Last year, the Unnamed Society – a team of passionate inventors, designers and artisans whose goal is to “create the impossible that defies imagination” using the highest quality materials and techniques steeped in tradition for collectors and connoisseurs who belong to its covert circle – created a stir in the world of Haute Horlogerie when they presented their first piece with L’Epée, The Colt Revolver, which is literally a revolver that tells the time. Now, they are back with the revolver, only this time, it is more exquisite than its predecessor, its jewelled features rightfully earning it the name The Diamond.
Like the Colt Revolver, The Diamond has been designed as a revolver to help us remember how easily time can be stolen or stopped. It is covered in diamonds as a further reminder that time is precious and must be cherished.
As usual, both watchmakers spare nothing in the creation of this truly unique timepiece, and the result is a combination of painstaking skill, creativity and very long hours. The gem setting is carried out by the Salanitro workshops, a world reference in this domain and the leader in the field of gem-setting for Swiss Haute Horlogerie. Taking design, technical engineering and the art of gem-setting to new heights, The Diamond table clock comprises 2,518 diamonds for a total weight of 78.26 carats with 21 different sizes of diamonds. It is an exceptional work representing over 140 hours of fabrication and more than 300 hours of gem-setting by 6 master setters in the workshops located at the heart of the city of Geneva.
The ‘snow spirit’ setting applied to The Diamond calls for a particularly difficult and meticulous grain crimping technique that only a few expert setters have mastered to cover such a large surface whilst maintaining a beautiful and elegant homogeneity. To compose this particularly refined snow setting, whose gradation on the barrel recalls the lingering smoke after the revolver has been discharged, Salanitro’s artisans set hundreds of diamonds – all brilliant-cut and only seemingly arranged at random – of different sizes and with a minimum amount of metal between the stones. The rendering is very sophisticated and the technique, considered to be the haute couture of gem setting, ensures unparalleled brilliance and sparkle. The ‘snow spirit’ setting represents one of the most beautiful ways to express the aesthetics of an object, combining a sense of artistry with the excellence of execution. The grip is made of black lacquer, another ancestral technique that requires a particularly delicate mastery and artisanal know-how.
The Diamond by The Unnamed Society and L’Epée is set to be unveiled at the Art in Time gallery in Monaco. Its price is not yet known, but it is sure to be higher than its predecessor which was priced at $31,000.
Source: Watch I Love