The creator of Panerai movements, but not only...

Il creatore dei movimenti Panerai, ma non soltanto...

Who is behind the new Panerai and Piaget movements?

The two houses of the Richemont Group have recently shown great design creativity, especially in the field of movements (Panerai presented a new automatic calibre, a manual chronograph and a tourbillon; Piaget as many as two ultra-thin ones, one automatic and one manual, and a chronograph, again with a limited thickness as befits the House's style).

Well, the 'deus-ex-machina' of these beautiful watch creations is the gentleman portrayed in the photograph: Eric Klein, 'Richemont Movements Coordinator', i.e. the man who is in charge of movement development for all those Richemont Group brands that do not have their own R&D (Research and Development) department.

We met him twice this year, on the occasion of the presentation of the Piaget novelties, in Venice, and in Florence, for Panerai's 10 years at Richemont. The link with the Florentine brand is particularly close, so much so that CEO Angelo Bonati has appointed Klein as "Movement Engineer Director" of the House.

It was his idea for the "rotisserie" tourbillon (pictured) which represents Panerai's interpretation of this classic complication and a very interesting world first. The arrangement of the tourbillon axis perpendicular to the axis of the balance was a fortunate intuition which later proved its validity in the measurements carried out on the movement's gear-train, which presents a very high performance compared to the average, according to Eric Klein himself.

The main effect of this configuration of the tourbillon regulator is to even out the distribution of lubricant in the bearings on the balance pivots, stabilising the effect of the friction forces, resulting in a more constant frequency and amplitude of oscillation over time.

We will of course go into more detail on this topic in one of the next issues of The Watch.

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