Rudis Sylva RS12 Grand Art Horloger
The Rudis Sylva RS12 Grand Art Horloger is a unique timepiece made by an equally unique watchmaking company. Rudis Sylva seeks not only to promote its own collection of fine watches and those responsible for their creation, but also takes a holistic approach and seeks to focus on, and highlight the collaborative skills of artisan watchmaking throughout the industry.
Even by its very name, Rudis Sylva pays hommage to the creation of watchmaking in the Jura region, for which Jean Ruedin sought and gained tax relief for individuals who were willing to clear the heavily forested hauts plateaux of the area and to live and work there. That such tax benefits would populate the area would be in no doubt, but life in such a region would bring its own hardships - isolation and harsh winters during which resourcefulness would be required in order to supplement a farmer's sporadic income. Just as here in Ireland, where historical cottage industries such as lace-making, weaving and bogwood sculpting became vital to a rural community's survival, the new population displayed similar inventiveness which began with the production of tools and which evolved into the manufacture of watch and clock components from the 17th Century, with La Chaux-de-Fonds and Le Locle providing a marketplace where the goods could be sold.
The Rudis Sylva RS12 Grand Art Horloger is a timepiece on which the indication of the hours and minutes is secondary to its mechanisms, its craftsmanship and its panorama of handfinishing. This is a watch which has been passed from workbench to workbench in order that many artisan disciplines can achieve its finished form. But - this watch not only showcases the superb artisan techniques of the past, but also the cutting edge, the progressive and the seemingly impossible....
In watchmaking, a balance, so the theory goes should not be "stressed"- so, how about twin toothed balances linked together and driven by a single escapement, whose symmetry and energy are in constant opposition? Such a mechanism should be infeasible, but the Harmonious Oscillator which Rudis Sylva unveiled in 2009 constantly and instantly corrects and compensates for the effects of gravity regardless of its position, making its setting abilities even more accurate than that of a traditional tourbillon, and as the cage completes each 60 second circumvolution, it is a mesmeric spectacle.
The RS12 Grand Horloger, the third timepiece from Rudis Sylva with the Harmonious Oscillator is available in a 44mm rose gold or white gold case which features meticulous vertical satin finishing on the case-side, with constrasting polishing on the bezel. The movement's main plate has been guilloche-worked with an eye-pleasing pyramid detail, the seconds indicator bridge made from titanium has been hand-bevelled, more bevelling is showcased on the seconds indicator ring and the hour and minutes dial provides a further constrast with its sundial decoration. On the caseback the "Ultima Forsan" sundial is reproduced in true artisan style - in fact, extrinsically and intrinsically, the Rudis Sylva RS12 Grand Art Horloger is a timepiece which defines the essence of Haute Horlogerie.
More at the Rudis Sylva Official website.