What started with the industry’s first carbon-titanium composite cased watch earlier this year has led to Vault’s latest creation, the V2+ RED CC. Once again, the company has teamed up with Fatcarbon to explore the limits of composites and to create a visually striking and very light material.
Mark Schwarz, Founder of VAULT, says “So far as we know the V2+ RED CC is the world’s first watch featuring a carbon-ceramic composite case. For me, the V2+ RED CC represents everything we believe in. It’s the belief that a passionate team made up of the very best in the watchmaking industry and a visionary patron are capable of creating when they believe in the north star of the brand; the vision of creating the world’s most personal watches, which reminds us of how precious time is.”
The company explains that as a VAULT watch is essentially a vault for your wrist protecting your precious time, the V2+ RED CC receives some extra protection in the form of a grade two titanium hour disc replacing the iconic sapphire disc used in the V1 models. Designed by Laurent Auberson the hour disc enhances the readability of the hours while incorporating the V-Logo and using a honeycomb structure to ensure rigidity of the disc while also making it as light as possible. The 0.3mm disc was laser cut by partner Lastec before Xenoprint applied red Super LumiNova to the hour-indicating triangle. Last but not least, Bernhard Zwinz hand grained the disc to give it the technical look they wanted to achieve.
Vision
Mark Schwartz explained: “We knew from the start that our vision for this new composite was extremely ambitious and our gut feeling proved to be right. As our case is curved in both directions, we wanted to create a composite with layers that mimicked the curvature of the case. Our partner Fatcarbon had not only to rethink his composite manufacturing process but also produce special tooling to create the desired composite. Weeks of hand-laminating layer by layer of carbon and ceramic and numerous iterations later, composite block 21 was created, which became the case for the final watch.
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“Our partners at RGB X-Tech, who managed to manufacture the extreme carbon-titanium composite used for the V1+ Cti, were tasked once again to machine the case for the V2+ RED CC. It took three attempts and over 120 hours of CNC milling to create the final case. As René Gschwend, CEO of RGB X-Tech, stated, this was by far the most challenging project he has ever worked on.
“We are constantly striving to up the ante to push us to the next level in creating true masterpieces. Case in point is the finishing quality of our latest creation for which we teamed up with Bernhard Zwinz. The V2+ RED CC features a hand-angled polished and brushed minute hand, a hand-grained hour disc, hand-finished gear train, hand-finished bridges and rotor. Virtually every visible component is meticulously finished and given the treatment it deserves.
“Passion is an incredible source of power and perseverance, both of which are needed to pull off this project and by doing so create a new reference for the brand. The challenges were many and the days long, but the result has been worth every second of precious time dedicated to creating this commission.
“Using a composite never before used in the watch industry was equally exciting as it was challenging. Thanks to our visionary patron and our incredible team, we once again managed to pull off a world`s first in the industry by creating a carbon-ceramic composite case. We invested a lot of time in extensive testing to make this daring vision become a reality, in doing so pushing the boundaries once again.
Movement
Unlike other calibres’ use of traditional base-plates, the unique V01+ movement designed and produced by Andreas Strehler and his company Uhrteil utilises a skeletonised, black rhodium-plated and pearl-blasted central main plate. The central main plate is not screwed to the mono-cage II but held in place by six steel rollers and three springs, enabling the whole movement to unidirectionally rotate 360° while the time is set. The fact that the whole calibre is float-mounted also protects it from shocks.
The backside of the automatic V01+ movement now feature two floating grade two titanium engraving bridges which have been designed and engineered by Laurent Auberson and Marc Jenni, produced by Lastec and hand finished by Bernhard Zwinz. The bridges were made to display the brand name and the reference as the composite material could not be laser engraved. As the grade two titanium hour disc is lighter than the previously used sapphire disc on the V1 models the power reserve has been increased to circa 55 hours.
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To create the perfect strap Vault once again teamed up with master strap maker Mirea Marian who created a beautiful made-to-measure ostrich leg leather strap to perfectly complement the V2+ RED CC. VAULT straps are far from the ordinary and require a lot of skill and time as the connection to the case requires seamlessly incorporating a high-precision grade five titanium insert manufactured by Ecoprts into the strap.
CASE
+ 5-part case
+ Unique VAULT V2+ RED CC carbon-ceramic composite
+ 39mm Width
+ 46.7mm Length
+ 15mm Thickness
+ Sapphire crystal with a double anti-reflective coating ARunic®
+ Open case back sapphire crystal with a double anti-reflective coating ARunic®
+ Grade five titanium screws with signature VAULT screw head profile
+ Grade five titanium 2-part crown
+ Pearl blasted grade five titanium mono-cage II
MOVEMENT
+ V01+ automatic movement (exclusively made for VAULT by Uhrteil)
+ Inertia regulated balance wheel
+ Power reserve: ca. 55 hours
+ Frequency: 21`600 vph
+ Rhodium-plated brushed and pearl-blasted skeleton rotor (made by Marc Jenni)
+ Pearl-blasted rhodium-plated centre plate
+ Black rhodium-plated brushed and bevelled bridges
+ Lasercut and hand-finished grade two titanium engraving bridges
Contact VAULT here to commission your bespoke watch.
