Vianney Halter: Deep Space Resonance Prototype

The German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer once said that “a talent hits a target no one else can hit. A genius hits a target no one else can see”. If he had known Vianney Halter, he would have fully confirmed his aphorism. Many define the Parisian master watchmaker as a visionary and his creations reflect what has been his passion since childhood, the mechanics.

IL DEEP SPACE TOURBILLON

But mechanics alone are not enough. Inventiveness, imagination and genius are needed. All characteristics that are found in which, until today, was his most representative watch: the Deep Space Tourbillon. A “wrist space station” (its profile immediately calls to mind the Deep Space 9 Station from the Star Trek movie series) which left speechless more than an enthusiast when it was unveiled, in 2013.

Beneath that massive crystal any traces of a conventional display are replaced with an animated and alien mechanical landscape, which is dominated by the triple axis tourbillon mechanism at its centre. The first tourbillon axis point makes a full rotation each 30 minutes; the second, each six minutes; and the third, each minute. So, Halter’s stunning interpretation of the tourbillon in the Deep Space is as much art as it is functional. 

On the dial there are only the hour and minute hands to tell the time. The overall profile of the 46 mm titanium case and the very rounded glass recalls the Legacy Machine 1 or 2 by MB&F, but the watch and the construction philosophy are completely related Vianney Halter’s savoir-faire.

VIANNEY HALTER AND THE OBSESSION WITH RESONANCE

Now, after 13 years, the French master strikes again and reinterprets the vision of Deep Space by working on the phenomenon of resonance. Thus he created the Deep Space Resonance Prototype, to inaugurate 2021 with a truly amazing watch, which for Halter had become almost an obsession. He had started thinking and working on resonance as early as 1996, when he started learning playing piano.

We have already written about what resonance is in this article, to which we refer you. Playing the instrument, Halter noticed that the energy exchange between the strings forced them to resonate and realized that this phenomenon depended on the fixed common base through which the energy flowed. He thought that two balance wheels could be synchronized in the same way.

After having carried out several experiments, Halter left the project aside for a few years because he was absorbed by the daily work in the manufacture. Not before having thoroughly studied Breguet’s works on resonance and even purchased a 17th century pendulum clock, which he later discovered was one of which Christiaan Huygens subcontracted to various craftsmen to demonstrate his theory of isochronism.

The news of the detection in 2016, by a team of international researchers, of the gravitational waves produced by the collision of two black holes brought him back to work on a resonance watch. Vianney Halter had already experienced a sort of “spatial” scenario with the Deep Space Tourbillon, which through its three-axis central tourbillon showed the three physical dimensions, surrounded by the display of our 4th dimension, time.

THE DEEP SPACE RESONANCE PROTOTYPE

The Deep Space Tourbillon became the starting point to create the Deep Space Resonance. Thinking about the universe’s four dimensions, being warped and reshaped by gravitational waves, it became clear to Vianney Halter that the resonating oscillators would be placed at the center of the Deep Space Tourbillon.

The Deep Space Resonance Prototype works took over the entirety of 2020. Vianney built it keeping the 46 mm titanium case, to check that the acoustic synchronization correctly functions when worn on the wrist. The complexity of the mechanism is highlighted by a unique and light architectural construction and thanks to the three-axis rotation, every detail on the structure is visible.

Every part of the mechanism is decorated and refined by hand. Despite the apparent complexity, the technological architecture was kept at the most simple and efficient. The innermost cage holds the balances and weighs 0.6 grams. It rotates inside in 60 seconds. The traverse weighs 2.8 grams and rotates around its horizontal axis in 6 minutes. It is mounted in the cradle, that rotates on its vertical axis in 30 minutes. The whole 3 axis system counts 371 individual parts.

The Deep Space Resonance Prototype is a manually wound, 65h power reserve watch. The balances start to resonate as soon as the energy is sufficient to set the balances in motion, and stay synchronized until all motion stops. The balances will synchronize and oscillate at the same time, but not necessarily in the same direction at the same time. 

The balances are nominally 21,600 vph but actually they vary. Each balance will transmit its motion to the shared bridge which will in turn affect the other balance. This way, both balances will influence each other, and quickly and reliably reach a common frequency, making the whole regulating system more accurate.

The vision of the movement is fascinating due to the fact that the mode in which the balance wheels resonate depends on the position they were occupying when they started beating, and will keep this mode until the end of the power reserve. The next time the watch is wound, the balances may start beating in a different mode, and will offer a new view to the resonance phenomenon.

WAITING FOR THE FINAL VERSION

Let’s not forget that Vianney Halter sees this watch as a prototype, as its name implies. If the astonishing three-axis structure of the movement is almost definitive, with its resonant balance wheels, the dial is instead a work in progress. It is inspired by the Vernier calliper. The hours and quarters can be read in the top aperture. At the bottom aperture one can read the supplemental minutes.

The master promises that for the final realizations of the Deep Space Resonance, the reading of the time will be easier thanks to a dial specifically designed to match the resonance principles. The convenience of the new dial will drastically enhance the power reserve, which is already extraordinary in itself.

Speaking of this watch, Vianney Halter’s team says that «there will be no up, no down, left or right. You will be lost in the resonance as in the middle of the cosmos». We prefer to see the Deep Space Resonance Prototype as a kind of manifesto of what Vianney Halter says about himself: «As far as I remember, I have always been doing mechanics. As a child, I dreamt of understanding, designing and crafting wacky mechanical items. My creations speak my mind and thanks to them, I can share my universe with other human beings».

By Davide Passoni