First revealed in 2018, the Eccentricity Prototype is the result of three years of work by young independent watchmaker, Cyril Brivet-Naudot. The piece benefits from the maker’s inclination for classical watchmaking from the 18th and 19th centuries, an appreciation he developed during his education at the Lyceé Edgar Faure in Morteau, close to the border with Switzerland, which fellow French independent maker Theo Auffret also attended.
This example of the Eccentricity, that was made between 2019 and 2020, was improved upon in 2022, with the watchmaker making stylistic changes, as well as mechanical upgrades. Cased in 39mm of stainless steel, it is three-part in its construction and has a distinctly unfussy, industrial quality to it. The high-polished curved bezel meets the perfectly, and evenly flat and satinated midcase and caseback. Secured to the midcase by two screws each are the lugs that are rhomboid in profile. They are perfectly straight when viewed from the top and are evenly curved on two sides, while perfectly flat on the underside.
The dial-free aesthetic is framed by a gold baseplate that wears even frosted finishing on both sides of the watch face, framed by sapphire crystal. The dial-side appearance is dominated by the balance, that is visually comparable to the time-telling elements of the watch. This layout again draws inspiration from the rarest of pocket watches of the era that Brivet-Naudot emulates. The four-pronged oversized balance wheel is secured by a frosted gold rhomboid balance cock with a black polished end, featuring a working jewel. It beats at a rate of 18,000 vibrations per hour and features a Breguet overcoil hairspring, with the outer coil secured by a raised stainless-steel bar wearing a satinated finish. This is one of the crucial improvements the maker has included to this particular piece, to the aid of improved shock tolerance.
The time-telling parts of the watch-face are marked by a revolving sapphire disc rimmed by a chapter of Arabic minutes a satiné circulaire rim. A fixed, teardrop-shaped blued marker indicates the minutes on this revolving disk. Inside it, fixed in its position relative to the minutes disk, is a dial with a satiné circulaire rim with Roman as well as drilled hour markers. This dial features a small, blued hour hand. The position of this satellite hour dial is governed by the rotation of the minute dial, so it is ever-changing, a further allusion to the Eccentricity at the heart of the watch.
On the movement-side, the classical rhomboid aesthetic continues on the bridges. Here we find Brivet-Naudot’s improvement on the eccentric escapement, first devised by the maker of 19th century chronometers, Louis Richard. Brivet-Naudot’s free-eccentric escapement, for which he collaborated with Luc Monnet, combines the efficiencies of the Swiss lever and détente escapements, while minimising the drawbacks of sliding friction between the escape wheel and balance wheel by the introduction of an impulse pallet. The single impulse element of the design also aids the overall isochronism of the balance wheel.
The clean appearance on the movement-side is in part due to the lack of a keyless works and accompanying crown. The large balance wheel is directly wound by one end of a key, to provide 40 hours of autonomy. The other end of this key slots neatly into the twin-holed aperture adjacent to the barrel to set the time.
By way of decoration are the freely engraved inscriptions done by hand, be they in a stylised calligraphic font on the dial- and movement-side of the baseplate, or detailing the watchmaker’s last name and its designation as a prototypical piece of work on the rim of the display caseback.
Almost all elements of the watch, barring the mainspring, hairspring, jewels and the crystals, are made by the watchmaker using traditional methods, eschewing modern manufacturing aids such as CNC. It is a remarkable example of a marriage of a classical watchmaking style and innovative thinking, with a good measure of eccentricity.
The example comes with a brown alligator leather strap and tang buckle, winding key and requisite paperwork, which includes a hand-written receipt by the watchmaker. Also included is the beautiful-crafted wooden presentation box.
If sold within the United Kingdom, this Cyril Brivet-Naudot Eccentricity Prototype will be subject to 20% VAT
