An exclusive creation from Frédéric Jouvenot
The first timepiece ever created to indicate the time by means of 12 petals changing colour by night and day, the Surya watch by Frédéric Jouvenot has caught the attention of the jury for the 2014 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). Pre-selected in the “Ladies High-Mech” category, Surya is thus in the running to win one of the 16 prizes in the world’s most prestigious watch competition, or perhaps even the ultimate consecration in the form of the “Aiguille d’Or” Grand Prix.
All will be revealed on October 31st at the official GPHG prize-giving ceremony to be held in the Grand Théâtre de Genève. Meanwhile, Surya is being presented to the public alongside the other 71 watches still in competition across the various categories, as part of a large travelling exhibition. As of October 23rd, after stops in New Delhi and Beijing, the latter will be back in Geneva, where the GPHG jury will cast the decisive votes under the supervision of a notary.
Internet users can also participate in the GPHG by voting online at www.gphg.org to elect the Surya watch as the winner of the 2014 Public Prize, and thereby automatically quality for a prize draw to win a timepiece.
Surya Watch, the blossoming of a world première
It is no coincidence that Surya has already appealed to the GPHG jury. It is the world’s only watch to indicate the time not by hands, numerals or discs, but instead by 12 jumping petals. As radiant as the Indian sun god that inspired its name, it displays two faces representing the day and night cycles. At noon, all petals are a luminous green, before gradually becoming darker one after the other as the hours go by. At midnight they are all dark and reflect light in the darkness before beginning a new 24-hour cycle. Meanwhile, the minutes are indicated by a marker rotating on a fixed central disc. The overall effect maintain the classic angular gap traditionally seen on a watch display so as to maintain conventional intuitive read-off.
A 12 mm-diameter, 5 mm high inner case placed at the heart of the 3D dial houses the secret of this extraordinary complication. Around 100 parts including 24 jewels, serving to activate the jumping hour petals and held in place exclusively by the central case, are ingeniously fitted together so as to enable Surya to work its magic.
This impressive watchmaking tour de force also conceals an authentic jewellery-making feat, with unusually sized tsavorites adjusted to the nearest hundredth of a millimetre in order to create strikingly colourful 3D effects on the dial.
Frédéric Jouvenot at the SalonQP in London
From November 6th to 8th 2014, Frédéric Jouvenot will be exhibiting its creations at London’s prestigious SalonQP, which will also feature the prize-winning watches from the 14th edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.