The Mechanical Marvels of Baselworld 2017

The essence of a watch is keeping accurate time, but that has never stopped watchmakers turning them into more. While many complications are there to offer additional information to the owner of a watch, there are also some that only serve an aesthetic function. They are created to delight viewers with sound, motion and even light. These were some of the latest mechanical marvels that we discovered at Baselworld:

Jaquet Droz Loving Butterfly Automaton
Of course, when you say, Jaquet Droz, you say automaton’s. Incorporating this complication in something as small as a wrist watch is never easy, yet the brand achieves this once more with the “Loving Butterfly Automaton.” The scene on the dial of the watch seems to come straight out of a fairytale, where a little boy drives a chariot pulled by a butterfly. Limited to 28 pieces, this Jaquet Droz is fitted with three main spring barrels, powering the watch and the automaton, and allowing the butterfly to flutter its wings 300 times in about 2 minutes.

Jacob & Co Opera
The Opera by Jacob & Co is destined to delight the ears as it is fitted with not one, but two music cylinders are driven by a central flywheel. Together they allow playing a 120-note melody while the entire movement rotates in the case. As if that is not enough, is the movement also fitted with a triple axis tourbillon. That movement is made with as many titanium parts as possible to elevate the quality of the sound as much as possible. When classical music is not your taste, don’t worry, as Jacob & Co allows you to customize the song that this watch will play.

HYT Skull Pocket Watch
Although already introduced before Baselworld, the HYT-team did bring the Skull Pocket Watch. Next, to its signature fluid technology does this pocket watch have a mechanical light source. By pressing a button on the side of a case a spring will unwind which powers a micro-generator, which in turn creates the energy for two LEDs to illuminate the fluid. A very inventive way to read the time in the dark, with added impact because of the eery green glow it gives the skull.