I am very pleased to be the only jeweller in Germany to present this masterpiece of watchmaking art in our stores. Our Christophe Colomb can be viewed and bought in our shop in Schwabing from May 1st. Only 25 pieces of this fascinating Tourbillon in rose gold were manufactured.

Yours sincerely
Manfred Hilscher

CHRISTOPHE COLOMB - Zenith

· A Major Milestone in Mechanical Watchmaking

- Inspired by the legendary marine chronometer instrument

· World première Grande Complication: A self-regulating gyroscopic module
to guarantee flat positioning of the regulating organ!

- 166 components in the regulator, 10 conical gears & 2 axis of rotation

· Limited and numbered edition of 25 pieces / white, rose or yellow gold

Movement

· Academy 8804, Manual

· Unique Gyroscopic system that ensures perfect horizontal positioning of the regulating organ

-  Gyroscopic cage made of 166 components, 10 conical-geared wheels (with 6 spherical wheels) & 6 ball bearings

- Jewels: 45

- Frequency: 36,000 V/h – (5 Hz)

- Power reserve: 50 hours

Functions

- Hours and minutes excentered at 12 o’clock

- Self-regulating gyroscopic module at 6 o’clock

- Small second display at 9 o’clock

- Power reserve indicator at 3 o’clock

Case, Dial & Hands

- Material: rose gold (18 carat)

- Diameter: 45 mm

- Crystal and Case-back: Box-form Sapphire glass with anti-reflection treatment on both sides with excrescent domes that cover gyroscopic module

- Water-resistance: 30 ATM

- Dial: Silver rounded “Grain d’Orges” Guilloché with straighted “Clou de
Paris on the small second counter

- Hands: Blued stainless steel

Brain candy for tech-lovers
The rating precision of a classic watch varies according to its position. Gravity attracts the escapement components, which do not operate in exactly the same way according to the direction in which they are attracted. The friction between the various components is also different and the amplitude of the balance may be disturbed, causing it to gain or lose. The best position for an escapement is the horizontal position which ensures the best amplitude for the balance and on which gravity is perpendicular to the components and does not therefore disturb their rotation.

The need to improve the precision of clocks for navigation led to the invention of marine chronometers, in which the entire movement is mounted on gimbals and remains horizontal despite the ship’s movements. This was the only way of achieving chronometric precision enabling a reliable measurement of position when at sea by comparing local solar noon with Greenwich Mean Time for example. When it became important to make pocket-watches more accurate, the same means could not be used, because that would have involved placing in the pocket a large mechanism measuring 50 mm.

Working on the principle that a watch in a pocket remains in a vertical position and that only the stem leans to the left or the right, the tourbillon watch was invented. This system does not prevent the position-related flaw from occurring, but instead averages out the flaw over the 4 vertical axes every minute. Since the watch does not move very much, it is adjusted to this particular average. However, as mentioned earlier, the constant vertical position of the balance is not the most favourable.

With the arrival of wristwatches, the positions of the watch were diversified by adding positions with the horizontal dial pointing downward or upward. Classic tourbillons continue to correct 4 positions out of 6 and already enhance precision, although only partially. Inclined tourbillons or gyrotourbillons average out more positions, but this is still the average of several errors, and they are only briefly in a horizontal position. The ultimate step thus lay in adapting the best solution, that of the constant horizontal escapement, to the wristwatch.

To avoid making a huge mechanism, only the part most sensitive to variations in position is mounted on gimbals and thus benefits from a more or less constant horizontal position – as well as a slightly gyroscopic stabilising effect of the balance. It was however necessary to find a system that enabled the two parts of the movement – the one that follows the position on the wrist and the one mounted on gimbals – to remain perfectly coordinated.

This perfect coordination is achieved in an extremely elegant manner by Zenith’s patented 0G system. In this system, a gear system harnesses the rotations of the axes of the carriage and a reverser differential gear instantly compensates for all the relative movements of the various elements.

The cadence of the operation of the gear train indicating the time on the part connected to the wrist movements is imparted by the escapement situated in the carriage, which constantly seeks to find its point of equilibrium determined by gravity. If the watch is moved in such a way as to set the carriage spinning on its axis, the coordination system compensates for this rotation and the hands continue imperturbably indicating the correct time, whatever the speed of the direction of this rotation.

For all these reasons, Manufacture ZENITH considers this system to be the ultimate evolution in comparison to the existing tourbillon systems.