A new watch arrives: the Tulloch T-01 First Edition. But what makes this one interesting is that it features the design work of Eric Giroud, and the movement collaboration with Kari Voutilainen. The two names perked our interest to read and explore the press release.
Press Release and some background information
Shane Tulloch
Who is Shane Tulloch whose name is on the dial? The first time we were contacted by Shane, we were impressed with the credentials. Yet, he is neither watchmaker or machinist.
Shane grew up in New Zealand, where his father is a jeweler. After university, he spent some time at McKinsey & Co doing consulting, then joined a tech start-up and into venture capital before he was captivated by high end independent watchmaking. He founded the company in NYC where he currently lives.
The T-01is the first watch to be released under this new brand, and Shane has been working on it for 4 years, learning micro-mechanical engineering. He worked on the design and on the prototypes in CAD software to test various concepts.
In 2016, he saw a video of Deployant Friend Eric Giroud, discussing design and new watches during the SIHH, and decided to meet Eric. They connected, and the meeting was pivotal. The exchange of ideas and concepts began and the initial design was made for what is now the T-01. He worked with Eric on the dial and case concept and design together.
The watch was developed and made at Comblémine together with Christophe Beuchat and his team, and with guidance and support from Kari Voutilainen throughout the project. Shane worked on the design of the movement, materials and finishing (geartrain wheels, bridges, the balance wheel, and the architecture and layout of the movement) together with the team at Comblémine. As he did not want to make the first watch alone, he worked with the experienced team, and the watches are fully manufactured there. Most of our readers will know that Comblémine, a company owned by Kari Voutilainen makes high-end dials but they also make, assemble and finish the movements there as well. The cases were made at Voutilainen & Cattin.
Tulloch T01 First Edition
The T-01 is the product of 3 years of research and development. With its two-tone dial, embossed numerals, and sublime powder-frosted finish, the T-01 offers a refined, contemporary take on an age-old concept from the roots of watchmaking history.
The movement was designed and built from the ground up in St-Sulpice, Val-de-Travers, Switzerland. It features a distinctive symmetrical architecture, with twin-barrels and eye-catching guilloché at the top of the movement, offset by a bespoke balance wheel suspended beneath a mirror-polished bridge at 6 o’clock. The finishing throughout is exquisite, including frosted bridges, black-polished components, and hand-made rounded bevels that catch the light at every turn.
The First Edition is limited to 50 numbered pieces in 18k red or white gold (25 of each, 40mm case), available in several dial colors including silver, slate gray, nickel, or a bold, luscious royal blue.
Key Features
- Two-tone powder-frosted dial available in sleek, refined colors (silver, slate gray, nickel and royal blue) that are neatly paired with 18k white gold sub-dials in silver or rhodium tones.
- Embossed numerals in 18k white gold, machined from a solid piece of white gold and mirror-polished by hand.
- Twin barrels with stunning hand-made guilloché, coupled in series to deliver optimal performance over a robust 4 day power reserve. The guilloché is made-to-measure from a selection of patterns for clients who wish to personalize their watch.
- Double-spoke gear train wheels in 18k white gold, finished with circular-grained faces and hand-polished bevels.
- Bespoke variable-inertia balance wheel with four 18k white gold timing weights, suspended within the movement by a single-arm black-polished bridge. Exclusive in-house design inspired by the compass rose.
- Symmetrical architecture, inimitable finishing. The movement features a contemporary two-tone finish in powder-frosted black-gold paired with frosted nickel. The finishing throughout is spectacular: hand-made rounded bevels and internal angles, hand-polished 18k gold chatons in the barrel bridges, black-polished components, perlage, straight-graining, circular-graining, and meticulously polished jewel sinks, screws and pins.
Inspiration: The Making of the T-01
The development of the T-01 began when Shane Tulloch first met renowned Geneva-based designer, Eric Giroud in late 2016.
“At the time we met, I had spent almost 4 years studying micro-mechanical engineering and developing concepts for watch movements. I had a vision for the watches I wanted to make but the meeting with Eric was the spark that really set things in motion. Eric is a brilliant and creative force, a genius at expressing ideas in tangible form. He starts from a position of wide creative freedom, and then begins to refine a concept, steadily narrowing an idea to its essence.”
