He’s a Guinness World Record Holder for creating the world’s most precise moonphase indicator (with a deviation of one day in two million years). Independent watchmaker Andreas Strehler has always been inspired by the moon and its journey around the earth. Who would have ever thought that this fascination would one day find its way into remarkable inventions. This 2017, Andreas Strehler, presents Sauterelle à heure mondiale aka ‘Grasshopper World Time’, a timepiece that features Strehler’s own patented rémontoir d’égalité or “constant force” mechanism.
THE CASE
The Sauterelle à heure mondiale is presented in a 41mm 18k red gold or platinum case with a silver or blue dial. There are four references in total.
THE DIAL
To the right is the main dial that indicates the local time. The hands are made of blue polished steel. Strehler’s patented rémontoir d’égalité or “constant force” mechanism sits at 10 o clock. The mechanism charges energy and releases it once every second to the escapement. Irrespective of how fully wound the mainspring barrels are, the amount of energy delivered to the escapement is always balanced. At 8 o’clock is a 3D view of the northern hemisphere as seen from above the north pole. It rotates counter-clockwise once in 24 hours. The earth on the dial rotates under Andreas Strehler’s familiar sapphire crystal minute ring, which over here indicates night on earth.
THE CASE BACK
The sapphire display case back partially reveals the movement and features a ring with names of 24 cities, representing the 24 time zones. At the centre of the ring is a blue arrow.
SETTING THE TIME
The conical gear wheels in the winding mechanism makes it a pleasure to manually wind the watch. Once the movement starts to work you see the remontoir d’égalité come into action. Before embarking on your journey, turn the watch around and pull the crown to the first position. Then set the blue arrow to London/GMT. Pull the crown to the second position and adjust the hands and earth to the correct time for GMT. Thereafter, GMT is your reference time and you’re all good to go.
When setting the watch to the local time, the hour hand can be adjusted in one-hour-steps independently from the minute hand, without stopping the movement. On the movement side of the watch, next to the crown, sits the iconic moonphase indicator.
The movement itself is hand decorated, features two mainspring barrels and comprises of 206 components with a power reserve of 78 hours.
The Sauterelle à heure mondiale by Andreas Strehler is a Jules Verne tale in reverse – it’s a voyage from the moon to the earth.
PRICE
Price in Swiss Francs, 18K Rose Gold: 112,000 CHF, Platinum: 125,000 CHF