After his watches Variocurve and Quickindicator, Daniel Nebel, founder, owner, watch designer and builder at Nord Zeitmaschine, has launched a new timepiece: Freesdial. The name is a brilliant play on words, and the timepiece is unlike anything seen before. As the large minute hand moves around the dial over the course of an hour, parts of the dial move, construct and deconstruct, and the minute hand itself gets longer and shorter. It’s like a racetrack, but the dial is as “free” as its name, changing constantly. The best way to understand what happens in the watch is to watch a video.
In addition to the hours shown by a decentralized disc, and minutes shown by the variable hand and dial, there is also a 24-hour time disc for a second time zone and a day/night indicator. The second time zone is set using the crown on the left-hand side of the watch. The date is shown in a window at the top left of the dial. The mobile parts of the dial and the hand are made from Arcap, and the “freestyle” dial is mounted on a series of ball bearings to reduce friction. As a result, the watch’s power reserve is 42 hours, virtually the same as provided by any watch with an ETA 2824 movement.
There is yet more fun on the caseback as well. Daniel has constructed his own oscillating weight which includes three spinning discs with numbered sectors, so that you can play with it and bet on the numbers that appear.
Technical details and price
The watch is fairly large at 44.3 mm diameter, with a total thickness of 15.7 mm, mounted on a 26mm leather strap. It’s a complex piece, with 27 components just for the minute hand assembly. Daniel says that the development alone required 3,000 hours of work. There are two versions, one with mechanical parts coated in black gold and white rhodium, with a dark yellow gold colour minute hand, and one with parts coated in white rhodium with a black gold-colour minute hand. Both editions are limited to 97 pieces. Each costs 23,700 Swiss francs before tax.
Further information from nord-zeitmaschine.ch
Watch Daniel’s video of the timepiece:
