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Maîtres du Temps - Chapter Three Reveal - Page 2
Maîtres du Temps - Chapter Three Reveal

With the secret panels closed, the central hours and minutes are complemented on the dial by a small seconds sub-dial at 8 o’clock that is esthetically balanced by the date sub-dial at 2 o’clock and a moon phase indicator at 4 o’clock. Both the small seconds and date sub-dials are subtly distinguished from the main dial by Clous de Paris guilloche and are clearly marked with neat little nameplates.

The earth’s shadow passes over a photo-realistic moon to indicate its phase.

Maîtres du Temps - Chapter Three Reveal“Working with Andreas has been a pleasure,” says Kari Voutilainen. “He has brought considerable benefits to the project. While I developed the most of the movement, Andreas invented and designed new mechanisms—including the mechanism for operating the dial panels—and his considerable expertise in manufacturing components has meant that everything has gone much more smoothly than it may have.”

Opening the invisible panels reveals the day/night indicator at 12 o’clock and the second time zone indicator at 6 o’clock. The day/night roller rotates in 24 hours and features engraved, polished, printed, and hand-painted icons: the sun to symbolize day and the night sky to represent night. This indication is of particular benefit when using the second time zone, which is why it is revealed at the same time, as it enables the user to keep track of the hour at home and to know at a glance if it is day or night there.

The second time zone is adjusted by means of the ergonomic quick-set pusher at 9 o’clock, which esthetically follows the form of the case. Each push advances the second time zone roller by one hour. These time zone and day/night rollers are permanently synchronized with each other and can adjust both forwards and backwards in time through the crown.

To maximize legibility, the second time zone at the bottom of the dial is displayed on two separate rollers: hours 1–6 on one and 7–12 on the other. When transitioning (forwards or backwards) between 6 and 7 or 12 and 1, the superseded roller slides horizontally out of the way and the new roller moves into place. This innovative mechanism has been awarded a patent. Using two rollers instead of one means that only six numbers have to be displayed around the circumference of each roller, enabling them to be twice as large, so twice as easy to read.

The Chapter Three Reveal movement, developed by Kari Voutilainen with refinements and technical solutions by Andreas Strehler, is both Maîtres du Temps’ first completely in-house movement and the first movement Voutilainen has developed for a brand other than his own. Voutilainen also specified and is responsible for the high-level finishing of the movement. To incorporate so many indications and mechanisms in such a slim, elegant case necessitated more than three years of collaborative work.