Boasting sensational métiers d’art craftsmanship and mechanical innovation, the Genus Dragon Rose Gold watch reinterprets the company’s GPHG award winning technology to create a show-stopping edition inspired by the Chinese Year of the Dragon. Featuring a remarkable three-dimensional kinetic sculpture of a dragon on the dial side, enabled entirely by mechanical means, this is a breathtaking example of contemporary Haute Horlogerie and one that promises endless fascination. A year in the making, this exceptional timepiece stands apart as the world’s first and only watch to feature an articulated dragon with which to mark the passage of time.

The watch carries a rounded 18ct rose gold case sized at 43mm, with a height of 18.8mm. A pronounced and expansive domed sapphire crystal sets the scene for the dial side drama, and enables a full view of the three dimensional spectacle revealed beneath it.

Dominating the display, a golden dragon replaces the 12 free-moving elements seen on previous Genus editions. Incredibly detailed, every nuance of his majestic body has been brought to life by the artisan’s touch, with the painstaking engraving and painting all rendered by hand. An automaton, yet also a stunning artwork in miniature, the dragon’s poise and presence is extraordinary, and as he meanders the eleven individually sculpted segments of his body in a captivating figure of eight around the upper and lower tens of minutes counters,  his noble head serves to indicate the current ten minutes segment in a most spectacular manner. Accompanying him, single numerals for the minutes can be read via a rotating counter at the 3 o’clock, and with a satellite system for the hours, read via the fixed pointer at the 9 o’clock, the unconventional arrangement of the time indications is complete. The essential elements are coated with powerful Super LumiNova, lending the already breathtaking animated display to become even more outstanding in low light, as the pointers and numerals are illuminated in a vivid blue glow.

Behind the novelty of the Genus time display, and visible through the open worked frontal display and though the sapphire caseback, is the fully in-house designed and manufactured hand winding mechanism, which beats at 18’000 vib/hour and boasts a fifty hour power reserve, which is impressive considering the energy demands from such a complex mechanism. Uncompromisingly finished to the exacting standards of Haute Horlogerie, each component of the 160W-1.2 movement is machined and finished by hand, and the mirror polished anglage edges and the fine finish on the responsibly sourced solid gold plates, each contribute to accentuate the wonderful symmetry of this feat of precision micro-engineering. 

A demanding and challenging timepiece to create, given the inclusion of its solid gold kinetic structure, the Genus Dragon Rose Gold watch blurs the lines between horological acumen and artistic accomplishment. A timepiece that pays a stunning tribute to the spiritual and cultural significance of the dragon, this is an edition that is surely destined for the collection of a true connoisseur of independent watchmaking.