Antoine Martin and the biggest balance wheel at Baselworld

 Antoine Martin is a very young brand in the wristwatch world, officially in business for only about a year or so. But the man behind the brand is definitely not a newcomer – his name is Martin Braun, and we have seen his watchmaking skills in the brand of the same name. Unfortunately for him, “Martin Braun” was discarded by the Frank Muller Group it belonged to because of financial issues. But after some time we have Braun back in full swing, together with his coworker Antoine Meier.

We will be seeing Antoine Martin already this year at Baselworld with their new model, the Quantième Perpetuel QP01. This is a perpetual calendar watch, meaning that the date indicators will be always accurate, no adjustments needed, as the mechanism recognizes 31, 30, 29 and 28 day months. This mechanical movement is designed by Braun and called caliber AM 39.001. It is quite massive so the case of the watch adds up to 46 mm in diameter. Nevertheless, the dial is quite neatly designed. There are no subdials apart from the indicators concerning the calendar. We have a leap year counter at 12 o’clock, AM/PM at 9, day and month indicators in the center of the dial and a big date display at 6 o’clock. None of the indicators are made more prominent than the others so the dial looks very elegant and is perfectly legible. The relief Roman numerals, and the vertically displayed days and months are recognizable and unique features of the QP01.

The Quantième Perpetuel QP01 will be available in several different versions

But of course, there is more to this watch than meets the eye at first. If we turn the watch to the backcase we will witness what is said to be the calmest movement to date. It is a pleasure to watch the balance of this watch as it works without hurry. Namely, the balance wheel is pretty big – 17.5 mm in diameter, and it operates at 18,000 vph i.e. 2.5 Hertz. The most common speed of the wheel being 28,800 vph makes this one look extremely tranquil, and the unusual size of it and Grade 5 titanium which it is made of make it more resistant to shocks. The mechanism offers as much as six days of power reserve.

The 17.5 mm balance wheel

The Quantième Perpetuel QP01 will be available in four different versions differentiated by the materials used and thus the appearance of the dial. Two of the models are held on to the wrist by a genuine Louisiana alligator leather strap, and the other two feature a rubber strap. The dials of all the watches are protected by a double anti-reflective sapphire crystal, and the back case is also transparent sapphire glass.

The black steel case with rubber strap model

Antoine Martin is bound to attract the much needed attention of customers and the media at Baselworld. I hope this gives them a good start of the year so we can expect more from this skillful and creative team.