After a hiatus of two years, Harry Winston and the Opus are back on the dance floor with a Rock ‘N’ Roll timepiece.
They are calling it the “Jukebox on your wrist” as it has a stack of four disks with different time displays — local time, GMT time, date and a star bearing the signature of Mr. Harry Winston — that slide out like vinyl records in a jukebox on demand. It works thanks to a selector on the side of the case at 9 o’clock. Once a specific display has been chosen, the entire stack of records moves up freeing the chosen disk. A gentle press on the pusher at 4 o’clock and an arm reaches out, picks up the disk, and moves it onto the “turntable” on the dial at 2 o’clock.
Now to the big question: Who made it? The Opus series has always been the result of a collaboration between Harry Winston and a master watchmaker, whose mission has been to defy the laws of innovation and the way time is read. We are delighted to see that Harry Winston (part of The Swatch Group since 2013) has decided to continue with the original concept; after all it isn’t as if they are lacking in-house talent!
For the Opus 14, the brand has partnered with watchmakers Franck Orny and Johnny Girardin (if you remember, they were the gentlemen behind Montblanc’s Timewriter I, Metamorphosis).
The duo have found inspiration in the Rock ‘N’ Roll era with their “record player” mechanics, but also in terms of design, with vinyl-style finishes on the dial, a choice of red and blue colors that evoke the American diner aesthetic and the legendary Route 66 emblem with the number 14.
With such an animation, this manual-winding timepiece has two barrels, one giving 68 hours for the timekeeping autonomy, and the other providing up to five back-and-forth disk movements.
With a 54.7mm gold case, it sounds large, but is the perfect dimension on the wrist, as Marc Hayek proves rather dashingly here below. Other features include a silicon balance spring, a sapphire crystal carved from a single block, 1066 components, water-resistance to 30 meters and a limited production of 50 pieces.
More to follow tomorrow when we meet with Nayla and Marc Hayek and talk with the designers about the continuation of the Opus saga.
The Opus Hall of Fame
2001 Opus 1 — with François-Paul Journe
2002 Opus 2 — with Antoine Preziuso
2003 Opus 3 — with Vianney Halter
2004 Opus 4 — with Christophe Claret
2005 Opus 5 — with Felix Baumgatner
2006 Opus 6 — with Greubel & Forsey
2007 Opus 7 — with Andreas Strehler
2008 Opus 8 — with Frédéric Garinaud
2009 Opus 9 — with Jean-Marc Wiederrecht
2010 Opus 10 — with Jean-François Mojon
2011 Opus 11 — with Denis Giguet
2012 Opus 12 — with Emmanuel Bouchet
2013 Opus 13 — with Ludovic Ballouard
