The Frederic Jouvenot Helios Carbon (w. Specs)

Ten years in the past, Robin coated the rise of the younger indie watchmaker Frédéric Jouvenot and his award-winning Helios watch with its revolutionary means of displaying the time. Impressed by the sundial, the oldest technique of monitoring time, the Helios has 12 cone-shaped markers radiating from the centre of the watch that flip over to point the time. The newest Helios mannequin to affix the Photo voltaic Deity assortment is the Frederic Jouvenot Helios Carbon, a restricted version of 88 items with the watchmaker’s patented leaping hours show and 12 miniature pyramids fabricated from cast carbon separating the hour cones. 

The Photo voltaic Deity assortment is comprised of 4 fashions named after totally different Solar gods, all geared up with Jouvenot’s distinctive 24-hour sun-shaped show. The Helios is called after the Greek god of the Solar, depicted in mythology sporting a crown of sunbeams and driving a chariot throughout the sky. Now with the incorporation of pyramids on the dial, Jouvenot pays homage to historical Egyptian sundials within the type of obelisks.

Like different males’s fashions within the Photo voltaic Deity assortment, the case of the Frederic Jouvenot Helios Carbon has a 44mm diameter and a top of 13mm. Crafted in titanium with a black DLC coating, the massive case shows the signature openworked lugs and 12 recessed circles on the bezel with miniature rounded pyramids of their inside. Brushed surfaces on the bezel and casebands distinction with the floor polish of the lugs. The dial and caseback are protected by a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective remedy.

The originality of this watch is Jouvenot’s show of the hours represented by 12 rotating sunbeams. Daytime hours are represented by golden beams, whereas the evening hours are darkish with a strip of luminous materials. Studying the time is very intuitive, with the minutes positioned on a gray central disc with massive white numerals and indicated by a rotating white arrow. What’s new about this watch is the presence of 12 darkish cast carbon pyramids positioned between every hour marker. A brittle materials that’s difficult to work with at such a miniature scale, the marbled striations of the composite materials imply that no two pyramids are the identical.

Moreover, the pyramids underscore the three-dimensionality of the dial. What’s curious is how the mini pyramids are hooked up to the dial with uncovered screws at their ideas. Bigger than the screws that may be seen on the night-time face of the sunbeams, they contribute to the general industrial really feel of the watch.

Two years of R&D and several other patents defend the leaping hour complication animating the dial of the Helios Carbon. What is outstanding in regards to the 100-part leaping hour mechanism is that it’s enclosed in a 12mm capsule within the centre of the dial marking the center of the Solar. The manual-winding motion, totally developed by Frédéric Jouvenot, reveals refined finishings, together with bevelled and polished edges on the mainplate and bridges and Côtes de Genève ornament. The screw-adjusted steadiness beats at 28,800vph, and the ability reserve is 50 hours.

Availability & Value

The Frederic Jouvenot Helios Carbon is a restricted version of 88 items. It comes with a black alligator leather-based strap with a black DLC titanium folding clasp and is offered with a USB assure card and a particular field. Value is offered upon request.

Extra info at fjouvenot.com.