ith its floating dial, Akhor gives stone an unusual setting. Suspended above the lower dial with no visible attachment, a thin mineral disc becomes the focal point of the watch. Its veins, inclusions and variations in colour determine the character of each piece.

The stones are cut and polished by hand, with their natural irregularities left visible. Abrupt changes in tone, dark patches and intersecting veins form part of the composition. The challenge is to preserve that character in a disc only a few tenths of a millimetre thick, while meeting the requirements of the suspended construction.

Four stones offer different interpretations of this approach: yellow kyanite, Deschutes jasper, ruby and tiger iron. Each brings its own appearance, geological history and constraints to the workshop.

Yellow kyanite: A delicate balance

Kyanite forms under intense pressure in metamorphic rock. Its name derives from the Greek kyanos, a reference to the blue colour for which it is best known. The less common yellow variety introduces warmer shades, ranging through honey and gold, with a fibrous structure that gives the surface its distinctive texture.

For the artisan, its defining characteristic is directional hardness: the material behaves differently depending on the direction in which it is cut. This property also explains its alternative name, disthene, derived from the Greek for “two strengths”.

Working it into a thin disc requires particular care. A poorly judged cut can cause the stone to split, making the balance between thickness and structural integrity especially difficult to achieve. In Akhor’s construction, that practical challenge becomes part of the visual effect: a fragile material appears to hover above the dial.

Deschutes jasper: Movement held still

Jasper has a long history in decorative objects, from seals and amulets to engraved intaglios. Dense and opaque, it offers a different visual presence from translucent stones, with colour and pattern concentrated on the surface.

In Deschutes jasper, flowing bands and overlapping tones suggest a landscape or a cascade arrested in motion. These natural patterns give the suspended disc a sense of movement, even as it remains the still centre of the display.

Ruby and tiger iron: Colour and structure

Akhor presents ruby in a form far removed from the familiar faceted gemstone. Here, the red remains embedded in its host rock, with shades running from raspberry to burgundy. Changes in light bring different areas of colour to the fore, drawing attention to the relationship between the ruby and the surrounding material.

Tiger iron offers a more sharply layered composition. It combines metallic-grey hematite, red jasper and golden tiger’s eye in tightly packed bands. Its geological origins reach back more than two billion years, to the deposition of iron-rich layers in ancient oceans.

The golden tiger’s eye introduces an optical effect: its fibrous structure catches the light, producing a shifting sheen as the wrist moves. Alongside the darker hematite and red jasper, it gives the disc both depth and contrast.

These four materials share no single visual language. Kyanite brings warm colour and fibrous texture; Deschutes jasper, flowing patterns; ruby, concentrated red within its matrix; and tiger iron, alternating bands with a changing play of light. Their common ground is the contrast between the immense timescales of their formation and the seconds measured around them.

The mechanics of suspension

As in Chapter One, no two stone discs are identical. Variations in the raw material ensure that each watch has its own pattern, even within the same mineral family.

All four stones occupy the upper level of the AK10’s patented two-disc construction. The upper disc appears to float above the lower dial, with no visible attachment. Hours and minutes are read around the periphery, while the seconds display incorporates a counterweight bearing the Akhor logo.

Producing the stone component requires a precise compromise. It must be thin enough to work within the construction, yet sufficiently robust to survive cutting, finishing and assembly. According to Akhor, many discs are rejected before one is suitable for casing.

Beneath this mineral display is the hand-wound AK10 calibre, developed exclusively for Akhor and manufactured by Clamax. It offers a 60-hour power reserve and bears the Poinçon de Genève, attesting to compliance with the hallmark’s requirements for Genevan provenance, craftsmanship and performance. The watch also carries chronometric certifications from the COSC and the Observatoire Chronométrique de Genève.

The stone provides the immediate attraction. The suspended construction and the movement beneath it give that attraction its watchmaking substance.