Transparent as a Breeze

A world première. Guy Ellia unveils a watch the transparency of which
stimulates all kinds of reflection. Very contemporary, this piece displays its own details and is paroxismal in that it transcends nothingness, turning it into a quasi-material. In contemplating this creation called Zephyr, the soul, rapidly filled with a dream-like feeling, lets itself be lulled by a breeze of soft sensations that carry it away to a state of pure emotion.

The Zephyr is limpid, and marks a milestone in the creative logic of Guy
Ellia. This timepiece, the calibre of which boasts extraordinary tourbillon
creations, is clearly inscribed in the expert complications mastered by the
House and is the transparent representation of an outstanding contribution
to watch-making; namely, another dimension.

Guy Ellia is a man passionate about precious stones and transparency. This
predilection gave rise to an invisible yet very perceptible attention to detail,
which lends his creations their character. Faced with the most absolute
purity in jewellery, he rethought the reading of time, projecting it into the future.

This led him to an interpretation that displays the clarity of his volumic
analysis, as well as his desire to continue to break new ground in the world
of design.

In the history of time, very few mechanical watches have been able to achieve this sort of Nirvana of absolute clarity. Historically speaking, the gem-set timepieces of the Renaissance, adorned with faceted crystals, were meant to play with rays of sunlight and thus the eyes of their owners. And then there were the mysterious pendulums of the watchmaker Oudin and the rare American watches dating from the late nineteenth century, the bridges and bottom plates of which were crafted in quartz crystal from Arkansas.

More recently, the best Swiss watchmakers created models of which the bottom plates were cut from rutile quartz. In the end, only a few dozen pieces displaying their most simple apparatus seem to have ever existed. This is infinitely less than the most complicated watches. We can thus deduce that creating absolute transparency is the most difficult task for a watchmaker.

In brief, there are two paths available to watchmaker artists: richness
via the multiplicity of treatments or purity derived from the greatest possible
simplicity. It is probably very difficult for watchmakers to detach themselves
from materials, most likely because of a sort of fear of emptiness. In contrast, fascinated by the ethereal aspect of creations, the pure brilliance of diamonds, the colour of precious stones and the resulting play of light, Guy Ellia, in a desire to build a new perception of time through the eyes of a jeweller, now offers something truly new to the world of luxury watches.

This mechanical creation, which moves by means of a well-polished manual-wind calibre from the Christophe Claret firm, comes alive each time it is wound and touches the heart with just one glance. This sapphire gem – in a very contemporary structure, discreetly decorated with two platinum carriages – features the ultimate in technical watch-making: a tourbillon that hovers between land and sky. A piece boasting rigid simplicity, it can be adorned with transparent bridges and a transparent bottom plate lightly tinted red, blue or grey. The layering born of the assembly of the components gives rise to a particularly interesting juxtaposition, highlighting the polished steel of the pivots and the use of teethed wheels.