Citizen Campanola: A tourbillon unfolds the beauty of the sky

Campanola, a Citizen watch brand that pursues the unique beauty of space, has launched a new Global Art Collection that combines Japanese and Swiss watchmaking technology.
The first model is the incredible tourbillon "Heaven" and "Earth".

　Among the wide range of brands offered by Citizen Watch, Campanola is one that develops a distinctive worldview through unique designs and functions, based on the concept of "watches for enjoying time." The mechanical collection released in 2014 featured a model equipped with an automatic movement from La Joux-Perret, a Swiss movement manufacturer under the Citizen Group umbrella. Since then, models that skillfully combine the company's movements with dials that make full use of traditional Japanese craftsmanship have become popular among discerning watch enthusiasts.

　This year, Campanola launched the Global Art Collection, based on the concept of fusing Japanese aesthetics with Swiss watchmaking to create unique works of art. The first collection to be released was the "Ten" and "Chi" models, featuring lacquered dials and La Joux-Perret's thin, hand-wound flying tourbillon movement with a power reserve of approximately 90 hours.

　The lacquered dials for "Heaven," representing the universe, the origin of time, and "Earth," representing the earth, the origin of matter, were created by Tetsuo Gido, a traditional craftsman who has pioneered the artistic world of watches with his previous Campanola collections. Gido's Aizu lacquer, which is intricately applied to the off-center time display dial and the spacious space around the flying tourbillon window, stimulates the viewer's imagination and invites them into the grand romance of heaven and earth. They are truly works of art.

　The two models were meticulously prepared over a long period of time, and of course the same can be said for the special movements selected for them. The tourbillon, which is said to improve precision by compensating for the effects of gravity, is a perfect fit for Campanola's worldview, which expresses the individuality of its watches on a cosmic scale. The La Joux-Perret movement on which the watch was based is a flying tourbillon type, with no upper bridge on the dial side and the mechanism supported on the back. This type has the advantage of making the carriage appear to float in the air and of drawing the eye deeper into the mechanism, making it an inevitable choice for expressing the "aerobeauty of the sky," which is so important to Campanola.

　Various adjustments were made to the base movement to create the unique Caliber Y392 that is installed in the "Heaven" and "Earth" movements, and the person who coordinated this between Japan and Switzerland was Taro Nakagawa, a Citizen watch development engineer who has been stationed in La Joux-Perret since 2017. Particular attention was paid to the carriage that carries Campanola's iconic bell mark (a bell motif) in the design of the Caliber Y392.

　Adding such a motif may at first glance seem unbalanced and may put a strain on the tourbillon carriage, which must be lightweight, but after numerous prototypes from scratch, they succeeded in achieving an exquisite balance by making the ring that forms the base of the carriage thinner on the side with the motif and thicker on the opposite side. Incidentally, the static accuracy is excellent, achieving an average daily rate of minus 4 to plus 20 seconds per day.

　The bell mark rotates once every 60 seconds, accompanied by the pointer attached to the carriage that acts as the second hand, and the sight of it moving along the large second scale ring is dynamic.

　The new models "Ten" and "Chi" are "Swiss-made" products, with the design and dial coming from Japan and the movement from Switzerland, but they are undoubtedly masterpieces that were created through collaboration, with both parties contributing ideas. There is no doubt that this project will provide significant insights into the future of watchmaking.