15/15/15 - Expanding Our Horizons

Our first of three 15th anniversary posts talked about how HORAGE became a brand, how and why we developed our in-house automatic K1 caliber, and some of the challenges associated with those endeavors. Now that we’ve matured into a vertically integrated watchmaker, it was time for a moonshot with our next in-house caliber (as if what we achieved with K1 wasn’t hard enough). A logical next step might have been a Moonphase complication or the like, but we decided to dive in headfirst and create one of the most difficult to engineer and sought after complications - the tourbillon. It was quite a leap from the K1 Automatic and we were sailing into rough waters, but the determination and skill of our watchmakers and engineers pushed us through. This second 15/15/15 post explains how we created some of the most sophisticated movements in watchmaking, the tourbillon and micro-rotor.

The Tourbillon

Developed around 1795 and patented by Breguet in 1801, the tourbillon remains one of the most difficult and expensive complications to produce. It brings the balance wheel and escapement together in a rotating cage, designed to counter the forces of gravity in pocket watches that remained in a static position. This improved accuracy a century or two ago, but wristwatches that are now always in motion kind of defeat the purpose. However, the tourbillon remains an incredible display of haute horology, providing history and mechanical art on the wrist.

The complication, or more specifically a brilliant rearrangement of the timing organs, is not for the faint of heart as it’s very difficult to develop and manufacture from scratch. Relatively few watchmakers attempt this, and all in-house Swiss and European examples are pricey as a result. Our goal was to offer a premium Swiss tourbillon that was more accessible than our competitors, although Murphy’s law intervened and it was incredibly challenging. A watchmaking moonshot.

Our Tourbillon: The Tourbillon 1

Initially our intent was to have a partner manufacture the tourbillon movement incorporating our own silicon escapement architecture and additional enhancements. The designs for the Tourbillon 1 watch were well underway featuring a unique, partially skeletonized dial grid and backplate offered in multiple color options. Things were looking good as prototypes were assembled and pre-orders rolled in, but as can happen in business (and at the eleventh hour), our manufacturing partnership fell through.

If this bomb shell wasn’t challenging enough, it aligned with Covid, the worst pandemic in over a century. As huge swathes of the world were locked down and quarantined, both global and local supply chains stopped almost overnight. We had to make one of two decisions, neither an easy choice. Do we cancel the project altogether or do we develop our own in-house tourbillon to fulfill both our vision and most importantly, the customer orders?

Of course, we didn’t cancel the project (history shows that), which would have been the easy, albeit unpopular option. Cut your losses and run. Following many sleepless nights, our small, dedicated team of engineers were confident that they could use the core knowledge gained from our K1 development and produce the K-TOU tourbillon movement AND deliver the watches to customers within a year. For context, our first K1 automatic was seven years in the making. It was masochistic madness, but also defines who and what we are as performance watchmakers. To top things off, the unprecedented starting price of just under CHF 7,000 would remain unchanged, even with the shift to an in-house, ground-up Swiss tourbillon caliber.

K-TOU Tourbillon

This second in-house movement was a hand-wound tourbillon and among the most efficient of its kind, but the challenges ahead of us were huge. Developing a new mechanical movement needs a deep knowledge base, and while Switzerland has some of the best and most talented watchmakers, the depth of the knowledge base is not what it once was.

The Quartz Crisis in the 1980’s decimated the Swiss watch industry, almost analogous to how the automobile affected the horse and carriage. Many of the artisans that possessed the knowledge about regulating systems, their layout and architecture left the industry. With that exodus and no young blood coming through the system, that expertise began to be lost.

Since those darker days, the balance and escapement systems haven’t really changed in the last 40 years as very little work was dedicated to advancements. Almost all was built on the 28,800 ETA Type. You may be thinking that with the knowledge base gone, there were few people with the need, but to develop our tourbillon we needed exactly this “lost” knowledge.

Much of the information and knowledge that remained was locked away in companies such as Nivarox, the technology powerhouse of today’s Swatch Group. This massive industry conglomerate holds just about all of the legacy knowledge and industry secrets (and some may say sorcery), which member brands benefit from. As a small independent watchmaker, we aren’t privy to such informational wealth.  

Our bloody-minded ‘can do’ attitude and single mindedness to succeed allowed us to develop the K-TOU tourbillon, loaded with the specifications demanded of modern calibers and fitted with our own silicon escapement. Tourbillons have a reputation for being fragile, but we proved that with modern materials and ingenuity, our movement can easily brush off the rigors of day-to-day wear. A customer even wore our Tourbillon 1 during an Ironman triathlon.

Developing this watch from the ground up and delivering within a year was a remarkable achievement, especially for a small independent watchmaker. Unheard of, actually.

Camera Theme: The Lensman 1

Our second tourbillon watch was the Lensman 1 featuring the second-generation K-TOU tourbillon caliber. The noticeable change involved aesthetics with the introduction of a conventional dial over the skeletonized Tourbillon 1 and a blacked-out movement. The case is Grade 5 Titanium, rather than Stainless Steel, also used in our Autark collection. A large cyclops lens at 6 o’clock magnifies the flying tourbillon, showcasing its complexity and it’s a first for such a watch.

There are several photography enthusiasts at HORAGE, so we incorporated a few subtle references to vintage cameras throughout the case and dial. It starts with the aforementioned cyclops lens that symbolizes a photography loupe. Similar to what’s often placed over a date complication, our unusually large magnifying lens really brings the tourbillon to life. The main crystal itself is domed to mimic the front of a camera lens.

