highlights


FVa Nº 6 by Franc Vila, contemporary watch-art

Pусский
May 2008


Franc Vila has just unveiled his new FVa Nº6 Tourbillon PlanÉtaire Skeleton SuperLigero Concept, fitted with a FV Nº6 movement built, for the first time ever, in Lightnium, a new alloy of lithium and aluminium. This new metal has an extremely low density, and has been used before in the most advanced aerospace projects. Its main features are incredible lightness together with superb rigidity, thus enabling a significant drop in the structural weight and the mounting of a larger elastic module.
Designed to cope with any kind of strains, distortions and shocks, the FVa Nº6 Tourbillon PlanÉtaire Skeleton SuperLigero Concept is the result not only of intense aesthetic research but also of a compendium of technical strength. The need to create a movement with these specifications using such a peculiar material (Light-nium) has forced Franc Vila to seek inspiration in crafts infrequently related to watchmaking. The design of the framework of the movement has its roots in modern architecture. The use of a material with such properties (low density and superb rigidity) has enabled Franc Vila to minimize the weight of the movement, especially in this skel-eton form, without compromising its capability to withstand the strains inflicted by the trans-mission system of energy, the barrel and the tourbillon. Lightnium’s lightness enables the movement to be mostly unaffected by momentum forces which, added to the strong architectural design, make this tourbillon skeleton watch one of the strongest and sportiest in its segment.


FVila


On the other hand, the mise-en-scene with aesthetics clearly inspired in contemporary art is a new and clear expression of the artistic background of the brand’s founder, recognizable both in the bottom of the movement and in the stately cage of the tourbillon, decorated with the brand’s logotypes in coloured Lightnium. This timekeeper is one of the most amazing demonstrations of Franc Vila’s technical and artistic skills, which he pushes to rapture by creating a Skeleton movement that maintains the typical shape of the ‘Esprit Unique’ that gives all of Franc Vila’s creations their strong and unmistakable personality.
In the words of Franc Vila himself, “Most skel-etonized watches are indeed very conventional machines, with classical decorations in the line of rococo art and they are unaware of a movement’s architecture. As it could not be in any other way, I have created a skeleton tourbillon that evokes rich contemporary sensations, with clear influences of modern art, design and architecture.”
Technically outstanding, the movement has a five-day power reserve and sports, as the regulating device, a flying tourbillon with Inertial Moment Control, which allows the fine-tuning of the inertial moment. A Wheel Differential System, a rad-ically new spherical differential system, winds up the five-day power reserve in one third of the time, which is accomplished by incorporating the planetary gears to the spokes of the cogwheel.
The conception of the FVa Nº6 Tourbillon PlanÉtaire Skeleton SuperLigero Concept places Haute Horlogerie at the crossing of contempor-ary art, architecture, craftsmanship and the most advanced engineering. Everything seamlessly blends together in a watch of high performance, most skillfully manufactured with dramatic aesthetics that showcase the glaring beauty of the nude skeleton movement that beats in its core.


Source: Europa Star April-May 2008 Magazine Issue