Sweet!
[Press Release] Dutch watchmakers Tim and Bart Gronefeld present “One Hertz”, the world’s first and only production wristwatch with independent dead seconds (secondes morte in French).
While rare, the dead seconds complication does exist; however to date they have been derived from other mechanisms, usually a constant force device or remontoir d’égalité.
The One Hertz features Grönefeld own proprietary movement and indicates hours and minutes on a sub-dial at 2 o’clock; large sub-dial for the dead seconds; power reserve indicator at 12 o’clock; and an innovative setting-winding indicator at 3 o’clock.
Setting-winding is ergonomically selected by pushing the crown in rather than pulling it out.
Dead seconds – where the second hand advances in full steps of one second instead of an apparently smooth sweeping action – was a very respected mechanical complication until the 1980s; however, its popularity then died with the dominance of quartz movements, which also stepped in full seconds. A smooth sweeping second hand came to differentiate mechanical from quartz.
With their new One Hertz with its unique secondary gear train, Tim and Bart Grönefeld have resurrected this long neglected complication and re-positioned it where the complication originated, i.e. on the pedestal of high precision.
