Imperiali Geneve The Emperador

The Emperador is a cigar chest above all else, made complete with a number of equally luxurious accessories. Yet it conceals many other wonders, as the chest also contains exceptional horological riches. At its centre, the locking mechanism houses a 100% Swiss-made watch integrating a grande complication: a manually wound tourbillon entirely custom-designed and developed by a Manufacture in the Franches-Montagnes district. Its movement operates at 21,600 vib/h and offers a guaranteed power reserve of 80 hours. The tourbillon carriage makes one rotation per minute, in accordance with tradition, while the hours and minutes are indicated by two central hands. As befits such a creation, the watch was entirely hand-produced by a master watchmaker in the Swiss Jura and its finishes and embellishments meet the most stringent requirements of fine watchmaking, illustrated by the black lacquered dial with its delicate ‘Clous de Paris’ guilloché decoration.
As everything within the chest is entirely unprecedented, the watch too presents several original features, relating in particular to its winding system. Since it is located at the heart of an object that remains immobile most of the time, the tourbillon could not be fitted with an automatic calibre – hence the choice of a manually-wound movement. But how then could the Emperador’s designers ensure that the movement never stops, even when, for example, its owner is absent for a long period of time? Their ingenious answer lay in replacing the action of the human hand with a clever system that operates the crown. Another interesting detail is that the watch’s winding stem is not external, but rather positioned underneath the chest, integrated into a reduction stage in contact with the aforementioned device. The electronically-driven system is programmed to limit the torque that can be applied to the winding mechanism. It is activated regularly to guarantee a sufficient power reserve at all times.