OMEGA

OMEGA, SWITZERLAND, PROJET P33 TOURBILLON CENTRAL A very fine and unique technical hand drawn illustrations, documentation, correspondence, press articles Brand: Omega, switzerland Model: Projet P33 Tourbillon central Year: circa 1990 Provenance: Property of Andre Beyner Grading System: AAA (Excellent) HKD: 28,600 - 47,700 USD: 3,700 - 6,100 EUR: 3,300 - 5,400 JPY: 580,000 - 960,000 The Project P33 was again the fruit of the collaboration of probably 2 of the greatest watch engineers Andre Beyner and Moritz Grimm (for another prototype for Audemars Piguet see lot XX). Started in 1991 for Omega, this time the goal for the manufacture's 100th anniversary (1894–1994) was to produce something great and unusual. It was decided that a Tourbillon wristwatch would be the perfect watch to create but in order to make it truly unique they decided a central flying tourbillon would be the way to go. The gearing for the plates was moved to the periphery of the dials into the sides of the watchcase. Since the traditional position for the center cannon-pinion and time indicators was now taken by the tourbillon cage, engineers had to modify the display mechanism from the Omega Dinosaur. The hands of the central tourbillon were etched onto thin sapphire crystal disks that rotated on top of one another to display the minutes and hours. The escapement was constructed with a solid gold balance wheel and a blued Breguet balance spring with a Phillips overcoil. The seconds’ indicator was shaped into the Omega symbol and incorporated onto the tourbillon regulator as well. By using a cage constructed of lightweight titanium, the 41-component tourbillon assembly only weighed 0.46 grams; the balance wheel alone weighed 0.20g. The lightweight tourbillon and a platinum rotor mounted directly into the caseback for ideal mass and winding efficiency both contributed to achieve a final power reserve of 45 hours.

Estimate:$3,628.33

View all items fromAntiquorumorWatches & Clocks