INTERNATIONAL WRIST WATCH
Clearly Something Different
By Gary GEORGE
Just when you think you’ve seen everything…it disappears!
Following his desire to produce a completely transparent wristwatch, Rene Quinting broke through all barriers and created a watch you have to see to believe.
An avid watch enthusiast from a young age, Mr. Quinting’s interest was spurred on by an editorial in a German watch magazine. Back in 1992, Rene Quinting (24 at the time) saw the skeletonized wristwatches produced by the noted specialist Kurt Schaffo published in the German magazine, Uhren. Excited by the through that he could take the idea of a transparent wristwatch even further, he pursued the concept of creating a timepiece that would house the entire movement within the outer ring of the case and leave the dial as transparent as possible. The idea is not completely new. Anyone familiar with the techniques used to create the "Mystery Clocks" by Cartier will have a basic idea of how the hands are seemingly suspended in mid-air. In the Mystery Clocks, the hands are attached to a transparent sapphire disk. Each disk (one for each hand) is driven by a wheel on the perimeter by a movement hidden in the base or outer rim of the timepiece. The disks are invisible to the naked eye and therefore, the hands appear unattached to the frame in any way, seemingly suspended mysteriously within the clock. Slowly turning and mysteriously within the clock. Slowly turning and mysteriously suspended, the hands seem to track time of their own volition.
The same basic technique in miniature holds the key to the Quinting wristwatch. The fundamental concept is the same, but the miniaturisation of the entire mechanism called for creative solutions to difficult problems. So many in fact that Mr. Quinting and his working prototype were consistently turned away by manufacturer after manufacturer. They repeatedly told him it was not possible and, even if accomplished, the watch would be too expensive to bring to market.
Persistence and drive paid off and René Quinting has accomplished what he set out to do- the Quinting transparent watch is born.
When you take a closer look and learn more about the Quinting, however, you start to understand that this is not just another gimmicky quartz wristwatch. The technology and construction inherent in the Quinting wristwatch make it a completely different timepiece worthy for an engineers scrutiny. In a reversal of the typical "less is more", Quinting has a wristwatch that has so much more in the way of technology and material content, specifically designed to seem as though it is just the opposite – or, more is less. A total of 230 separate parts makes up the Quinting wristwatch – most of them custom created for the Quinting – that’s more individual parts than most mechanical timepieces integrate into their watches.
Mr. Quinting’s creation leap-frogged right over the simple hour and minute display and actually integrated a chronograph and a calendar into the first transparent wristwatch. When asked why he added the chronograph/calendar instead of taking the clearly easier course of creating a simpler time-only version, he responded, "to prove that it can be done." The mechanism uses four quartz motors hidden in the steel or gold case of the watch.
The motors drive the sapphire crystals that hold the hour, minute, chronograph, and date hands. The toothed driving edges of the inner sapphire crystals are neatly hidden from view by the edge of the ring-like case.
René Quinting manufactures his watches in a manner best described as a layered or sandwich type construction. Overlapping so many separate crystals calls for super fine tolerances and each inner disk is between .08mm and .10 mm thick. Tolerances are so minute that even the added thickness of the anti-reflective coatings applied to each sapphire disk had to be figured into his layered construction.
Another technical problem to overcome was the mass of the inner sapphire discs. Typical watch hands weigh much less than the sapphire disks which replace them in the Quinting.
A battery designed to power a quartz movement with the associated mass and friction coefficient of the usual watch hands was not enough to keep the Quinting watch running for the 2-3 year target period.
With space already at a premium, multiple batteries would not solve the problem. He had to come up with another solution.
Mr. Quinting and his team decided the answer was to engineer the mechanism so that the friction was so significantly reduced that it allowed a single typical watch battery to power his watch for the required two-three years. In fact, the design is so efficient, Quinting claims, that if installed in a typical quartz watch, the battery would keep the watch running for up to fifteen years. Secured with two screws, the plate bearing the serial number of your watch is easily removed for battery replacement.
At the moment, Mr. Quinting is not ready to divulge the techniques used to overcome the friction to energy radio – but imagine if this technology were applied to all quartz watches. If every quartz watch purchased would run for fifteen years on a single battery, how long might a lithium type long-life battery power last ? In theory, Mr. Quinting’s techniques could reduce the demand for batteries to one-fifth of the current level based on longevity alone.
The two button chronograph functions as expected use the top pusher for start and stop interval timing functions and the bottom pusher to re-set to zero. The date pointer features the added bonus of functioning as a day/night indicator. The subtle method of dividing each date index into two distinct halves allows the date hand to perform double duty and identify AM or PM time simply and without extraneous devices.
The transparent watch has a diameter just over 43mm, a full size wristwatch on anyone’s wrist. It’s water and chock resistant and fully guaranteed for two years.
Attention to detail and design have allowed René Quinting to bring his dream to life and have added real substance to the world of wristwatches.
No, this is not just another gimmicky quartz watch.
Like so many other aspects of the time keeping world, the "mystery" type transparent dial has been around for quite a while – albeit only on table clocks. That Mr. Quinting has achieved the miniaturisation and integration of the design for the wristwatch is an awesome achievement, and worthy for a second look.
Gold or steel, bracelet or leather strap, the Quinting see-through wristwatch is another clever masterpiece of engineering.
Quinting watches are represented by Great Gatsby’s in the United States. Telephone them at (770) 457-1905 or check out their informative web site at www.quinting-watches.com
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