60 UNIQUE PIECES CHALLENGE FERRARI

60 UNIQUE PIECES 

CHALLENGE FERRARI 

MANUFACTURE D’HORLOGERIE QUINTING 

Chemin Clos Belmont 2 – 1208 GENEVE 

Tel: +41 22 718 78 00 – Fax: +41 22 718 78 08 

e-mail: info@quinting-watches.com - Web: www.quinting-watches.com

A new challenge for Quinting 

The Quinting manufacture presents the new racing car of its collection: the 

watch Ferrari. Realised in the most classical swiss watchmaking tradition, 

this watch, whose movement is transparent at one hundred percent, presents 

a fundamental characteristic. Quinting has integrated in its clock 

mechanism technical characteristics which belong to the high technology of 

racing cars. This new technological marvel will fill with wonder the car’s 

passionated people. 

This worldwide premiere that is presented today is born from the 4th 

impossible mission accepted and carried out by the watchmakers of the 

Quinting manufacture. 

Indeed, up to now the History of Quinting has been made up of three 

impossible missions accepted and carried out by the watchmakers of 

Quinting: it is in result of 7 years of research and development and 

investments of several dozens of millions of Swiss francs (the first and 

second missions) that the first transparent chronograph was born. The third 

mission has required 9 other years of additional research and development. 

The first impossible mission 

To create the first chronograph movement in the world transparent at one 

hundred percent, mysterious at one hundred percent, this mission that was 

confided to the greatest specialists in the Swiss watchmaking failed. After 

seven years of research and development this mission was crowned with 

success in 2000 thanks to the watchmakers of Quinting. 

The second impossible mission 

To create the first and unique sapphire movement in the world or in other 

words a movement composed of the parts made of a precious transparent 

material but not of metal. This complex mission was carried out in 2000. 

The third impossible mission 

To create at one hundred percent mysterious movement that makes turn the 

seconds hand as if it were suspended in the air. This mission was also 

carried out with success in 2002. 

Today the Quinting manufacture reveals you its fourth 

Impossible Mission, a worldwide premiere in the field 

of watchmaking. 



Tel: +41 22 718 78 00 – Fax: +41 22 718 78 08 


Mission Impossible 2007 carried out by the watchmakers of the Quinting 

manufacture 

The mission was suggested by Ange Barde, a racing driver who hold an 

amazing prize list. 

Indeed, he won the European championship of Challenge Ferrari 4 times, he 

is also world champion of GT FIA GT3. Lastly, he hold 9 times the Challenge 

France Championship title and won the principality of Monaco one time. 

Pascal Berclaz et Ange Barde 

Ange Barde was looking for a watch manufacture which was able to create a 

watch which could support all the restraints of the high racing car. He has 

turned toward Quinting and asked to create a watch that could be equal to 

theses performances. 



Tel: +41 22 718 78 00 – Fax: +41 22 718 78 08 


Mission : 

- To create a watch that can withstand all the constraints imposed by 

the racing cars. Or in other words to create a movement for the 

contemporary man who drives an exceptional car, sails a luxury boat 

and relaxes in a private jet. 

- To create only unique pieces 

- To make turn a car inside the transparency movement of Quinting. But 

each timepiece will have its own movement. 

Explanations : 

The cars are running… 

On the case of each watch is 

engraved a nomber between 1 and 

60, which represents one minute 

of the sixty of one hour. This 

number indicates the minute when 

the two cars will be superposed 

to make only one. If it is the 

number 5 which is chosen, the 

cars are superposed every hour 

and 5 minutes (1.05pm, 2.05pm, 

3.05pm…). 

Like that every timepiece will be 

unique. 

6 racing drivers are the owners of these watches. 

Quinting had engraved their blood group on each watch. 



Tel: +41 22 718 78 00 – Fax: +41 22 718 78 08 


Quinting presents today a new watch made especially for the racing drivers. 

The restraints were the following: 

Antoine Salomon et Ange Barde 

§ To increase the lifetime of the wheels, improve their precision and 

their adhesion. 

To achieve this objective the Quinting manufacture has realised a worldwide 

premiere. It has put, as in the racing cars, some tyres on the sapphire 

wheels and then toothed them. Thus adhesion, precision as well as the 

lifetime have strongly increased. 

