Quinting describes their product as “the first and unique transparent watch in the world” and that certainly a true statement.  The high profile personae wearing their watch is indeed impressive, including former President Bill Clinton, at least three Swiss Presidents, and  Secretary General to the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Kofi Annan.

Historically it has been a “holy grail” of watch making to create a see-through watch in which the movement was rendered invisible, in fact that reasoning is thought of as the genesis of creating skeleton watches.  The idea was to remove more and more of the mass to create increasingly transparent mechanics, and it was thought of as being at an end with the “bridge” styled mechanical movements (such as the Corum or Vincent Calabrese) until Rene Quinting’s breakthrough thinking and design, the research of which began in 1993.  The first non-prototype watch did not appear until quite a bit later, and was awarded the “Official Prize of the Revue des Montres” in 1999.

So, how did Quinting do it?  The answer lies in a combination of completely re-inventing the watch movement so that it completely fits inside of the bezel area of the case, and twelve stacked sapphire crystals, each designed to facilitate a different portion of the watch complication, and coated with glare resistant material on both sides to render each custom disc basically invisible.  These tolerances of these sapphire discs are so exact that even the added diameter of the glare resistant coating must be accounted for within the stack.  Every part of this brilliant complicated movement is made and the timepiece hand assembled within their clean room (dust free) facility located in St. Blaise, Switzerland.

Today Quinting builds in 316L stainless steel, 18k gold, and platinum, all available on either exotic strap or bracelet.  This review is based on the stainless bracelet example.

Total weight  187 grams
case diameter 44mm  (47mm with crown)
case thickness 14mm thick
bracelet  21mm
bracelet thickness  4mm

As you can see from these stats, this is a big heavy watch, especially in the height department.  This was considered an unusually large watch upon its introduction years ago, but now with so many luxury watches well in excess of 44mm the dimension can be considered quite mainstream.  At 14mm I still consider the watch thicker than most, and depending on the shirt I sometimes have issues getting the cuff to slider smoothly over the watch.

The wearability of this watch is excellent, especially given its heft and size.  I attribute this to the exceptional engineering, especially in the hand built bracelet.  Each handfinished segment is slightly kidney shaped, so when combined in the finished bracelet the total wraps perfectly around the wrist.  The top four links (closest to the case) are permanently installed, with the remaining lower links secured by an elaborate screw and sleeve system which facilitates not only sizing but beautiful flexibility without impacting the way the screws nest.

Quinting produces a beautifully complex watch.  Many of you appreciate the complexity of a mechanical chronograph, but now add to that an outer track pointer date that doubles as an am/pm indicator.  It does so by pointing to the first half of the designated date section in the am hours, and the second during the pm.  Now factor in the additional complexity of doing so with an invisible movement.

For those who would point out that Quinting is a quartz watch, consider this.  The electronics only acts as the source of the power, and even that is complicated, divided between four separate engines in turn driving two hundred and thirty two custom built mechanical parts, and it does it all with an ordinary hearing aid battery.  The engines are so efficient that if applied to a “normal” watch you would change the battery about every ten years.  As it stands, I change mine about every three years, though I don’t run the chronograph very often.

One of the design ingredients I find especially clever is the vertical mounting of the battery, thus taking up very little physical width in a bezel where space is at a premium.  Another great idea is to house it just below the serial number plate, which means you can access the battery compartment without ever cracking open the case, so water resistance integrity remains intact.

Quinting also produced one of the most original presentation boxes I’ve ever encountered, building a decorative wooden frame around a real ostrich egg which opens like a “pac-man” revealing a custom pyramid to display the watch.  It is my understanding that due to shipping issues Quinting subsequently adopted a more traditional package, and that the original ostrich display now commands a secondary market price tag in the $600 range.

So, on the big question — pricing.

Retail (chronograph model)
Strap model, steel  $15,000 (have seen one source listing the strap for $16,000)
Bracelet  $16,000

Noble metals
well north of $20,000

Have found the occasional pre-owned example in the $8000 range.

At one point there was a couple of retail counters in the US, but recently have had difficulty locating a current retail counter in the US.  Currently they seem to be marketing to high end European and Middle Eastern markets.

Pros: One of the world’s most unique watches.  Ingenious complication.  Great looking and very comfortable.  Brilliantly executed handcrafted excellence.

Cons: Pricey.  No retailer currently in US (as of April 09).

Bottom line from this reviewer: if you have the means and appreciate a truly beautiful and complicated watch, don’st hesitate to own one.  You will never regret it.

http://www.quinting-watches.com