Opus 4 – “Dream”

One more significant year for Harry Winston watch company was 2004, when the next Opus was released. It is Opus 4, the historic masterpiece. Traditionally, for the development of this men's watch Harry Winston company invited one of the best Swiss watchmakers – Christophe Claret. Christophe Claret is the talented watchmaker, whose name is known to every connoisseur of the most complicated Swiss watches.  He was born not far from Lion, France, and studied the watchmaking in Geneva. After studying he was involved in the restoration of old clocks and watches.  The watchmaking has become his lifework, and 22 years ago  Christophe Claret developed his own first brilliant movement – caliber with a minute repeater. Besides Harry Winston,  Christophe Claret has been working with such famous watch companies as  De La Cour, Jean Dunand and many others. And in 1989, Christophe Claret launched his own company, where he began to produce his wonderful men's and women's wrist watches. This watchmaker of genius has such famous works to his credit as  DualTow watch with the track-type time indication,  Adagio watch with the minute repeater,  GMT and big date, and also a true sensation –  21 Blackjack, the Black Jack and Roulette watch, that created a furore at the Basel World 2011. No doubt, that Opus 4 men's watch, developed by  Christophe Claret together with Harry Winston's team, is one of watchmaker's best works of Haute Horology. This watch was released in the limited edition of 20 items. 18 models are made of platinum 950, and two marvelous timepieces are the jewellery watches, encrusted with “the best Harry Winston's friends” - baguette diamonds. The watch movement, created by  Christophe Claret specially for this watch, consists of 423 elements. The movement is characterized by the manual winding, tourbillon and the balance frequency of 18 000 vph. The power reserve is about 53 hours. It’s worth paying an attention to the reversible  case of Opus 4, that consists of three parts and is equipped with the sliding lugs system. The upper and lower parts of the bezel are fastened with the help of eight through screws, that cannot be observed. The watch case also features the traditional winding crown, repeater carriage and the square-shaped push-buttons for the date and Moon phase adjustment. One can say, that Opus 4 is a two-faced watch. The main dial is protected by the sapphire crystal with the anti-reflective coating, and the upper plate of the movement is made of white gold and decorated in the inimitable style of  Cotes de Geneve. The ring with the engraved Arabic numerals is also produced from white gold. The hands are made of blued steel. The second dial of a blue colour is lacquered. It features an aperture, the hand-engraved Moon disk of white gold, covered with the blue lacquer on the side of “the sky”, the circle ring with the engraved Arabic numerals and minute indexes. On the inner part of the ring there are numerals of the date and central hands of white gold. And the hand, indicating the date, has an unusual crescent-shaped tip. For this Opus the watchmakers have chosen rather a large case – 44 in diameter and 17.3 mm thick. Such a large size of the case assures the optimal sound of a cathedral-type chime, that reminds of the ringing of the church bells. This chime reproduces the melody, that resembles the Big-Ben ringing. Such wonderful sound of  Christophe Claret's minute repeater is achieved by the four gongs, made of Swedish hard steel, known as sandwik. The choice has lied on the this steel, because sandwik is rather a solid and at the same time flexible material, that has good acoustic properties. The water resistance of the watch is assured to 30 meters. The high water resistance is not essential in this model, as in addition to the traditional hole for winding crown, there are also three extra holes – for the repeater carriage and two push-buttons. The case of Opus 4 can rotate 180 degrees, this is assured by a special rotating system, built into the lugs of the strap fastening. The lugs slide apart by pulling them out. So, the case rotates. The strap of this Swiss watch is produced from crocodile leather with the handmade stitching and has the buckle of platinum. Opus 4 is the brilliant astronomical watch. According to  Christophe Claret, while developing this watch, he was inspired by the romantic night sky, full of billions of flaring stars. That is why, he was trying to transfer the Moon and the star sky to his watch. “I can say, that I saw this watch in my wonderful dream. I was creating the object, that I had dreamed about”, - these are the words of Christophe Claret, the great creator of Opus 4, who shares his impressions with the watch connoisseurs.