Braveheart\xae

Description

Video BraveHeart\xae Amadeo\xae Fleurier Mechanical Prowess and Artistic Density Year after year, DIMIER 1738, Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Artisanale, illustrates the extent of its artisans\u2019 talent by developing and manufacturing timepieces that constantly define new criteria of excellence in decorative arts, horological engineering and chronometry. It all started with owner Pascal Raffy\u2019s dream, a spontaneous vision that constantly leads him to design new timepieces. In parallel, a compendium of calibers and complications produced by the Manufacture DIMIER since 2006 and the extraordinary historical heritage of BOVET 1822 defined the future of the Maison and its collections. From that point on, a clear set of specifications was drawn up and a privileged position reserved for innovation and the ideas that emerge during the various stages of development.The caliber destined for the new icon, the Amadeo\xae Fleurier Braveheart\xae Tourbillon with 22 days of power reserve, had to redefine the boundaries of chronometry while offering optimal ease of use. This required a long power reserve both to provide a singularly constant force to the regulating organ and offer unparalleled conditions of use. In addition to incorporating the sum of 193 years of experience, the Braveheart\xae was designed around one of the main characteristics of BOVET\u2019s modern time-pieces: the Amadeo\xae convertible case system. This ingenious system, which has equipped all Fleurier collections since 2010, gives two aspects to two sides of the timepiece. Two different, yet harmonious expressions of time, combined with the numerous technical challenges involved in integrating two time displays into an elegant and controlled volume. In 2014, BOVET unveiled its first watchmaking specialty caliber not regulated by a tourbillon \u2013 a first in the history of the Manufacturer. Patent number 0169-DI-CH relating to this specialty refers to its double co-axial seconds display mechanism. It went without saying that this patented double co-axial seconds display had to be included in this new caliber, regardless of the difficulty incorporating it into a tourbillon axis. This desire to display the seconds on both sides of the tourbillon carriage constitutes a world first, which naturally led the Manufacture\u2019s technicians to develop the first flying tourbillon of the Manufacture DIMIER history. The unprecedented tourbillon regulating the Braveheart\xae immediately captivates the onlooker\u2019s attention and encapsulates the timepiece\u2019s most striking innovations. Its design, architecture and the quality of its finishes prompt as many questions as they do expressions of awe. To achieve this outcome, all the established rules and conventions that normally surround the development of a new caliber were thrown into question. By starting with a clean slate and a mind free from any theoretical constraints or predispositions, Pascal Raffy together with the technicians and the watchmakers of DIMIER\u2019s technical department were able to secure this esthetic, technical and chronometric achievement. It is widely known that in the traditional approach to development, esthetics and chronometry occupy opposing positions and force a compromise: improvements to one are often made to the detriment of the other. The innovations developed by BOVET do not merely concern technical prowess and the functions of its timepieces; they also focus on the processes leading up to them. It is thanks to this comprehensive method that the esthetics and technical innovation of the Braveheart\xae tourbillon jointly establish a new definition of watchmaking excellence. Lightness and transparency have always been essential criteria for BOVET 1822 when developing and manufacturing movements regulated by a tourbillon. The tourbillon carriages produced by BOVET are also the subject of a specific patent, since none of the going-train wheels extend above the carriage, as is usually the case. The use of "three-quarter" plates and bridges, adopted by BOVET since 2012, further accentuates these concepts of transparency and lightness. To develop the Braveheart\xae, Pascal Raffy asked the Manufacture DIMIER\u2019s technical department to push back even further the boundaries imposed by this type of regulating organ while still improving the chronometry of the timepiece as a whole. The technicians and watchmakers in charge of this develop- ment thus proposed the flying tourbillon as a solution. A traditional tourbillon moves between two bridges which support the pivots situated at the far ends of its axis, whereas a flying tourbillon pivots on a ball bearing fixed to the lower extremity of its axis, generally located in the plate. Simply adopting the latter solution would have prevented the transparency of the "pivoted" tourbillons already manufactured by BOVET from being achieved; in addition, the weight of the tourbillon carriage represents a sizeable constraint for the ball bearing due to the leverage force established by the height of the carriage\u2019s axis. To counteract these issues, the Manufacture DIMIER technicians came up with an innovative idea: to support the entire carriage in the middle of its axis. As well as halving the leverage force generated by the total height of the axis, this solution enabled the carriage\u2019s weight to be spread over each side of its anchorage point. To achieve this, the escapement was positioned on the lower part of the axis, while the balance wheel and balance-spring occupied the upper section of the axis. This patented mechanism results in unequalled chronometry for a flying tourbillon, and creates an impression \u2013 more convincing than ever \u2013 of a tourbillon levitating in the extra space provided by the three-quarter plates. The chronometric improvements obtained by the innovative architecture of the tourbillon carriage are compounded by those originating from a resolutely new balance wheel/balance-spring combination. It is well known that in order to provide optimal adjusting properties, a balance must be as light as possible in its center and the weight determining its inertia must be positioned on its far periphery. A revolutionary, patented felly provided an innovative and effective solution to this thorny issue. First of all, the technical department ruled out the use of a balance wheel in favor of a balance felly made up of three arms, each one bearing a weight to obtain optimal inertia. These weights have an ogive-shaped profile to improve the aerodynamics of the balance. In the middle of each of these weights is an inertia-block, which allows the equilibrium and dynamic setting of the balance wheel to be adjusted. At this stage of development, the significant mass of the weights at the end of all three arms posed a problem relating to the rigidity of the balance felly. The technicians solved this by giving it a particular, more rigid profile without further compromising the weight. A balance wheel such as this deserved to be coupled with a hair-spring that enhances its chronometric performance. During a balance wheel\u2019s vibration, a flat balance-spring does not expand concentrically with respect to its axis and therefore creates intermittent balance flaws. The terminal "Breguet" or "Philips" style curves only partially offset this problem. This is why the technicians and watchmakers from DIMIER\u2019s technical department chose to develop and produce a cylindrical hair-spring whose expansion is completely concentric to its center of gravity. The beating heart and guardian of precision in a mechanical timepiece, the hair-spring is also the component that requires the most rigorous knowledge and expertise of chemistry, physics and mechanics. As it has manufactured its own balance- springs since 2006, DIMIER 1738, Manufacture de Haute Horlogerie Artisanale, is one of the very few manufactures capable of creating this component. […]

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