The new model of the Swiss brand BA111OD is a Tourbillon, a highly spectacular watchmaking complication usually offered by the biggest brands at prices unattainable by the general public. This is the result of the brand’s innovative commercial approach. It also sends a powerful message to the future of the Swiss watch industry, suppliers and retailers, by reinforcing the attractiveness of the Swiss mechanical industry
A Tourbillon called The Veblen Dilemma
With this 43 mm diameter tourbillon entirely produced in the canton of Neuchâtel and its nearby surroundings, Thomas Baillod is claiming uncompromising chronometry, a definitely contemporized fundamental aesthetic as well as the tangible demonstration of the sales concepts he has been teaching for several years. Solutions that provide encouraging systemic answers to the actors of the local industrial fabric, the suppliers, and to those of the global distribution, the retail market.
Unprecedented combination of several factors
This hand-wound Tourbillon caliber, which runs at 21,600 vibrations per hour, is the result of an encounter between the experienced watchmaker Olivier Mory (La Chaux-de-Fonds), and a wellrespected captain of industry who has turned into a business angel. Today, this highly complicated movement is being offered by the BA111OD watch brand in a customized version, as the BA.01. It is the result of an expertise in manufacturing excellence. It has successfully undergone the steps for its reliability, theses watchmaking tests that intentionally mistreat watches and high quality mechanisms in order to ensure their durability, trustworthiness and precision values.
With a two-year warranty, with 105 hours of power reserve (more than four days) and a shock tolerance of more than 5,000 G, the hand-wound Tourbillon in Chapter 4 by BA111OD is offering a rotating cage that turns in 60 seconds. Fine complicated watchmaking that also offers the full range of traditional finishings and decorations: polished-blocked, chamfered and blued screws, double-sided ringed gear train, rolled pivots, etc. The Chapter 4 The Veblen Dilemma case is made of grade 5 titanium, a material favored by the most prestigious houses. It is coated with a DLC Black Ice treatment. In fact, in Baillod’s terminology, this is the famous ‘gun metal’ with anthracite undertones. And as with all chapter readings, the final storyline remains to be discovered, the piece is full of high tech twists and turns.
Horizontal Manufacture
In addition to this fusion of age-old know-how and experienced industrial intelligence, a logic of short supply chains has been accelerated by the current context: an incredible pool of motivated suppliers, all anchored in the Neuchâtel fabric. Their enthusiasm and responsiveness led them to embrace the adventure wholeheartedly.
Already in the early days of watchmaking, the concept of the Manufacture Horizontale provided history with glorious times: in Geneva the Cabinotiers, in the mountain regions, the farm workshops. The timepieces were produced from workbenches to workbenches and not within the walls of a factory where all the skills were in-house and verticalized. Indeed, confined by the rigorous winters or urban pragmatism, the Ancients practiced their Art in turn, adding to each piece in the process their respective levels of skill and mastery.
Finally, in the same way that a master watchmaker is passionate about a balance spring, its lines, its curve, its a-magnetism and its shock resistance, the former professional in watchmaking markets (at the beginning, he only spent three months a year in Switzerland), is passionate about the mechanisms that regulate watch distribution and sales: Thomas Baillod has been teaching his pure sales theories for several years at the Watch Trade Academy. He has applied them to offer his new Spectacular Wrist Machine to the world’ s watch lovers, starting with the first 30 Afluendors!
“To love time, that one which does not count”
Chapter 4 The Veblen Dilemma, besides this enigmatic phrase engraved on the edge of the plate, is full of other surprises, including some disruptive technological innovations. These will be gradually revealed, even after the next chapter.
BA111OD Chapter 4 The Veblen Dilemma
Movement: mechanical hand-wound caliber BA.01 (base BCP Tourbillon), 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hertz), variable inertia balance, 19 jewels. Over 5000 G shock resistance. Functions: hours, minutes, Tourbillon at 6 o’clock, 105 hours power reserve (more than 4 days).
Case: grade 5 titanium treated with DLC Black Ice (gun metal anthracite); diameter: 43 mm; water resistant: 50 meters
Dial: semi-open dial according to an original design, hands covered with SuperLuminova
Bracelet: Smart bracelet (insertion of an NFC emitting chip)
Limited series: 220 watches, a tribute to the 220th anniversary of the Tourbillon
Price: CHF 3.920 ex VAT
