Automata are one of the most ancient and impressive ways to make a mechanical splash, as 2024’s latest animated wonders show. I-M TIME asked Sam Kessler to tell us more about these marvellous examples of horological creativity.
Amongst all the various complications and functions of a fine timepiece, there’s one mechanism that stands apart. Compared to it, tourbillons are dull, perpetual calendars are passé and sonneries aren’t as grand as they think they are. I am, of course, talking about the not-so-humble automaton.
You’ll probably have heard the term before – especially if you like a bit of steampunk – but in short, it’s where a mechanical scene or figure will come to life at some impetus. If you’ve ever been to Venice and seen the famous clocktower – where two statues take a hammer to an oversized bell – then you’ll know the kind of thing I’m talking about.
Think of them as robots in a pre-electric age. They could perform a limited set of functions (in the 18th century Jacques de Vaucanson created several of these mechanical wonders, among them, a digesting duck and a shepherd that played the tabor and the pipe and had a repertoire of twelve songs) and were the pinnacle of the engineering art – so much so that watchmakers wanted to get in on the action. Though admittedly, on a much smaller scale.
Watchmakers have been recreating superlative automata for centuries and while today there’s but a handful of horologists specialising in this very specific craft, those that do are phenomenal.
The most emblematic builder of automata, Jaquet Droz is the first name in mechanically moving birds and bees. I’m not skirting around any eroticism here, I literally mean that its scenes of birds in their nests have become the de facto face of automatons in watchmaking – and for good reason. Jaquet-Droz himself was building automata as early as 1773, and while the modern brand is vastly different, they still develop those classical ideas.
Jaquet Droz’s Parrot Repeater pocket watch brings to our days the tradition of automata established by Pierre Jaquet-Droz himself, marrying fine watchmaking with the most delicate decorative techniques.
The latest variation on its Bird Repeater takes a tropical approach with two blue macaws against a lush, jungle backdrop. At the press of a button, the waterfall in the background begins to flow, the egg hatches and all the birds – chicks included – start to move, all to the soundtrack of a minute repeater. It’s a lot and it’s beautiful.
While this particular number is a unique piece, the “standard” Bird Repeater includes all the same elements, it’s just a little less exotic. And as you’ll probably be expecting (and should get used to in this article), it’s price on demand.
Hermès Arceau Chorus Stellarum
A skeleton riding a horse is about the most Hermès thing I’ve ever seen outside an eye-wateringly priced silk scarf, and is a lot more fun, too. Incidentally, the new Arceau Chorus Stellarum is actually inspired by a silk scarf, specifically one designed by Japanese artist Daiske Nomura, but in this case it swaps out the sumptuous textile for a combination of champlevé enamel and lacquer.
Inspired by Daiske Nomura’s scarf design, the Hermès Arceau Chorus Stellarum impressed everyone at this year’s Watches & Wonders.
At the press of a button , the horse rears up onto its hind legs, rider in tow. As automata go, it’s a relatively straightforward one but has more than enough personality to carry it through. The celestial finishing is second to none and makes for one of the most dramatic watches of the year – which, as Watches & Wonders has just ended, is actually saying something. There are six of them, so you might even see one in the gem-set metal one day.
The whole thing is powered by the Hermès Manufacture H1837, which has a 50-hour power reserve – though that likely doesn’t include what happens if you keep pressing the activation button. And let’s be honest, that is precisely what we’d all be doing.
Van Cleef & Arpels Apparition des Baies
Van Cleef’s poetic complications are amongst the most staggeringly beautiful watches in the world, combining jewellery and fine watchmaking in what’s become a regular highlight of women’s watches. But where the brand’s sub-genre of animated watch dials tends to be very subtle – such as the swaying flowers of the Lady Arpels Brise d’Été – the same can’t be said of its well named “Extraordinary Creations”, represented this year by the Apparition des Baies.
The leaves of the Van Cleef & Arpels Apparition des Baies gradually open to reveal a white-gold, diamond and sapphire bird spreading its wings.
The automaton is comprised of a stone, thulite base plinth with a dome of 112 overlapping leaves; winding it and letting it loose gently unfolds the leaves, with a single diamond-and-sapphire bird taking flight from the middle. It’s three-dimensional drama at its finest, rounded off with a final melody as the bird sinks back into the foliage and the leaves close up again. Oh, and it also tells the time, thanks to the butterfly a level down next to an hour indicator.
Needless to say, this is a unique piece. No workshop in the world could pump out these gorgeous creations of mechanical and jewellery art. As for price… good luck.
Chanel J12 Atelier Couture Automate Calibre 6
For Chanel, 2024 is all about celebrating Mademoiselle Chanel’s art of dressmaking and, along with the fashion house’s usual palette of black and white, that means movement. Specifically, a stunning automaton rendition of the legendary designer’s workshop, complete with a vintage Mickey Mouse-esque vision of Coco Chanel herself.
With the press of a button, Mademoiselle Chanel’s figurine in the J12 Atelier Couture Automate comes to life in her atelier.
At once, designer, scissors and bust all come to life, hips swaying in a bejewelled yet fun and characterful animation. There are a lot of moving parts here, and it takes 355 individual elements to make it all work together, no mean feat given that rather than being rendered as a pocket watch or clock, the whole thing has been downsized into a svelte 38mm piece of diamond-set wrist candy. The automatic movement also has a 72-hour power reserve, making this one of the few automata in existence that’s actually wearable on a daily basis. It even has an anti-shock system.
There are 100 of these black ceramic beauties available, though by now they’re all likely in private collections. But with this much time and effort going into a wearable automaton, expect a few more variations in the future. You might even see one of them.
Words: Sam Kessler
Opening image: Imaginary rendering of Vaucanson’s Digesting Duck in Scientific American, attributed to A. Konby.
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