Midnight lullabies in an Ocean of time

When you are much older, remember when we sat/At midnight on the windowsill, and had this little chat,” so sings Tom Waits in Midnight Lullaby from the sublime “Closing Time” vinyl — a record is filled with aural diamonds, I tell you. A sea-full of ‘em.

Oh, you can’t help but wax romantic when you come face to watch-face with the Harry Winston Midnight Minute Repeater, a timepiece that chimes the time “on demand.” Well, it has been stated that the very first clocks may have told time not visually, but acoustically. By chiming the hours — although not in Tom Waits’ soulful undertaker’s voice, but in celestial tones.

To work its magic, the repeater mechanism has to “read” the time told by a watch, and translate that into sound. No two repeaters are alike: the tempo, tone and volume of each are the result of laborious hand-adjustment — and so each repeater is a unique work of art. (Same with singers; same with saxophone player. Some are Birds and some are Tranes.)

Artful, yes. The Harry Winston Midnight Minute Repeater is purely that. The timepiece allows its owner to experience both the musical magic and the mechanical fascination of this remarkable complication. You can see practically through it: the dial is designed in such a way as to make a number of the most critical repeater components visible, allowing the wearer to observe them in operation. The ex-centered hours-and-minutes dial permits two large apertures on it, exposing the normally hidden repeater mechanism. See the hammers as they strike the gongs. Did I just write “hammers” and “gongs”? You can just imagine an Asgardian drama unfolding around your wrist. By Odin’s beard!

Another timepiece is the Harry Winston Ocean Tourbillon Jumping Hour.

The tourbillon is considered one of watchmaking’s most sophisticated complications, originally developed at the dawn of the 19th century.  Today, the tourbillon is revered by connoisseurs not only for the history and craftsmanship it represents, but also for the mesmerizing visual effect it creates, which is unlike any other complication.

Here be the tale of this Harry Winston tourbillon:

“The tourbillon in the Ocean Tourbillon Jumping Hour has a very unusual design. Instead of being located on the back of the movement plate, it is suspended from two gleaming, hand-chamfered steel bridges which seem to hold it free in space — seeming to move with no apparent mechanical connection to the rest of the timepiece. Only sharp eyes will uncover its secret — the tourbillon is driven by a wheel geared to its outer circumference, which is nearly completely concealed by the minute track of the dial.”

The Ocean Tourbillon Jumping Hour timepiece provides a powerful visual experience — its design draws inspiration from the vocabulary of classic Modernist architecture, which takes advantage of the unique structural and visual properties of steel and glass to create a bold geometry. The combination of a tourbillon rotating once every 60 seconds and a minute hand rotating once per hour is a mechanical meditation on the nature of time itself. (Time overlaps and twirls into forking paths, but let’s not paint ourselves into an Einsteinian corner here.)

Such is the nature of elegance, which Harry Winston knows only too well.  

When the New York brand decided to go into watchmaking in ’89, it was deemed as a bold gamble. Yes, Harry Winston is synonymous with exquisite jewelry, but it was able to channel the same expertise, the same spirit in creating breathtaking gems (what Miss Marilyn Monroe gleamed about in a celluloid past) into producing timepieces — integrating the time-honored tradition of Swiss watchmaking in the process.

Why are timepieces still important in an age where smartphones not only tell you what time of day it is, but also the weather and the temper the times courtesy of CNN or BBC apps? Because watches are not only fashion statements, they are more of statements of intent. When a person wears a Harry Winston watch, that means he or she is one rare diamond, a pursuer of excellence in the existential thicket of the ordinary.  

No surprise there, since innovation and imagination are Harry Winston’s leitmotifs — with the best craftsmen, engineers and master watchmakers working to bring that vision to fruition. 

Premiering with the aptly-named Premier, the very first Harry Winston timepiece launched in ’95, the brand so far has offered the timekeeping world the New York-inspired Avenue watch collection, the gem-set Harry Winston Rosebud, the sporty Ocean, the avant-garde Project Z, and Histoire de Tourbillon platforms.

And if you think these watches can only be seen in the storied avenues of Lou Reed’s New York, Serge Gainsbourg’s Paris or some majestically far-off place, take note: you can get a glimpse of the Harry Winston Midnight Minute Repeater and Ocean Tourbillon Jumping Hour watches.  

Just stroll into Adora Department Store on the ground floor of Greenbelt 5 in Ayala Center, Makati City, and find within this lifestyle store (a universe of cool clothes and accessories) Harry Winston timepieces that will make you think of midnight lullabies in an ocean of time. 

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For information, visit www.adora.ph.