CHRISTOPHE CLARET X- TREM- 1 – STINGHD

Five years after unveiling the X-TREM-1 timepiece, Christophe Claret joins forces with trendy American brand Stinghd in a daring – some might say downright scary – mechanical eight-piece limited edition. To its proven technical strength (inclined flying tourbillon with a retrograde hours and minutes display system based on magnetic fields) the X-TREM 1 adds an evolution in its styling. There’s a black PVDtreated titanium case, a skull on the tourbillon carriage, and a stingray leather or personalised strap. Breathe on the sapphire crystals and you will reveal a skull motif. This is no ordinary wristwatch and it’s described as a sophisticated, excessive and extreme watch intended for bad boys, for movers and shakers, for rockers with a penchant for mechanical excellence and contemporary trends.

To create the X-TREM-1, Christophe Claret had to solve a formidable technical challenge of incorporating a magnetic field into a timepiece. The team did that by creating a system involving two small steel spheres – hollowed to make them lighter and encased in two sapphire tubes placed to the right and left of the caseband – controlled by precision magnetic fields generated by two miniature magnets moved by cables. The cables are incredibly flexible, made from hundreds of Dyneema nanofibres all contained within an ultra-high-strength polyethylene gel, capable of withstanding tensile forces of up to a kilo. The entire thread is thinner than a human hair (4 hundredths of a mm in diameter). The resistance of the thread has been tested in the Manufacture Claret on an accelerated-wear simulator corresponding to six years of operation. The spheres have no mechanical connection with the movement, with each one floating inside the two tubes and creating outstanding horological magic. Changes from the original for the Stinghd include replacing the pure sapphire tubes framing the case with black Pvd-treated stainless steel ring-bound tubes.