Elegance, refined details and complicated mechanism. The package includes greater shock resistance while driving the unique Rolls-Royce Amethyst Droptail. Here is a one-of-a-kind Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon, created for the owner of a purple Droptail.
Custom-made watches and cars are a separate category – they are luxury taken to the highest level, often unattainable even for wealthy customers. Recently, a unique duo has appeared on the horizon: the Rolls Royce Amethyst Droptail and the matching Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon by Vacheron Constantin Replica. Both ordered by a mystery client who was known to have had a jewelry boutique specializing in the trade in precious stones and now manages an international corporation.
This is the second such unique project for the Rolls-Royce brand, after the recently presented La Rose Noire Droptail roadster, inspired by the French Black Baccara rose. This time the inspiration was amethyst: supposedly the birthstone of the mystery client’s son. That’s why the Amethyst Droptail two-seater roadster contains real amethysts – for example, the famous Spirit of Ecstasy figurine on the hood of the car and the knobs inside are made of this stone.
Behind all the sophisticated details is Coachbuilt, i.e. the special orders department of the Rolls-Royce brand, which fulfills all, even the most unusual, customer wishes (when ordering a car at Coachbuilt, the customer is involved from the very beginning, from the stage of creating sketches of the car’s silhouette, to the selection finishing).
Vacheron Constantin
The Amethyst Droptail roadster also comes with a matching watch, just like the previously mentioned La Rose Noire Droptail. In this case, the client chose a Vacheron Constantin watch. And this is how the Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon model was created – a joint work of watchmakers from the Les Cabinotiers atelier, the equivalent of the Coachbuild department at RR.
Employees of the Les Cabinoriers studio, which has been operating since 2006, are used to unusual orders. However, in the case of this order, several new challenges awaited them. One of them was a special watch compartment built into the dashboard and designed in such a way that the watch could be rotated 180 degrees (for example, to wind it while driving). The storage box is made of steel and white gold and finished with a hand-guilloche pattern resembling a sunburst.
Speaking of the mechanism, the Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon model uses the caliber 1990 with manual winding, a spherical hairspring and a biaxial armillary tourbillon (the word “armillary” was chosen in honor of the invention of the French watchmaker Antide Janvier, who constructed it in the 18th century armillary sphere, also known as the spherical astrolabe, considered one of his greatest works).
Placed at The 12th crown looks like it comes from a vintage watch, and the minute scale in the upper part of the dial looks like it was taken from a historical speedometer. The partially transparent dial (made of sapphire glass and rhodium-plated brass) features recurring hour and minute displays and a small seconds hand connected to a tourbillon. In turn, on the caseback side, under the sapphire glass, attention is drawn to eye-catching purple bridges decorated with Geneva stripes.
Les Cabinotiers Armillary Tourbillon is the first modern Vacheron Constantin watch designed for installation in a car, but the company’s archives contain a similar order dating back to 1928. Will there be a continuation of special models of this type? Of course. Provided that the right clients contact the Lec Cabinotiers atelier. And the price? It is included in the price of the car.