Friday, January 2, 2015

Vulcain Cricket Aviator GMT - The Dragon!

Vulcain Watches is famous for their Cricket alarm timepieces and in this case, they have outdone themselves with the Vulcain Cricket Aviator GMT Dragon.

The Vulcain Cricket Aviator GMT “The Dragon” is a specially created timepiece featuring not only the famous alarm movement but also featuring an enamel dial - cloisonné enamel no less. The cloisonné technique creates small partitioned receptacles in which the glass powder and metal oxides composing the enamel are placed. First the drawing of the dragon is done on the dial and the cloisonné wires are then laid and glued to the surface. The dial is then fired to fuse the wires to the dial forming a receptacle. The enamel powder is then processed and filled into the receptacles and fired at the right temperature. This process is repeated with all the different colour enamel paste until the dial is completed.
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The Dragon - well this mythical creature symbolises the Emperor in Chinese mythology. And Vulcain has created who versions of this timepiece - the white and the black Dragon. The Black Dragon is limited to 18 pieces while the White Dragon is limited to 30 pieces.
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Both timepieces comes encased with a 42mm rose gold case. The enamel dials are beautiful to say the least. Intricately and expertly crafted to bring out the life in the dragon.
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The close up of the Dragon head - see the wires and the particles in the enamel? Cool stuff.
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A closer look on the enamel dial.
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The timepiece is also a World Time on top of the cricket alarm function. The world time display is on a 24 hours scale adjusted by the crown at the 4 o’clock position.
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The timepieces comes with the Vulcain Cricket Calibre V-13 which beats at 18,000 VPH. The mechanical alarm rings for about 20 seconds when fully wound. Winding the alarm function is done by winding the main crown in the clockwise direction. The winding of the watch mainspring is done anti-clockwise.
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Time setting goes in one direction. When the crown is pulled out, one sets the time by turning the crown in an anti-clockwise direction.
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For those born in the Year of the Dragon under the Chinese Zodiac, this is a significant piece. I have to test the alarm function one of these days.

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