Flamingo

Description

Flamingo – The Magic of a Frozen Flame

Anton Suhanov’s first in-house caliber marks the world premiere of the signature flaming balance in a wristwatch.

To celebrate the manufacture’s 10th anniversary, Anton Suhanov introduced his first in-house caliber, the Su26.1L. The independent watchmaker spent about four years developing this hand-wound movement, which features two barrels and provides a power reserve of half a week.

Simply wind the Flamingo watch on Friday, and it will run until Monday. Manual winding creates an emotionally charged, direct connection with the watch’s delicate mechanics, turning interaction with the timepiece into a marvelous ritual.

Flamingo is the first wristwatch with a luminous balance mounted on the dial side. The unique geometry of the balance, with prominent luminous inserts, creates the illusion of a floating ring of light as it oscillates in the dark. The polished bevels on the balance enhance this effect, and even the slightest tilt of the watch produces reflections reminiscent of light playing on water.

The Flamingo’s key feature is its balance wheel, with a 15.7 mm diameter – one of the largest in the world for a wristwatch movement – beating at 18,000 vibrations per hour. The larger diameter allows for finer adjustment of the oscillations and makes the balance a central design element. As a result, this traditionally technical component responsible for precision acquires a new dimension – one that is aesthetic, design-focused, and emotional.

In the Flamingo watch, Anton Suhanov introduced a rare type of power reserve indicator featuring a nonlinear display. When the hand enters the red sector, representing the final 12 hours of power reserve, it moves twice as fast. This enables intuitive reading of the remaining power reserve and helps determine the optimal moment to wind the watch. According to Anton Suhanov, the indicator embodies the concept of uneven time: in the Flamingo watch, he reflects on the perception of time – the less time remains, the more rapidly it seems to pass.

The central Y-shaped bridge of the second and third wheels alludes to St. Petersburg, Anton Suhanov’s hometown. Its shape evokes the stylized outline on the map of the district where the Neva River divides into the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva at the Peter and Paul Fortress, marked by a jewel. The logo on the movement is positioned exactly where the Anton Suhanov manufacture is located.

The city theme continues with the balance bridge, reminiscent of city drawbridges: viewed from the side, the arches appear to open, and a ruby jewel emerges at the center of the composition like a rising sun. These references to St. Petersburg are personal, transforming the movement’s architecture into a kind of map of the city to which the watchmaker is emotionally attached.

The movement’s finishing is crafted in the classic tradition of Haute Horlogerie, featuring polished bevels with meticulously executed internal corners – one of the most complex and labor-intensive techniques. The design includes 73 internal corners: 13 on the bridges and 60 on the wheels, highlighting the exceptional standard of the movement’s finishing.

In the Flamingo watch, technical ruby jewels are integrated into the expressive design. The dial displays five decorative jewels and two functional ones – one on the balance shaft and one on the axis of the power reserve indicator hand. The design experiment with ruby jewels continues in the winding crown, where two ruby pallets are integrated. This solution is both aesthetic and functional, as the jewels make it easier to count the crown revolutions during winding. Ruby jewels set on the hands are becoming a distinctive feature of Anton Suhanov’s signature style. The cap jewel at the tip of the hour hand passes over the manufacture’s logo like a miniature loupe, while a ruby pallet is positioned at the end of the minute hand as a colored tip. The power reserve indicator hand is also adorned with a ruby cap jewel. The small seconds and 24-hour hands, featuring ruby pallets, are executed in the distinctive “tweezer” style originally developed by Anton Suhanov for his 2024 flagship release, the Chronotope watch.

Supplied by the brand to the GPHG for its entry.