Recently, while in Geneva, Switzerland, I had the opportunity to visit “manufacture DeWitt replica watches for sale,” an impressive and resolutely niche high-end watch maker who produces almost everything themselves and is owned by Mr. Jerome DeWitt – whose family tree includes Napoleon Bonaparte. Jerome himself is a humble man whose main passions in life include mechanical things. One of the most impressive parts of the manufacture is his own personal collection of ancient machines (his “mechanical museum,” if you will). Jerome has the soul of an artist who is deeply interested in mechanics and the visual celebration thereof. It is actually his wife – who is currently in a directorial role at the company – that brought DeWitt back from some of its financial issues. Together, the dynamic DeWitt duo has strengthened the brand to make it the company of today that I really admire – a unique brand, whose timepieces all have something interesting to say (regardless of whether or not you like that statement).
As boutique as the brand is (well they aren’t that boutique, given the size of the place) an impressive number of new timepieces and movements are being produced at DeWitt on a regular basis. A great example of their technical and visual strength is a timepiece collection such as this DeWitt Academia Grand Tourbillon watch, which are new DeWitt hollow out fake watches for 2015. It combines a skeletonized in-house-made tourbillon movement, a regulator style display, as well as jumping indicators for the hours and minutes. If that doesn’t make sense to you, then I’ve included a short video I posted of the DeWitt Academia Grand Tourbillon watch that demonstrates how the hands move in “jumping steps” versus in a sweeping motion as on most other watches.
What makes this jumping hours and minutes system so relevant on a regulator-style display (where the hours, minutes, and seconds are each indicated on their own separate dial) is that, historically, these types of layouts were used on the most precise clocks (which were called regulator clocks). The name is based on the fact that the clocks were used to “regulate” the time of other clocks. Many of these had “dead seconds” hands which ticked versus sweeping for a more precise ability to read the time. While I don’t know if this is a novel concept (I sort of doubt that it entirely is) DeWitt has adopted the ticking concept of a dead seconds hand to the hours and minute hands. I find the concept interesting both technically and emotionally as the concept very much fits into the notion of idealized mechanical indication of the time.
In the gallery at the end of the article, you’ll find a few images from DeWitt as well as additional images I took of the DeWitt Academia Grand Tourbillon. I included those images to illustrate how there is a bit of a fashionable element to the collection, as well as that the 18k rose gold case DeWitt copy watches with their “imperial column” sides have dials accented in black, blue, and, remarkably, also green. The latter is an interesting option for sure. Like many other DeWitt watches, the DeWitt Academia Grand Tourbillon wears prodigiously at 46mm wide, but only 11.90mm thick. The new motto of the brand is “Heirs of Napoleon,” which should be an indicator to you that nothing about what DeWitt is trying to do attempts to be “discreet.” Which, for some people (or moods), is an excellent thing.
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