Martin Braun-Classical Technology

This column was introduced last issue, and I gave a brief overview of what I hoped to achieve. A little foreshadowing was done with the pictures, which displayed three different watches from the watchmaker Martin Braun. Simply put, Martin Braun watches are visually impressive.

The first thing that you notice is their substantial size. 80% of the watches that Martin Braun produces are sized in the 42 to 44 millimeters in diameter range. By contrast, most of the mass-produced watches are sized anywhere from 34- 38 mm with the occasional designer watch at your local department store sized up to 40 mm in diameter. This extra size is not merely for show, but a necessity in order to house the very intricate complications that are created by the master watchmaker Martin Braun himself.

Mr. Lawrence Rubin, the President of Martin Braun USA, describes Mr. Braun as a very unique “Living Watch Artist.” Where most of your high end mechanical watches come from companies that have been around since the 18th century, MB was started in 2000. Braun creates his watch complications and movements inhouse at his small factory in Sarnen,

Switzerland. It is here that he uses his unique skill set to create his own complications from start to finish. Braun has a background in fabricating watchcases and in developing watch movements, which gives him the ability to be very creative in trying to produce new watch complications. According to Rubin, Martin Braun tries to make his complications as efficient as possible while still being accurate and pleasing to the eye.

Complications are additional functions added to a mechanical wristwatch over and above the basic telling of time. This might include a date window, a power reserve indicator for hand wound watches or a moon phase which tracks the movement and shape of the moon.

Equally impressive is a perpetual calendar which shows not only the date but the day of the week, the month of the year, and has the ability to adjust automatically for leap years. Remember that all of the technology and pieces required to keep track of all of these features have to fit in the watchcase and work in perfect unison with the other watch functions. Typically this is why the greater the amount of complications in a timepiece, the greater the price of the watch.

Martin Braun has one of the most fascinating complications in the world of mechanical wristwatches, which can be found in its Boreas collection. This complication actually displays to the owner the exact time of the sunrise and sunset in the city in which they live, and the equation of time.

In order to mechanically accomplish this, a number of factors have to be determined. The basic equation used to arrive at the correct time takes into account the difference between manmade time, astronomical time and sidereal time (which is used by astronomers to trace the movement of stars across the sky). There are actually only four days out of the year that contain a full 24 hours, which should give you some idea of how complicated the equation of time is to master and calibrate into moving microscopic watch pieces. Therefore, in order to determine the sunrise and sunset in any given location, Martin Braun cuts a small piece of metal called a cam to the nearest micron based on where you live using GPS coordinates. The cams look like small kidney-shaped eyeballs and are located between the 8 and the 4 towards the bottom of the watch dial. The closer you are to the equator the more round-shaped the cams have to be, and the further north you are (like Toronto for example) the more kidneyshaped the cams would be. This adds a special level of customization to each Boreas watch and certainly makes the piece very exclusive to the buyer. Complications such as these have earned Martin Braun many prestigious awards and Braun continues to push the envelope

of watch making.

The base movement itself is actually manufactured and assembled in Geneva and then shipped to the factory in Sarnen where a small group of master watchmakers add the additional complications and finish them for delivery. According to Rubin, the United States is the largest market for Martin Braun watches-but don't expect to see one too often. There are only approximately 600 pieces sold in the United States annually and the retail network that sells them is fairly limited. Fortunately in Northern California we have two authorized retailers, one in Redwood City (Jackson Square) and one in Sacramento. In Sacramento, the watches can be found at Michael Green and Company, who were nice enough to show me their entire collection of Martin Braun watches.

All were impressive but the two that really stood out to me were the Kephalos and the Selene. The Kephalos has a gigantic case that is 44 mm in diameter and nearly 15 mm high in depth. It has an annual calendar with displays for the day of the month, the day of the week, the month itself, and the world’s first retrograde moon phase on a disk that appears to have craters and color changes in its elevations. The watch would certainly be a big conversation piece, and its elegant lines and use of limited color on the dial are very eye-catching. With its extraordinary design and masterful technical construction, it is easy to realize that the Kephalos is a special watch.

The Selene actually comes in two different cases sizes, 42 and 44 millimeters. The focus of the watch is on its very unique moon phase complication- which according to the Martin Braun website can remain accurate for more than 122 ½ years before requiring an adjustment. That is a claim that is going to be very hard to prove for obvious reasons, but it is easy to appreciate the amount of engineering that must be required to create such a mechanism. The dial contains a similar moon disk to the one installed in the Kephalos with the moon appearing to have actual surface characteristics. The Selene is visually impressive and has a very unique look that should attract even the most discerning eye.

If you have any interest in seeing the Martin Braun collection first hand, I would highly recommend making an appointment at Michael Greene and Company, or visit MartinBraunUSA.com to find a retailer near your next business trip or vacation destination. It will be time well spent and provide you with numerous hours of pleasant conversation telling all of your friends, family and business associates about these incredible watches you saw that day.