The Christophe Claret XTREM-1 StingHD is a timepiece which beats with a mechanical heart, but which breaks almost every rule of traditional watchmaking.  In every respect, this is a confident design from a Master of his craft who is unafraid to challenge the laws of Haute Horlogerie in order to create, innovate and conceive timepieces which have unparalleled uniqueness.

This evocative model wears a stealthy black PVD-coating upon its 40.80mm x 56.82mm rectangular case.  Although it commands a powerful presence, its Grade 5 Titanium construction ensures it will wear feather-light on the wrist despite its generous proportions.

Bearing the distinctive styling codes of high-end American accessories brand, StingHD, this model is characterised by its skull motifs and vibrant red colour accents.

Even though a mechanical watch case is a forbidden destination for elements which possess magnetic properties, in a stroke of horological wizardry, Christophe Claret has introduced them into his X-TREME collection, in order to create time indications like no other.

On each side of the façade of the watch, two black PVD-treated stainless steel ring-bound tubes each contain a red sphere.  Without making any physical contact with any other part of the watch, each polished sphere rises and then falls, to display the retrograde hours and minutes, which are marked in red lacquer numerals, on the left and right respectively. They are propelled by two pairs of magnets, which travel on little rails inside the case, and adjacent to the steel tubes. The magnets are carefully positioned to point directly towards the spheres, and away from the sensitive mechanisms where they would surely cause ruinous damage.

Bereft of a dial, the piece offers a panoramic view of the darkened movement and wheels through the broad expanse of the front sapphire panel.   At the 6 o’clock location, showcased beneath a sapphire bubble, a superb flying tourbillon, inclined at a 30º angle, rotates every sixty seconds.  In an unconventional arrangement, the mechanism features an openworked skull motif with devilish ruby eyes.

As if these striking, aesthetics were not enough to assuage the discerning collector who lusts after edgy originality, the XTREME-1 StingHD has an astonishing secret to divulge.

Upon breathing on the sapphire crystal a skull motif appears.  Is his mysterious appearance a symbol of the precious nature of every moment, or does he thumb his nose at the old adage “Memento Mori”? This is a conundrum for the wearer to decide.

Inside, the Christophe Claret mechanical hand-wound FLY11 Calibre gives power to this astonishing timepiece. Comprising of 432 components, each entirely crafted in house, it features two barrels which enable a minimum of fifty hours of energy for the two independent transmissions; one for the mechanism’s gear train, the other to drive the time display.

The Christophe Claret XTREME-1 StingHD watch is an exclusive release of just 8 pieces.  It comes with two straps, one in black stingray leather the other a bespoke strap personalised for the individual client.  To complement this unique timepiece, a matching, handcrafted bracelet adorned with a black diamond encrusted skull with ruby eyes will be provided with each piece.