Zenith - Phillips Watches Online Auction: The Hong Kong Sessions, Fall 2023 Hong Kong Thursday, September 21, 2023 | Phillips

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  • Manufacturer: Zenith
    Year: Circa 2007
    Reference No: 65.1260.4005
    Case No: 04/50
    Model Name: Grande ChronoMaster XXT Tourbillon
    Material: 18K white gold
    Calibre: Automatic, cal. 4005, 35 jewels
    Bracelet/Strap: Leather
    Clasp/Buckle: 18K white gold Zenith deployant clasp
    Dimensions: 45mm diameter
    Signed: Case, dial, movement and clasp signed
    Accessories: Accompanied by Zenith guarantee stamped Valino, Barcelona dated May 2007, instruction manual, product literature, travel pouch, service card dated 23rd July 2014, extra service parts, fitted presentation box and outer packaging.

  • Catalogue Essay

    -Introduced at Basel World in 2004, the Grande ChronoMaster XXT Tourbillon marries Zenith’s legendary high-frequency El Primero chronograph with the sophisticated precision of a one-minute tourbillon regulator to create a breathtaking union of speed and finesse.

    -At the heart lies Zenith's landmark El Primero movement, undisputed as the world's only high-beat chronograph ticking at 36,000 vibrations per hour for accuracy to 1/10th of a second. Paired with this is haute horlogerie's ultimate complication - the tourbillon, placing the escapement in a rotating cage to offset gravity's effects. To combine the two seems to defy the laws of kinetics, as the tourbillon draws energy from the chronograph potentially slowing its velocity. Yet Zenith's talented engineers and watchmakers spent three years perfecting the impossible.

    -The resulting achievement maintains the El Primero's high-frequency while still powering the tourbillon for optimal energetic equilibrium. A second ingenious patent emerges - the calendar disc spins opposite the tourbillon, changing the date instantaneously at midnight as the carriage revolves in 60 seconds. A double helix of mechanical mastery.

    -In a nod to accelerated progress, the very concept of the tourbillon embodies an upward spiral, disrupting the linear cadence of time. Accordingly, the Grande ChronoMaster XXT Tourbillon's design is boldly asymmetrical, with an off-center hour axis and markers that crescendo toward the carriage at 11 o'clock. With a resolutely modern aesthetic in white gold and black, the present timepiece encapsulates both tradition and boundary-pushing advancement.

    -Driven by 319 parts animating the remarkable cal. 4005, the watch carries visual intrigue to match its technical brilliance. A canvas for Cartesian minds yet also seducing the heart with its beauty and motion, the present well-preserved example numbered 04 of a limited edition of 50 pieces and further accompanied by its original accessories represents Zenith's ultimate ingenuity and artistic flair.

  • Artist Biography

    Zenith

    Swiss • 1865

    Since Zenith's beginnings, founder George Favre-Jacot sought to manufacture precision timepieces, realizing quality control was best maintained when production was housed under one roof. Zenith remains one of the few Swiss manufacturers to produce their own in-house movements to this day.

    Today, the brand is best known for the "El Primero," the firm's most successful automatic chronograph movement. In an interesting twist of fate, the company that owned Zenith during the 1970s decided to move on to quartz movements and therefore sought to destroy the parts and tools necessary to make mechanical movements. One watchmaker realized this folly and hid the tools and parts before they were destroyed. In 1984, he returned them to Zenith so they could once again make the El Primero movement.

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8058

Ref. 65.1260.4005
A very fine and rare limited edition white gold tourbillon chronograph wristwatch with date, certificate and presentation box, numbered 04 of a limited edition of 50 pieces

Circa 2007
45mm diameter
Case, dial, movement and clasp signed

Estimate
HK$70,000 - 120,000 
€8,400-14,400
$9,000-15,400

Sold for HK$127,000

Contact Specialist

Thomas Perazzi
Head of Watches, Asia
+852 2318 2001
WatchesHK@phillips.com

Phillips Watches Online Auction: The Hong Kong Sessions, Fall 2023

21-28 September 2023