It is with great pleasure and pride that we bring to the international auction market for the very first time the unique and incredible Christian Klings Desmodromic, consigned by the original owner.

"Desmodromic" means "force the way" and is used to describe the valve train construction (elimination of valve springs) of the Ducati motorcycles (one of Klings past jobs was motorcycle repair). This escapement took Klings 4 years to develop and is a shock-resistant single-beat chronometer escapement with pivoted detent. Locking is regulated through the escapement wheel without spring returning the detent. At the end of the impulse, one tooth of the chronometer wheel slides under the return pallet and forces the detent to return into locking position. Christian Klings is a now retired watchmaker who, in the course of a 30-plus years career, has made less than 35 watches, but his impact has been immense, whether with the collecting community or with his fellow watchmakers. Klings is as much an artist as he is a watchmaker and thus focuses on creating bespoke timepieces upon commission from savvy collectors. His creations - with an almost unheard-of degree of hand work using traditional tools and techniques- have ranged from a 10-second tourbillon with a free balance escapement to detent escapements to highly finished time-only watches with single-beat escapements.

In a recent interview published on the Phillips website, Klings said: "The watches I make now need to be simple, have a clean look, a classic design, and an aesthetically pleasing movement with a high degree of finish. I want my movement designs to have a calming effect." The present Desmodromic is the only piece of its kind made by the master: two mustard-colored subdials for hours/minutes and seconds with hand-engraved silver chapter rings recessed in a beautiful blue vitreous main dial. The large movement is also devoid of any frills, with the blue screws, red rubies and gold chaton adding a dash of color.