New Toy - Kemmner Tourbillon

[skywatch]

I hinted in the WRUW thread that I had an impulse purchase coming in today. It arrived and I am having fun. Truly a mechanical toy this time. Forget all those reasonable, intelligent threads about shrinking one's collection down to a few key pieces, only the daily wearer, dressy, sporty, basic functionality, blahbety blah blah. I'm still a sucker for things that wiggle in cool ways. I won't ever afford a UN Freak or some other crazy piece of haute horology, but I can afford a used Germasian tourbillon.



I have been looking at Roland Kemmner's watches for many years now, and although they often seem too large for me, I do like the craftsmanship that goes into them for their very fair prices. I also appreciate that he is not afraid to use quality Chinese movements in a hand-made watch. Like many others here, I don't have a problem with higher grade Chinese parts. Back in 2012 I was following the WUS /f72 Tourbillon project, but I didn't like the final aesthetics of the watch, so never participated.



So here comes a barely used example of Kemmenr's tourbillon using the Sea-Gull TY800 true 60 second tourby, one of a limited run of 50. Kemmner also made 50 of a Roman numeral/white dial version. Size is a bit big for me at 42mm but a reasonable 11mm thick. Beautiful heat-blued hands, silky smooth winding, 48 hour power reserve. The seller was overly honest in the best of ways about almost invisible flaws (a tiny scratch on a lug which I already polished out, and a nearly invisible shift of reflectivity on a spot of the dial, which I can only barely see at one specific angle and lighting.) The movement is impeccably finished, and Kemmner's casework is clean, modern and unfussy.

Yup, I didn't need it, and I won't wear it everyday; but I think it's way cool. I love the squeek of a new toy!


Here's a high-contrast shot of the tourbillon, outside in the sun:



And a few more shots