‘Long life and prosperity’, is the phrase with which Star Trek’s Dr Spock accompanies the gesture of opening his fingers. A greeting that takes centre stage in this Vulcain Cricket Tradition.
A new direction for Vulcain, the company founded in 1858 and recently taken over, or rather on the wrist… by Guillaume Laidet, a young entrepreneur who is rapidly modernising a number of traditional brands by harnessing his expertise in vintage watchmaking and beyond, marketing and the new tools that the internet has made available to enthusiasts. The use of social media, e-commerce and the constant and continuous connection of an ever-growing community has enabled Laidet to successfully and quickly relaunch Nivada Grenchen, Excelsior Park and, indeed, Vulcain.
The Watch
The Cricket Tradition ‘Vulcain Salute’ is one of the first results of Laidet’s intervention in Vulcain. To transform one of the company’s emblematic watches, with its alarm clock mechanism, it developed a limited series for Revolution, one of the world’s most important content and special model providers, which asked seconde/seconde/, a Paris-based company that has enlightened the world of time in recent seasons with a new way of interpreting hands, to introduce something sensationally evocative.
Cricket Tradition “Vulcain Salute”
The Hand of Spock
What could really amaze those who love wristwatches? André Romaric, patron of second/second/, thought of the most famous Vulcan of the big and small screen, Dr Spock from Star Trek, the cult series that began in 1966 and is universally known to science fiction fans. It is for this reason that, in the centre of the dial, a hand in the shape of a hand stands out, with its fingers open in accordance with Spock’s habit. A hand that does not lose its primary function by indicating the seconds, although this display almost exclusively communicates that the Cricket Tradition ‘Vulcain Salute’ is marching regularly, as it is rather arbitrary in terms of accuracy.
Two sizes and four colours
The Cricket Tradition “Vulcain Salute” di Vulcain x seconde/seconde/ x Revolutionis proposed in limited edition of 100 overall, subdivided into small series of 25 pieces distinguished by two different case diameters (36 mm and 39 mm) and with the hand depicted in vivid and distinctive colours, echoing the colours of the Star Trek protagonists’ uniform: green, yellow, blue and red.
The black dial, the common denominator of the four pieces made, has a scale for the precision setting of the alarm clock in white, applied Arabic numerals and golden hands for the smaller diameter versions and, for the edition that winks at sportiness (39 mm), in steel.
How it works
Driven by the hand-wound V-10 calibre, the Cricket Tradition “Vulcain Salute “Vulcain x second/second/ x Revolution is set, as far as the time display and alarm are concerned, by the winding crown, positioned at 3 o’clock; at 2 o’clock, on the other hand, is the button for activating the alarm setting. Manufactured in the Vulcain workshops, the V-10 calibre has a 42-hour power reserve and operates at 18,000 vibrations per hour.
About Vulcain Cricket
Introduced in 1947, the Cricket introduced the mechanical alarm for the first time in wristwatches. By means of the pointer, represented by the hand with an arrow-shaped end, the time of day is selected at which the acoustic signal will be activated to warn us in time for an appointment or to wake us up in a charming and… vintage manner. A hammer, activated when the hour and minute hands reach the exact division previously set by the pointer, strikes a thin spring for about twenty seconds, reproducing a sound reminiscent of the chirping of a cricket, cricket in English, amplified by the special construction of the case back.
