In 1713, Charles Boyle, the 4th Earl of Orrery (for which the Geo Graham Orrery Tourbillon is named), commissioned English watch and clockmaker George Graham to create a mechanical device which demonstrated the planetary orbits and locations of the solar system. Graham succeeded and the first Orrery astronomical watch was born. 300 years later, Graham launched a modern update of the astronomical watch (a year before Van Cleef & Arpels would launch their superlative Planetarium). For Baselworld 2017, working with Christophe Claret once again, the Geo Graham Orrey Tourbillon receives an artistic update by way of the planetarium display, now available in a variety of mineral stones to differentiate the Sun, Earth, Mars and the moon. The cerulean Earth is represented by a a 3.2mm-wide polished sphere of Kingman Turquoise and the proportional 0.9mm moon itself is represented by moon meteorite fragments (specifically NWA4881 meteorite) much in the same way the 1.7mm Mars (Tissint meteorite) is represented fragments of meteorites which interacted with the red planet. The sun herself is represented by the large ornate baroque style, relatively slow beat 21,600 vph tourbillon with 18k pink bridge, hand engraved twin phoenix heads and the core of a cabochon diamond.
Baselworld 2017 Geo Graham Orrery Tourbillon
The manual wind calibre G1800 of the Baselworld 2017 Geo Graham Orrery Tourbillon is created by Manufacture Christophe Claret exclusively for Graham with enough power reserve to run hours, minutes, tourbillon, solar system complication with 100 years calendar with two rings of graduations for 300 years of planetary accounting for 3 days. Ensconced within an 18k rose gold 48mm case, the crystal caseback displays a 100 year scale with year counter and planet correction indicators: 4 o’clock for the moon, 10 o’clock for Mars. (Moon: 7 years, Earth: 1156 years, Mars: 25 years).
Aesthetically speaking, the blue lacquer dial of the Geo Graham Orrery Tourbillon is inscribed with hours, minutes, Gregorian calendar days, Zodiac scales with all 12 astrological signs, in a font reminiscent of really old school watches Off-center skeleton 18kt rose gold hands with white SuperLuminova coating, complete the vintage look over the 2013 Orrery Tourbillon and when dressed with hand-sewn blue alligator leather strap with an 18kt rose gold folding clasp, a presence of extraordinary class and elegance exudes from Graham’s latest release.
