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I did of course spend some time working on alternative ideas for my own watch. In the rendering below, you can see the applied triangles for the five-minute markers on the main time subdial, something that ultimately became one of the unique design features of my personal piece.
Early dial rendering of the author’s unique Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II
At this point I put two versions together in a photo of my Observatoire case, just to see what the watch might look like sitting on my nightstand. You’ll see that by this point Voutilainen had told us that he was going to insist that the night sky be blue rather than black or anthracite; an inspired decision, in my view, based on the appearance of the finished watch.
It was this comparison that led me to request a two-tone dial when we sent Kari our final preferences in January of 2011.
Final design trial runs by the author, 2010
By now, we were in January of 2011: almost a year in, and time to view engineering schematics of the proposed dials. In the blueprint below, you can see that all chronograph seconds have dots on the outer chapter ring, the railroad track is gone, and the chronograph seconds are unflipped (the things that collectors care about!). Applied triangles are also in evidence.
Dial design schematic, Voutilainen Masterpiece Chronograph II
During the months that followed, I pursued an angle that had intrigued me ever since I had seen the case of Voutilainen’s Masterpiece 7: the idea of an engraved officer case back.
I loved engraver Eddy Jaquet’s work on that watch, and began searching for a suitable subject for him to address on mine, finally settling on the idea of Chronos, the Greek god of time.
I pulled a bunch of Chronos images from the web and sent them to Eddy. The one that we both found appealing is the one shown below, of a sculpture by Ignaz Gunther.
Statue of Chronos by Ignaz Gunther: inspiration for the unique engraving on the author’s watch
Over the course of the year we went back and forth as the “late summer” target completion date for our watches came and went due to sourcing issues with the dials. The delay did give me time to consider Jaquet’s first proposition, shown below.
Initial design proposal from engraver Eddy Jaquet for the Chronos engraving
Hmm . . . it seemed to me that it would be tough to see the hour glass, and I also didn’t like the way that Chronos’ left wing was furled. Could we try again? Sure enough, the next proposal was very much to my liking.
Final design of Eddy Jaquet’s Chronos engraving
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