Autark Small Seconds and a History of Seconds Hands

It may be hard to imagine today, but small seconds - or a seconds hand within an offset sub-dial - has historically dominated (pocket) watch and clock design. It wasn’t until the 20th century that central seconds were popularized by wristwatches. I’ll spare you from the tedium of optimized gear trains and the like, but in layman’s terms, the fourth wheel of the train that drove the seconds hand was traditionally off-center (usually at 6 o’clock). This gear rotates once per minute, so attaching a hand to it naturally provides the seconds. Our latest Autark Small Seconds provides a more accessible, in-house K2 micro-rotor counterpart to the flagship K-TMR Autark Tourbillon with a classic small seconds dial.

Indirect Center Seconds

The first solution for a central sweeping seconds hand was indirect center seconds, pioneered by watchmakers like Zenith, Patek Philippe and Omega. This basically involves a module or additional gears above the main train to bring the seconds in line with the hour/minute hands. Central seconds via this solution can be driven by either the third or fourth wheel in the gear train. Problems with the indirect center seconds design are an inevitably thicker movement with the additional gearing and a loss of precision with the additional friction load.

Direct Center Seconds

Most contemporary movements use this design for central seconds, which doesn’t add gearing to a legacy arrangement, but moves the gears within the gear train itself. The fourth wheel, which again rotates once per minute, is simply moved to the center position as gears are strategically rearranged. All hands are easily stacked in the center of the dial this way without extraneous modifications.

Stepping Back in Time

What if you’re a modern watchmaker and want small seconds? If you’re not developing your own in-house designs, you often need to modify a native central seconds movement to display small seconds. Similar to indirect center seconds, a module with additional gearing is used to bring the seconds hand to a sub-dial. Of course, this adds complexity to an already optimized gear train, but it’s the most cost-effective way to get that vintage look with a standard caliber. There are still modern movements designed for small seconds without additional gearing, so a lot depends on a brand’s movements on hand, deals with suppliers and so on. Our in-house K2 micro-rotor caliber is designed for either central or small seconds without a module or additional modifications.

Autark Small Seconds

Our new Autark Small Seconds follows the Chinese New Year One Edition with two new dial colors, Gradient Grey and Salmon. Other than external aesthetics, the Autark Small Seconds and Chinese New Year One Edition are the same watch. They perfectly blend traditional and modern watchmaking elements into a luxurious yet versatile package that can go from the beach to swimming to mountain bike riding to a formal event, all in one day. With 100 meters of water resistance, you can do some recreational diving as well. Wrapped in grade 5 titanium, the integrated sports watch design is both rugged and lightweight, and follows the popular aesthetic first established in the 1970s by Audemars Piguet and Patek Philippe.

Our K2 micro-rotor movement certainly doesn’t follow any historic trends from the pocket watch era as the micro-rotor design was developed in the 1950s. The dial has a traditional look with small seconds positioned at 6 o’clock, but the engine behind it is state of the art. For starters, our micro-rotor calibers (K2 and K-TMR tourbillon) are among the most efficient in the industry, matching conventional central rotors while also allowing for thinner designs and unimpeded views of the movement itself. The first watches to carry the K2 were our Supersede models with central seconds, while the Autark Small Seconds has (as the name implies) small seconds at 6 o'clock, again without an additional module.

New Dial Colors

Moving from the “dragon” red dial, the Autark Small Seconds has a Gradient Grey or salmon dial, both traditional colors that would be at home a half century ago. Salmon dials have become popular recently as a luxury option, but were initially designed to simply match gold cases for a more seamless aesthetic. Watchmakers like Jaeger-LeCoultre and Rolex introduced the contrast of a steel or white gold case with salmon dials in the 1930s, but it wasn’t until the last few decades that collectors really prized this. Patek Philippe even reserved salmon dials for limited runs and special clients.

The ”salmon” dial isn’t a specific color, but a hue that’s interpreted differently by watchmakers. Side-by-side, you can see clear differences between them, although decades ago almost all dials were produced by outside companies like Stern Frères or Singer. Their experimentations with shades of salmon resulted in such a variety today as they needed differentiation with multiple clients. This makes sense when major luxury brands use the same sources and obviously don’t want the same dials. Our salmon dial hues are painstakingly chosen for their “alive” nature and tone - some salmon dials can have a flat and almost “dead” appearance.

Our Gradient Grey is timeless and perfectly suits the Autark Small Seconds look. Not only has this been a popular wristwatch dial color for decades, but it also compliments the grade 5 titanium case. In fact, it ironically blends well with the case like early salmon dials blended with gold counterparts. The dial has texture with some black “pixels” or specs, creating a matte gradient effect that definitely stands out among more common grey dials. Subtle, sophisticated and positively Horage. See image above.

Preorders

Preorders for the Autark K2 Small Seconds are now open at only 4,500 CHF with deliveries expected in late summer 2024. Following preorder deliveries, regular stock will be available for 5,250 CHF. This represents an unprecedented opportunity to acquire a Swiss made, in-house micro-rotor watch at the most competitive price in the industry. As a performance watchmaker, our focus is always on the best engineering, design, innovation and, of course, our customers and all watch enthusiasts.

We Want to Hear From You!

What do you think of the new Autark Small Seconds? We feel it's the perfect blend of luxury, sophistication and simplicity with a grade 5 titanium integrated sports watch design, K2 micro-rotor caliber, micro-adjusting clasp from our Supersede models and classic small seconds. Check out our Chinese New Year One Edition as well (here) for a Wood Dragon theme. We'll have more information and updates on the Auatark Tourbillon very soon, so stay tuned! 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