Basel 2008: DeWitt WX-1 Concept Watch

--Press Release--

WX-1: A DIFFERENT WATCH, AND FAR MORE THAN A WATCH

WX-1, both a Watch Concept and an objet d’art, highlights the creativity of the House of DeWitt, which is celebrating its 5th anniversary in 2008.This exceptional creation embodies a range of cultural values merging design, futurism, sophisticated construction of its various elements, and an original interpretation of time read-off.  Time and Creation, mental architecture and spatial construction are all united in a vision of tomorrow…

Representing a daring wager on the future, this pure multi-dimensional concept offers an entirely new vision of what we refer to as "watchmaking". DeWitt is consistently guided by a philosophy of doing things differently, and this principle has now given rise to WX-1. The original concept was apparently quite simple: creating a watch that was different from and indeed far more than a watch.  How could one best marry authentic technological innovations and advanced aesthetics?  The result of the conceptual approach had to be unprecedented, technical and highly exclusive, so as to assert itself as the embodiment of contemporary watchmaking art.Everything about WX-1 confirms that this daring bid has been successful in terms of both form and content.

 

EMBODYING THE MULTI-CULTURAL ART OF WATCHMAKING

The genesis of this objet d’art stems from a momentous encounter between two individuals. The object designed and developed under the name of WX-1 tells a story, that of two exceptional friends, Jér?me de Witt and Jean-Michel Wilmotte. The designer and the architect blended their curiosity and talent, uniting their thoughts in pursuing the single-minded goal of developing an object intended to measure time – but also and above all endowed with an exceptional design and truly avant-garde technology. The result is the original and ultra-exclusive WX-1, which asserts itself as a spectacular incarnation of the watchmaking art, stemming directly from the concept lab of the House of DeWitt.  This exceptional futuristic creation undeniably evokes the most cutting-edge industries. Carrying references to planes, cars, speedboats and contemporary art, the overall architecture of this model makes it a totally modern and truly multicultural object.  The daring formal design features are matched by an exceptional and indeed world-first mechanical construction that completely dissociates the displays from the mechanism driving them. WX-1 was intended to make a difference and to establish a new benchmark in watchmaking.  Mission accomplished!

 

ICON OF SEVERAL CONTEMPORARY WORLDS

An authentic machine representing several contemporary worlds, the pulsating heart of the WX-1 is equipped with a vertical flying tourbillon with a carriage performing one revolution per minute and visible through a cylindrical “chimney” located on the back of the case.The mechanical hand-wound movement comprises a parallel going train with five barrels ensuring a 21-day (approximately 504-hour) power reserve. The parts making up this “competitive racing” engine – barrels, gear train, tourbillon carriage, power- reserve indicator and winding device – are all arranged in vertical order. The power reserve is displayed by a coaxial roller, while the time of day is read off on two rotating discs.  The first,showing the minutes, turns in a clockwise direction, while the one displaying the hours turns counter-clockwise by means of a clever gear system mounted on six runners. Very much a machine of future time, WX-1 beats to the cadence of a revolutionary mechanism featuring an unprecedented construction.  Contrary to standard practice and indeed to everything introduced to date, the display of the information is disengaged from the movement driving mechanism. The going train, playing the role of propeller shaft, passes on the time measuring indications to the hour and minute discs. This complex creation is a genuine first in the history of watch engineering.  It can be viewed by sliding the “hood” or “bonnet” thereby revealing the entire mechanism – the display and the movement – housed beneath its transparent covering plate.

 

A TECHNOLOGICAL THOROUGHBRED

The performances of this technological thoroughbred also relate to the materials chosen for its construction, governed by the criteria of lightness and resistance.  All the parts composing the supporting structure of the WX-1 movement – mainplate and bridges – are made from an aluminum-lithium alloy.  The movement weighs no more than 27 grams in all. This ultra high-tech material is currently widely used in the aeronautical industry, particularly due to its exceptional performances.  The latter match those of the  movement, thereby ensuring both the lightness and the reliability of a 16.04 mm thick construction composed of 458 parts.

 

A LIGHT CASE FOR A SOPHISTICATED OBJECT

Innovative in terms of both its shape and its dimensions, the case of Incognito 2008 asserts its powerful personality, echoing the sophisticated micro-mechanical feat of engineering inside.  Composed of 370 parts, its highly complex construction testifies to an entirely novel approach. Standing for much more than any straightforward conventional case, this sophisticated object comprises a large number of model components, a winding device as well as particularly elaborate sliding systems. This high-tech architectural construction combines grade 5 titanium and eloxed aluminum, both materials known for their extreme qualities and together weighing just 191 grams! One would normally expect a case of this stature to weigh around 600 grams.

 

A CONSTRUCTION INCORPORATING A SET OF SOPHISTICATED SYSTEMS

This exceptional timepiece is equipped with two systems on the front and back of the case.  The crown traditionally located on the front of the dial serves its standard time-setting function when pulled out to the first notch. On the back of the case, very much like jet engines, sit two cylindrical “chimneys”: one offers an original view of the tourbillon regulator at work, while the other houses the winding system of the WX-1.  This device, which can be extracted from its recess by activating a bolt placed between the two cylindrical openings, serves to wind the watch. An electronically-driven tool specially developed for this object serves to wind the five barrels in a few dozen seconds. This extremely sophisticated high-tech instrument has a 90-minute running time when fully charged.  Rotating at 60 revs per minute and featuring a torque of 10 Newton/millimeter, it is powered by a lithium battery and enables the user to wind the five Incognito 2008 barrels in just a few seconds, by means of a vertical switch.  It can be recharged by a wall charger or by the USB socket on the back of the tool.  The WX-1 can also be manually wound using a second tool supplied with the watch. WX-1, an authentic avant-garde creation and a unique elitist object, is a subtle alchemist’s blend of the emblematic values of the House of DeWitt merging state-of-the-art technologies entirely in line with the enduring tradition of watchmaking innovation.  WX-1, which will be issued in an extremely limited series, comes with a desk stand that accentuates its multi-dimensional and multi-functional status.