What has Nord Zeitmaschine prepared for Baselworld 2012?

I wonder what you think – in watchmaking, would it be better if one person constructed the entire watch or if a whole team would work on it? I guess most big brands have an assembly of the finest craftsmen who work as one. However, let’s take a look at how Daniel Nebel does it.

Daniel Nebel started his working career as a mechanic. After some years and lots of experience, he became interested in wristwatches and started experimenting with watch parts. In 1998 he developed his first very own wristwatch under the name of Nord Zeitmaschine, which translates to something like northern time machine. Daniel was born in the north of Switzerland which accounts for the first word, and it is easy to understand where the time machine concept came from even at first glance of the models he produces. Daniel built a name for himself gradually, starting from, so to say simpler parts of the mechanism such as discs, crowns, cases, dials and pushers, and building up his skill and knowledge to producing plates, bridges, pignons and gear wheels. His meticulousness and genuine interest in wristwatches made him want to be innovative and contribute to the watchmaking industry by presenting a completely new look of wristwatches.

The yellow gold version of Variocurve

Indeed, his Variocurve model has a completely new look. The dial is radically different from anything we have seen so far. While the shape of the dial is typically round, with a crown on the side, the hand and numerals are everything but typical. The hand moves in the dial in a playful fashion, increasing its speed at some places, and decreasing it at others. The numerals are not still either. You will notice that minutes from 10 to 20 and from 30 to 40 are missing. There are small apertures at 3 and 9 o’clock in which you can see the minutes appearing as the hand reaches the apertures. There is a video showing this whole dancing dial at the bottom of the page. The hour indicator is located between the 7 and 8 o’clock and between 4 and 5 o’clock sits the date display.

Instead of an open mechanism or a rotating tourbillon, the trademark of Variocurve is its dancing hand

Nord N2 is a self-winding mechanism with a power reserve of 42 hours. Daniel used the ETA 2842 for the base movement. The dial dimensions are 43.6 mm in diameter and 15.8 mm in height. It is protected by a sapphire glass in both the case back and the dial window. Its water resistance is 100 m. There are three models in the collection – all are made of white rhodium for the case but differ in the dial material, so you can choose between black, pink or yellow gold. Each version is limited to 97 pieces. The Variocurve will be presented at Baselworld 2012 in March.