http://72.4.174.245/mystery/ At 15 Rene Quinting was already interested in watches and at 18 he built his first one. That was not quite in keeping with the occupation of his father, a building contractor. An article that appeared in Uhren magazine in 1992 about a master skeleton watchmaker from Le Locle (Switzerland), Kurt Schaffo, was more to the point. René Quinting was 24 years old at the time, and was fascinated by Kurt Schaffo’s minimalism. How could you reduce mass without restricting function? That was the direction the upcoming mechanical engineer’s mind was taking him. So he enquired amongst the top watch companies in Switzerland. "I was turned away by at least 15 studios, " he recalls. "Can’t be done," they all told me.
Quinting’s idea was to create a completely see-through watch with its mechanism in the rim of the case. Energy would be transmitted to the watchface with the aid of superimposed glass discs. Rather like a Big Mac in its construction. "But don’t write that for god’s sake," says René Quinting. "We prefer the description, ‘Time Mac’ – the finest in the world!"
Ten months elapsed between the idea and the patent application on 12 October 1993.
Finally Rene Quinting managed to earn himself approving nods, when he presented his idea at the Swiss Exidel studio in St.-Blaise. Two months later he had a prototype.
A major role in this development was played by engineers Norbert Perucchi (development) and Willy Cleusix (structural design) – two men who’ve acted as advisors for many Swiss quality brands.
But that was just the start for a completely new watch. Very quickly it became clear that the normal standard of perfection – always cited in the trade – was not enough. The only glass possible for the ten discs (and the two outside covers) was sapphire crystal. Each disc had to be precisely measured. Then an anti-reflection coating was applied to both sides of the discs, and they were again measured. The distance between the discs had to be between 0.08 and 0.1 mm.
"There was many a time when I doubted whether my idea would be a success," says René Quinting. Because it was not a mass production watch the usual supply problems arose. Then again, there were no existing products that could be used for Quinting watch. Hundreds of parts had to be designed and manufactured. Even the smallest screw head had to be carefully measured before being assembled. This continues to be the case today for the small-lot fabrication undertaken by a little team of experienced watchmakers at the Quinting studio in St.-Blaise
Rene Quinting also had a hell of a lot of luck with accompanied his vision of the "invisible" watch. His father trusted in him. And there were other people there to help at the right time – the Swiss specialists, but also WGZ bank, whose Board of Management was convinced by the idea – and still is. And then there is Jürgen Nordhausen, formerly Distribution Manager at Citizen, and who these days can hardly contain his pride.
And at least the Quinting watch is available. Over 1000 orders have been received, more than can be produced at the moment. There are, however, no plans to mass-produce the watch.
http://www.tourbillon-watches.com/tourbillon.asp?pg=editorial/2003/quinting.htm&house=95
