Rose Gold Zenith Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage Replica Watch

With only an hour and minute indicator on a main register at the twelve o’clock position, a seconds register at the nine o’clock and a power-reserve indicator at four o’clock, the Zenith Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage Replica Watch may not be the most complicated watch in terms of functions. But, it is seriously mechanically impressive.Fitting snugly inside the 45 mm rose gold case and beneath top and bottom domed sapphire crystals of the Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage sits Zenith’s 939-part, 53-jewel, hand-wound El Primero 8805 movement beating at a lofty 36,000 vibrations per hour.

Watches can be amazing. Some watches are tools, implements of amazing craftsmanship and mechanical wizardry by which we can track the passage of seconds, minutes, hours and days with greater and greater accuracy and technical precision. Other watches are art, objects of extreme creativity for which the telling of time works part and parcel with its design, enhancing its beauty. And, an extraordinary few watches are both. They have a combination extraordinary technical and mechanical engineering and amazing, artistry. The zenith christophe colomb hurricane replica is one such extraordinary watch.

Today happens to be Columbus Day. And, while Christopher Columbus may be a very controversial figure, the Zenith watch honoring him is, by any measure, awesome. Limited to ten pieces, the Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage combines the artistic methods of enameling, engraving and micro-painting with the horological intricacies of a (Zenith patented) gravity control system (that looks like half of a globe) and a new-take-on-an-old-school-style fusée and chain transmission mechanism.

Underneath the three-dialed, open-worked face of the watch is something not frequently seen on watches for a few hundred years, a zenith christophe colomb replica and chain transmission. In addition to being downright cool to look at, the 585-part fusée and chain transmission serves a very specific purpose. As the movement winds down over its 50-hour power reserve, it loses amplitude and, with it, accuracy. (That’s called isochronism, by the way.) The fusée and chain work to counteract that loss by keeping the mainspring’s force constant for all fifty hours. Cool, no?

But, the fusée and chain transmission is just awesome mechanical feature number one on the Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage. The star of this particular timepiece is definitely the 173-part Gravity Control Module. With the regulator on one side and Earth’s Southern Hemisphere on the other, the Gravity Control Module keeps the regulator in the horizontal position in a effort to maintain the best-possible balance-wheel amplitude and accuracy. By mounting the regulator on gimbals (how very marine chronometer), the weight of half of the world keeps the escapement horizontal.

I said at the beginning of this post that the Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage is a combination of artistry and mechanical innovation. So, while the movement is spectacular looking from an engineering standpoint, it’s the engraving, enameling and painting that make the watch a piece of art.

The star of the front of the Zenith Christoph Colomb is the movement, but the blued hands, the blue screws and the little bit of blue enamel on the plate is rather lovely. It contrasts well with the rose gold case and silver-white dials.

The back, however, is where the artistry really shows. The entire watch is hand-finished, down to the mini bust of Christopher Columbus and gold sextant using techniques (and fancy terms that go way over my head) like cloisonné and champlevé. The ship on the back is the Santa Maria (you know, Nina, Pinta, Santa Maria), complete with red crosses on two enameled sail. A third sail sports the Zenith “guiding star”. The end result is a watch that is truly stunning to behold, from the front or the back.

Since it has a giant dome on the front and back crystals, I don’t know how comfortable this watch would be. This might be one of those watches that you buy just to look at. It is, after all, a serious piece of art. Even it’s display box is cool. According to Zenith, the Christophe Colomb box is a “mahogany box featuring ox bone inlays and that can also serve as a humidor with a capacity of 80 cigars. In homage to Christopher Columbus, this box is adorned with a screen-printed motif on parchment-style papyrus reproducing Waldseemüller’s planisphere (1507), the first world map to mention the name “America”. Neat.

Anyway, check out the tech specs, photos gallery and video of the Zenith Academy Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage below along with more details than you could ever need in the press release. And, for even more info, visit Replica Zenith Watches.

Christophe Colomb Hurricane Grand Voyage Technical Specifications

Movement

El Primero 8805, hand-wound
A unique gyroscopic mechanism that maintains the regulating organ in a perfectly horizontal position
1st Christophe Colomb module with fusée and chain transmission
Constant-force fusée and chain transmission connected to the barrel
Calibre: 16 ½’’’ (diameter: 37 mm)
Thickness: 5.85 mm
Parts: 354
Gyroscopic carriage composed of 173 parts
Chain made of 585 parts
Jewels: 53
Frequency: 36,000 vph (5 Hz)
Over 50-hour power reserve

Functions

Off-centred hours and minutes at 12 o’clock
“Gravity Control” self-regulating module at 6 o’clock
Small seconds at 9 o’clock
Power-reserve indication at 3 o’clock
Fusée and chain transmission beneath the hours/minutes dial

Case, dial and hands

18-carat rose gold
Diameter: 45 mm
Thickness: 14.80 mm/21.80 mm
(with domed sapphire crystal)
Cambered sapphire crystal glareproofed on both sides, domes protecting the Christophe Colomb module
Water resistance 3 ATM
Dial: 3 enamelled gold dials
Hour-markers: black lacquered
Hands: blued steel