Indie Watch Legend Vianney Halter Teams With a Canadian Jeweler for a Mind-Boggling New Timepiece
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Canadian lapidary artist, Alexandre Beauregard, a relative newcomer to the world of haute horlogerie, burst on the scene in 2018 with Dahlia, a floral-themed central flying tourbillon with 48 invisibly-set, hand-carved stone petals full of layers, volumes, colors, and textures framing a superior technical movement. Beauregard’s latest, Ulysse, is a collaborative timepiece made with Vianney Halter, one of watchmaking’s original independent watchmakers. Halter’s inaugural Antiqua, a daring, avant-garde, steampunk-style perpetual calendar, was a surprising, norm-breaking watch for 1998, eliciting strong emotional responses and solidifying Halter’s groundbreaking reputation.
Ulysse is the unexpected product of these two artisans finding mutual vision, and while it feels like the timepiece’s name should represent their journey due to its mythological connotations—”Ulysse” is the French name for “Odysseus”—its origins hit much closer to home for Beauregard, who was the adventure’s creative lead. “Ulysse being a legendary sailor, the name came to me naturally,” Beauregard explained. “The complicated way the hands work from the central pinion echoes the cleverness of the mythic persona of ‘Ulysse.’ But perhaps even more importantly, my son is named Ulysse.”
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The watch certainly represents a journey, though: It is not only Beauregard’s first collaboration, it is his first male-oriented timepiece. And it is as unconventional and decorative as every other watch he has created thus far with its bold dial comprising 68 delicately-hued, yet perfectly pure hand-cut aquamarines press-fit in gold latticework only 0.3 mm in thickness and then cemented to mother-of-pearl on the back, which shimmers through the opaque stones in an exceptionally beautiful way. This is a technique that Beauregard has used on other watches, and one that never fails to mesmerize. Equally compelling, are the aforementioned hands, which call back to the Dahlia; this is one of the most complicated elements of the watch, involving 24 individual components that Halter assembles with great care since there is only 0.2 mm space between the dial and the sapphire crystal covering it; both the components and the hand curvature must be perfect in every way to achieve their desired effect.
Halter also contributes the technology to the 10-piece limited edition in the form of his automatic Caliber U30A, first seen in his Anniversary Piece of 2018, which boasts a signature transparent mystery rotor so we can see the insane beauty of the mechanics, including 30 transparent bearing jewels (synthetic corundum instead of the more typical ruby); beautifully polished and decorated German silver plates and bridges; and an exceptional degree of finishing and beveling aesthetics satisfying Beauregard’s aesthetic eye.
This beauty with absolute cult factor and a 56-hour power reserve comes in a 41 mm rose-gold case with a crown set with a stunning aquamarine cabochon for 110,000 Swiss francs (approx. $121,000).
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