§ To counterbalance the forces (acceleration, effect of gravity) 

To achieve this objective the Quinting manufacture did not keep to the 

beaten track of other manufactures that apply the system of tourbillon 

created by Abraham Louis Breguet in 1801. In the days of Abraham Louis 

Breguet watches, these pocket watches of the wealthy men, were not worn on 

the wrist but in the waistcoat pocket. The timekeepers remained all the 

time in vertical positions. Their parts were subject to the effects of 

gravity thus causing errors in the rate of the watch. In order to increase 

precision the inventor brought to reality his idea to put the regulating 

organs (the balance and the spiral spring) as well as the escapement (that 

supplies energy to the balance) in a small mobile cage that makes one turn 

around its own axis in one minute. And rotation of the whole mechanism 

around the same axis thus allowed to compensate the effects of gravity. 

Since the wrist watch appeared almost nobody has worn pocket watches. The 

continuous movements of hand play the role of tourbillon and this small 

horological complication has became useless 

(cf.http//worldtempus.com/wt/1/11615/434 Le Temps/ Isabelle Cerboneschi 13 

avril 2002). 



Tel: +41 22 718 78 00 – Fax: +41 22 718 78 08 


But nevertheless it keeps its value as a poem. The way taken by the 

manufacture is the one of the contemporary man of the third millennium. 

Abraham Louis Breguet found the solution how to eliminate errors caused by 

the effect of gravity, Mr Pascal Berclaz from Quinting found the solution 

how to compensate all the errors not only those caused by gravity but also 

the errors that result from the movements of the man’s hand who plays golf 

or violoncello or pilots a space shuttle. His watch is not subject to the 

effect of gravity but to other forces. To realize this the Quinting 

manufacture has created a worldwide premiere, the first transparent 

movement in the world with counterbalancing forces in which two parts move 

in opposite directions or in other words the wheels of the seconds turn as 

the seconds hand and other wheels rotate in opposite direction. Thus if one 

set of wheels accelerates the other one decelerates and thanks to the 

mysterious Quinting system the forces will be counterbalanced. Guided by 

the principle that the definition of art is knowledge that took shape, the 

Quinting manufacture creates The Ferrari watches. 

If Abraham Breguet wrote poetry of the horology with its Tourbillon, 

nowadays Quinting composes music for it. Although the Quinting watchmakers 

have gone further than Abraham Louis Breguet, their marvel has a reasonable 

price of 35 000 USD for a unique watch Ferrari Challenge. 

§ To create only unique timepieces 

Quinting and Ange Barde have decided to create only unique timepieces. 

Indeed, all the watches seem to be the same but they are in reality all 

different. There are 60 unique watches. The number 60 represents the number 

of minutes in one hour. On the case of each watch is engraved a number 

between 1 and 60. This last one indicates the minute when the two cars are 

superposed to be just one. 

For example, if you choose the watch number 5, the two cars will be 

superposed every hour and 5 minutes: 12.05pm, 13.05pm, 14.05p… 

The racing drivers who ran for the Challenge Ferrari title, including Ange 

Barde, had their blood group engraved on the case of the watch instead of 

the minute. 



Tel: +41 22 718 78 00 – Fax: +41 22 718 78 08 


§ Quinting pushes another time the limits of the impossible by puting a 

“watchmaker” inside the watch. 

A big number of horological masterpieces are hidden in museums owing to the 

extreme fragility of their movements. How many jewellers and owners of the 

greatest complications were obliged to return their jewels to the 

watchmakers because of the defective wheels. To solve this problem the 

Quinting manufacture placed a watch mechanism inside the watch, which will 

be able like magic to readjust the wheels of the chronograph counter. From 

this fact comes the expression “a watchmaker in the watch”. 

To realize this feat the wheels were assembled on the clutches allowing 

thus in case of strong constraints to disengage the wheels. You will see 

when the hands of the chronograph are not any more at 12 o’clock the 

watchmaker of your Quinting watch has disengaged the wheels and the watch 

underwent a shock. To ask the watchmaker to engage the wheel again you 

should simply press the push buttons and as if by magic the mysterious 

watchmaker will readjust at your request the counters at 12 o’clock. 

This marvel of the watchmaking tradition that embodies also the Swiss 

traditional watchmaking manufactured at one hundred percent at the 

workshops of Quinting 

The essential is invisible, - said Saint- Exupery. The mysteries of the 

Quinting complication of the unique watches Ferrari Challenge with its 

invisible movement pays tribute to him. 



Tel: +41 22 718 78 00 – Fax: +41 22 718 78 08

60 UNIQUE PIECES CHALLENGE FERRARI

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?