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BaselWorld 2010: Frédéric Jouvenot
Frédéric Jouvenot has shown us some interesting timepieces in the past
including his automatic chronograph with the winding excentric on the
dial.
This year at Basel he showed the Hélios, a watch with a
completely new method of indicating the time. The dial is dominated by
12 rays in the form of elongated cones. These rays show either a light
or a dark side. At midnight all the rays are dark. At 1AM the ray at
the position 1 turns and shows its light side. As each hour passes the
next ray turns light until as noon all the rays are light. During the
afternoon and evening the rays turn successively to their dark side
again. In the middle of the dial is a small minute indicator.
The
time is read by the rays showing the hours and the minute indicator in
the middle.
Unfortunately the prototype was having some problems
and the difference between the light and dark rays is hard to see in my
pictures.
I find the idea of this time display very interesting
and am sure that with some optimisation of the surface coatings of the
rays to increase their contrast it will be possible to quickly and
easily read the time.
I congratulate Frédéric Jouvenot for
bringing us a truely innovative display and hope we will soon see
production models.
