Prototyping is something never to be taken for granted. Its primary function is to weigh in on true movement performance by gauging processes and tolerances in the metal. It's one thing to calculate on computer and a completely other thing when parts are built out and assembled into a prototype. With performance the primary goal, decoration takes a step to the side.
The very first performance tested K2's. They are a little hard on the eyes, but provide great insight into the movements performance.
The K2 micro-rotor has been Jonas Nydegger and Florian Serex' second major industrial manufacture project. After a successful completion of K1 their vision was to create a micro-rotor that could deliver modular functionality with big power reserve in nearly half the size. K2 has lived up to that vision; it's modular, is 2.9mm compared to K1's 4.95mm. Initially communicated as delivering an impressive 65 hours of power reserve after prototyping Jonas and the team have squeezed out over 72 hours of power reserve breaking down boundaries for a single barrel micro-rotor under at 2.9mm.
Jonas Nydegger at home at the bench. When you engineer something for 5 years the assembly process for each part and process is etched in ones mind.
K2 on the left and K1 on the right. A very visual size distinction between the two.
Today, K2 has earned its prototyping stripes and is moving into the realms of decoration. In the image below the raw bridge work has been completed. There is a broad mix of brushed, matte, anglage and Côtes de Genéve surfaces. The bridges like in nearly every movement produced on earth today are machine milled to ensure absolute precision. Following this all brushing, Côtes de Genéve and anglage are all done individually by hand.
Bridges K2 after their initial decoration prior to plating.
Matte finish of the base plate.
The main bridge with a deep Côtes de Genéve decoration prior to jewel setting.
Quadratic bridge design is a mix of laser etched squares with hand brushed top surface.
The raw tungsten rotor. Currently undergoing the plating process.
The bridges as you see above are made from brass and are decorated prior to being plated. There are three steps needed to get the movement bridges to completion. The first is a nickel plating, followed by rhodium plating and the final touch is the black gold plating. The various plating steps are needed due to the bonding characteristics of each material.
Once back from plating the result is obvious and the design vision from Thomas Funder comes to life.
The light moving across the bridge goes from almost black to light anthracite.
Since the time of announcing the K2 movement last fall we have been continually working on the project and made some updates to the movement bridge text as we found a new way to present this. Originally we had"HORAGE - 22 Jewels - Swiss Made - Chronometer Certified" and this was all compressed in one section. We now have "HORAGE - CALIBRE K2" that sits above a decorative jewel. Around the gear train cut out we have "TWENTY - THREE 23 JEWELS SWISS MADE". The actual working jewel count of K2 is 22 jewels however we have one jewel for decorative purposes and this brings us from 22 to a total count of 23.
Hand brushed balance wheel bridge.
Brushing on the top surface of the quadratic decoration can appear very intense depending on the direction of light.
The bridge work has been carefully planned out and designed to accommodate the next chapter in our product line up. Currently we have only the raw tungsten rotors completed and they are coming back from plating this week.
The fun part is brining it all together and Jonas Nydegger the head of engineering has been waiting for the bridges to be completed. With endless zoom and skype calls Jonas has finally found a reason to escape and has been been focused on initial sample assembly.
A partially decorated build that awaits a finished rotor and balance wheel set for completion in the next week.
Although the rotors and balance wheels were still being finished Jonas wasn't going to wait any longer to start assembly. Stay tuned for an upcoming build video, where we join Jonas as he assembles the very first fully decorated K2 movements.
Till next time...
Landon Stirling
Every piece is so beautiful. If possible, I would like to purchase only the movement.I can’t wait to see the k2 beating in a watch! I really love these articles about movement development really going in-dept!