Does Owning a Bugatti Chiron Make You Fancy Enough to Own the Watch? No.

You’d figure that once you’d become rich enough to buy a Bugatti Chiron, there wouldn’t be any clubs too exclusive to get into. And yet, even among the super-rich, there are “No Homers Clubs.”

To make a wristwatch worthy of its 1,500 hp Chiron, Bugatti wen to Swiss watchmakers (that’s the country that’s famous for its watchmakers!) Parmigiani Fleurier. And with a name that fancy, you know the watch will be special. So special, in fact, that they’re only making 10.

To start, even the wristband that keeps the thing on your wrist is special. Made by masters of exclusivity Hermès, the band once belonged to a (presumably very angry) alligator.

Up top, meanwhile, this isn’t some mass-produced timepiece. It’s not even the same as most bespoke timepieces. Parmigiani Fleurier went so far as to develop a unique mechanism for the Type 390, as it’s known—a reference to the Type 370 that went along with the Veyron.

pictures-hi-res-new-bugatti-type-390_47

Featuring a tourbillon movement and horizontal cylindrical mechanism that’s made up a pair of barrels, and skeleton dial. The time is transmitted to the hands via three planetary gear trains arranged in a way that’s completely unique to watchmaking.

And it all works thanks to nine of the world’s smallest ball bearings. The ceramic balls are just 0.2 mm across, which is very tiny indeed.

Parmigiani Fleurier has even followed Colin Chapman’s advice to add lightness and simplify, replacing four common watchmaking—can we call them crutches? The settling lever, jumper, yoke, and yoke spring are replaced by a single rod clamp.

Described as an engine for your wrist, the watchmakers took a note from McLaren, and made the articulated case out of 18-karat rose gold, though we doubt that’s for its heat reflecting abilities.

It all sounds like finicky work, so it’s no surprise that Parmigiani Fleurier only wants to make 10.

[via: Carscoops]

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