Our inspiration came from cameras like the Leica M series and Hasselblad, which are legendary as traditional, mechanical shooters of the highest quality. Manual photography is as much an art as it is a science, not unlike mechanical watchmaking. The exacting mechanical precision required for Leicas and Hasselblads to both perform and last for generations translates well to our in-house portfolio, which is also a blend of art and science.

Look closer at the flanks of the Lensman 1 case and you’ll find laser-etched numbers that mirror those on an aperture ring, while just above is a fixed bezel with special knurling that’s straight from a focusing ring (so to speak). The blacked-out dial with black Super-LumiNova within the black gold applied indices is stealthy and discreet, not unlike professional street cameras that are often black to minimize attention.

As photography and camera enthusiasts, many of us always look for the perfect shot, perfect lighting and so on. Although modern smartphones have replaced traditional cameras for most, there’s no denying the romance of tradition and the art of older methods. The tourbillon really exemplifies this ethos with incredible history and the difficulty of old-school mechanical perfection. A timeless artistry that can’t be replicated in the digital age.

At a Pre-Order price of only CHF 8,890, Lensman 1 continued our goal of providing the most accessible in-house Swiss tourbillon-equipped watches on the market.

Second Generation K-TOU Tourbillon

Not too much has changed with the second iteration of our K-TOU tourbillon, but two things really stand out. The first is the blacked-out aesthetic that really finishes the camera theme of Lensman 1, but the addition of a silicon hairspring (joining the silicon escapement) is the most significant difference. Only a small handful of independent brands have a silicon hairspring and the anti-magnetic properties improve both stability and accuracy. The silicon components are the only parts not made in Switzerland as they come from Germany, making the watch well over 90% Swiss made.

K2 Micro-Rotor: The Micro-Project That Wasn’t So Small

Not wanting to stand still, our incredible team of watchmakers and engineers were also deep in developing the third in-house movement to compliment the K1 Automatic, which has served us well for almost a decade. The K2 micro-rotor bridges the gap between industrial scale workhorses and low production manufacture movements, highlighting the best of both concepts (and still with unprecedented accessibility).

The micro-rotor first appeared in the late 1950s from the Buren Watch Company and Piaget, and although the aesthetics are more appealing than traditional automatics as most of the movement is visible, there are major technical challenges. The winding rotor is now much smaller and off-center compared to a large central counterpart, compromising efficiency with less mass for inertia. Heavy metals are required for optimized rotation, such as tungsten, platinum or gold. Many micro-rotor movements struggle even today to fully wind the mainspring without a lot of wrist movement.

The K2 micro-rotor rivals conventional automatic rotors for efficiency using as standard a gold-plated tungsten or an optional PT950 platinum micro-rotor, which was no easy feat. One hour on the wrist translates to 10 hours of power reserve generation. We’re also able to have thinner cases than K1 watches as the rotor integrates with the movement, unlike a central rotor that rotates above. It’s another milestone from the great minds and talent of Jonas Nydegger and Florian Serex.

Supersede GMT: Engage the Community

The K2 micro-rotor movement was destined to first power the Supersede GMT, a true GMT piece with a full suite of complications (date, power reserve indicator, GMT hand and day/night indicator). A fully featured watch that is great for travelers and adventurers, allowing for quick, easy adjustments for new time zones.

We always try to involve the enthusiast community as much as possible with design as ultimately they’re the ones enjoying our watches. During the design and pre-production process, we conducted polls and questionnaires about everything from bracelet finishing (polished or brushed center links) to lume colors (orange or red seconds hand and so on). This allows you, the watch enthusiast and potential customer to have direct input into the final product. It’s not unheard of, but certainly rare to have so much influence over design.

Other things up for vote with Supersede were dial colors, rubber strap options, rotor materials (gold, tungsten or platinum) and even COSC certification. You can see some of the questions and results HERE. Your input is always valued and truly helps us design watches based on your preferences. We thank all of you that participate and look forward to more community involvement in the future.

HMAC: The Micro-Adjustment Clasp

Alongside the Supersede GMT and K2 Micro-rotor projects, we also developed our own ultra-low profile micro-adjusting clasp from the ground up, which debuted on the Supersede GMT. Design and engineering began in 2021 and the first prototype was completed a year later. Developed by a true freshman in the industry, Markus came to HORAGE from an entirely different field. He developed one of (if not the) thinnest adjustable clasps on the market, earning a lot of praise in the industry.

Being an outsider has its benefits, bringing a fresh approach to design that industry veterans often miss. We have backgrounds in bicycles, heavy lifting cranes, photography and many more, which results in unique perspectives and new ideas that have proven invaluable. At just 5.6mm thin, it has the profile of a conventional clasp yet allows for 10mm of adjustment in 1mm increments via an internal pusher. As you’ll read in part 3, more HORAGE watches will also feature this clasp.

There’s Much More to Come

In these first two 15th anniversary posts, we covered three in-house movements (K1 automatic, K-TOU tourbillon and K2 micro-rotor), but it doesn’t stop there. The third and final 15/15/15 post will cover our most advanced movement to date, which combines all our best developments and engineering into a very rare and exclusive caliber. Accessibility is always paramount to allow a broad range of enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire very special Swiss pieces of horology that are otherwise unattainable.

Sound off in the comments if you’ve bought one of our tourbillon or micro-rotor watches. If not, is there a piece that’s caught your interest?

Also, be sure to sign up for our newsletter (here) and check out journal entries as well (here) and a detailed section on performance watchmaking at HORAGE (here).

We'll talk again soon!

Erik Slaven