Moritz Grossmann - BENU Tourbillon

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the company, the Glashutte based watchmaker Moritz Grossmann presented its first tourbillon timepiece named BENU Tourbillon. This exceptional timepiece features a large flying three-minute tourbillon with a V-shaped balance bridge as well as other interesting and innovative solutions.

To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the company, the Glashutte based watchmaker Moritz Grossmann presented its first tourbillon timepiece named BENU Tourbillon.

This exceptional timepiece features a large flying three-minute tourbillon with a V-shaped balance bridge as well as other interesting and innovative solutions.

To ensure a trouble-free and totally gentle stop of the balance, the stop seconds mechanism is based on a patent pending system which uses a fine-tipped brush made of human hair. 

The new design of the Grossmann balance improves the adjustability of inertia and achieves high kinetic energy combined with minimised air resistance and the smallest possible mass. Another interesting feature, the Nivarox 1 balance spring is located beneath the balance so that the motion of the balance and tourbillon cage can be observed without obstruction.

The hand-wound movement offers 72 of power reserve, when fully wound, and includes components made of untreated silver and high-tech ARCAP, a copper-nickel-zinc alloy used for delivering long-term brilliance to the train wheels. The delicate engravings on the 2/3 plate and the tourbillon cock are all fashioned by hand. 

Guaiacum wood, a very oily wood with the highest degree of hardness (“rock-hard”), is used for the brake ring of the fourth-wheel arbor to prevent arbor and seconds-hand backlash.

The white sapphire bearing jewels are set in prominent gold chatons. Just like the brown-violet annealed pan-head screws, they stand out over the datum level of the plate so facilitating their removal and cleaning without risking to damage the plate.

The 44.5 mm three-part case of the BENU Tourbillon is made of white gold. Thickness is 13.8 mm.  A wide chamfer in the sapphire crystal nicely refracts the crisp minute scale.

The conical pusher adjacent to the crown reveals the presence of an ingenious hand setting mechanism: the Grossmann winder with pusher. A short tug on the crown switches to the hand setting mode and at the same time stops the movement. The crown immediately returns to its home position but can now be turned to set the hands. Then, the movement is restarted with the pusher and the mechanism switches back to the winding mode.

The regulator-type argenté dial has central minutes with recessed dials for hours and seconds. The time range from 25 to 35 minutes, interrupted by the large tourbillon aperture, is precisely readable thanks to a rearward extension of the minute hand that sweeps a 10-minute scale on the opposite side. 

The steel hands with the wispy tips are crafted manually in-house and annealed to a brown-violet hue over an open flame.

The Moritz Grossmann BENU Tourbillon is available in a limited edition of 50 pieces with a price of approximately US$ 230,000.