CONTEMPORARY ART
Is there a limit to imagination? Philosophers are still pondering this. Watchmakers express their opinion with the facts. The watchmaker’s latest creation joins the debate.
The Astronef Techno designed by Louis Moinet looks like nothing else that exists. The dial on this unique timepiece is captivating. An original, intensely-colored composition made from a silicon wafer and engraved with microelectronic circuits, serves as the canvas for an impressive moving mechanical sculpture. Two independent tourbillons weighing just 0.25 grams each rotate around a central axis, one in 10 minutes, the other in five minutes. The pair are perfectly aligned every three minutes and 20 seconds. The hour and minute hands adorned in solar yellow and Super-LumiNova® rotate on this with precision. So that you can admire the display in the best conditions, the watchmaker has opted for a case crafted from two materials. The grade 5 titanium 43.5 mm-diameter base is topped by a 41.6 mm-diameter sapphire upper part.
This translucent case protects the complicated LM 105 caliber, which boasts 16 ceramic ball bearings. To accumulate the power needed to orchestrate the whole with precision and deliver a power reserve of 48 hours, the manual wind is double-barreled. A selector perfectly integrated into the case back of the Astronef Techno makes it possible, depending on its position, to turn the crown to wind or set the watch.
