyone interested in a more in-depth story of Armin Strom’s watchmaking and their development as a brand, we dig into it all here.
De Bethune’s DB28GS Swordfish
De Bethune’s first sports watch, released originally in 2019 (in the Grand Bleu model), is everything that collectors love about the brand. It’s avant-garde, technically sophisticated, impeccably finished, and layered with different textures and finishes. This timepiece sticks out in De Bethune’s catalog for more than being the brand’s first sports watch. The DB28GS Swordfish (pictured below) features a very unusual, mechanically driven light.
For legibility in dark spaces (or while diving in dark waters), the DB28GS Swordfish’s mechanical light functions as simply as a bicycle light, diffusing white light from the four corners of the dial at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o’clock. Activated through the button at 6 o’clock, it activates a small gear driven by the dual barrel. This gear, through a miniature dynamo, provides the energy necessary to light the watch without affecting the movement’s operation. This is a complication, unique in De Bethune’s catalog, and broadly very unusual in modern independent watchmaking today.
URWERK’s Wandering Satellite Mechanism
Urwerk’s signature mechanism, the wandering satellite hour, has to make this list. In terms of modern avant-garde watchmaking, the mechanism (as well as the brand) have played a pivotal role in pushing the limits of what is possible, both in mechanics and design. Though many of us are accustomed to the sight, the wandering satellite complication was very bizarre when it arrived on the scene in 1997.
Inspired by a night clock created for Pope Innocent XI by the Campanus Brothers in 1682, years of research, development, and testing went into miniaturizing the mechanics for a wristwatch – this is the origins of the wandering satellite complication. With the brand’s early and iconic UR-103, four satellites, each carrying 3 numbers, complete one revolution around the dial every 4 hours, as well as one rotation of 120 degrees on their own axes. Each number therefore shows in the minute display for one full hour – which involves 2,190 rotations of the satellites and 730 complete revolutions of the orbital carousel each year.
One of the things that makes this complication so fascinating is that it’s evolved and mutated significantly since its launch nearly three decades ago. A snapshot of this evolution can be found in our deep dive of the UR-200’s – the UR-202, UR-210, UR-220, and UR-230. The one constant throughout this period though, the unusual complication is the bedrock of Urwerk’s catalog, found in tons of different models and series from the early UR-103’s all the way to the much more recent UR-230’s.
Ludovic Ballouard’s Upside Down
One of the most playful and jovial watchmakers in the industry creates one of the most playful and jovial watches. That is Ludovic Balloaurd and his very fun and unusual Upside Down timepiece. The concept behind the Upside Down is that its wearer can only observe the time in the present. Every hour numeral is inverted, upside down and only clicks into upright position as the minute hands strikes 12. It’s amazing how sophisticated the underlying philosophy is for this timepiece, crafted initially at the height of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. It was Ballouard’s own approach to navigate the complexities of the market at that time – there is nothing to be changed in the past and the future is uncertain. The only thing for any of us to do is make the most out of the present moment, the current hour.
A simple, philosophical idea, the mechanics to make the concept work are anything but. In-house caliber LB01 is an act of watchmaking ingenuity. The energy and space requirements are significant when designing a movement with 12 snapping hour indicators, especially considering the timepiece’s slim 41mm diameter and 11mm height. For this job, Ballouard employs a Maltese cross jump hour mechanism. This mechanism, mostly used as a stop-work mechanism to manage the leap year indicator on perpetual calendars, has been fully repurposed in the Upside Down. Each hour has its own Maltese cross with a central cam system that manages the transition from hour to hour, upside down to right side up and back again.
With Jean-François Mojon, we dived deep into the role of technology in modern watchmaking. Undergirding all of these unusual complications is modern technology that helps watchmakers explore and render flickering ideas into real, metal prototypes. The current direction of independent watchmaking will only continue to design, develop, and create more and more innovative complications. And we expect, this won’t only be at the highest end of the pricing. The demand is certainly there at every price tier, with many collectors desiring novelty in more than design and finish.