Shane Tulloch
Over a period of several months, Shane and Eric began exchanging ideas and sketches, moving quickly to 3D models in order to prototype the concept – a contemporary reimagination of the precision chronometers used by watchmakers over the centuries to regulate timing. The design of the T-01 draws inspiration from the original regulator-style clocks and pocket watches made by historic figures such as Antide Janvier and Abraham-Louis Breguet. In this sense, the T-01 is linked to an age-old concept from the roots of watchmaking history, the original ‘instruments of time measurement’.
However, one look at the T-01 and you will immediately recognize that the watch also has one foot firmly placed in the present. With its innovative two-tone asymmetric dial, subtle powder-frosted finish, and design language that reflects modern precision measurement instruments, the result is a refined new watch with a unique identity of its own.
By the spring of 2017, with a well-refined concept in hand, Shane sought to build a powerhouse watchmaking team to bring the project to life. He reached out to Christophe Beuchat, an exceptional watchmaking engineer with decades of experience developing movements, who in turn introduced him to Kari Voutilainen.
Christophe had recently become Director at Comblémine SA, the high-end atelier for dial and finishing work owned by Kari. After an initial concept review, Kari and Christophe embraced the new project, and recruited a talented constructor, Stéphane Bépoix, to drive the development and project management effort.
“Christophe is an incredibly talented engineer with deep knowledge of all aspects of manufacturing and finishing, And you could not ask for a better person to mentor a new project than Kari Voutilainen. Kari came to every project meeting over the entire 3 year development effort, he was really engaged in the process. I have never met anyone who cares about high-level watchmaking and excellent craftsmanship as much as Kari.”
With the combined team in place, the first edition of the T-01 steadily took shape over an intense 3 year research and development effort.
Hands on review: forthcoming
The specifications look very interesting. And in our short email discussion with Shane Tulloch, we were impressed by his passion and the attention to detail. His choice of working partners are all familiar to us, as we know Eric Giroud and Kari Voutilainen as good friends. And that impressed us to.
We are in discussion with Shane Tulloch for a loaner watch to be sent to us for testing and a full hands-on review. Stay tuned for more news on this.
Tulloch T01 First Edition Specifications
Edition
First edition, 50 numbered pieces in 18k red and white gold.
Functions
Hours, minutes and seconds.
Case
18k red gold, 18k white gold.
Sapphire crystal glass and case-back with double-sided anti-reflective coating.
Case dimensions
Diameter 40.0 mm.
Case height: 9.7 mm.
Overall height: 11.0 mm.
Crown
18k red or white gold.
24 flutes, one for each hour of the day.
Water resistance
3 atm (30 meters).
Dial (two-tone)
Sterling silver dial with a powder-frosted finish, available in several colors (silver, slate gray, nickel, royal blue).
18k white gold sub-dials with embossed numerals mirror-polished by hand, finished with frosting in silver or rhodium tones.
18k white gold rings around the sub-dials, diamond-polished.
Hands
18k red or white gold, rounded and polished.
Flame-blued steel, hand-made and hand-polished.
Bracelet
Hand-stitched alligator bracelet (variety of colors available).
Buckle in 18k red or white gold.
Movement Specifications:
Type
Manual winding.
Dimensions
Diameter: 32.0 mm.
Height: 5.2 mm.
Number of parts
183 parts.
Number of jewels
27 jewels. Barrel bridge jewels set in 18k gold chatons.
Barrels
Two fast-rotation barrels coupled in series.
Hand-made guilloché decoration.
Power reserve
96 hours (4 days).
Balance wheel
Bespoke variable-inertia balance wheel (diameter 10.90 mm) with four 18k white gold timing weights. Design inspired by the compass rose.
Balance spring
Free-sprung balance spring (class 1 chronometer-grade) with Breguet overcoil and Phillips terminal curve.
Frequency
21,600 vph (3 Hz).
Gear wheels
Gear train wheels in 18k white gold, double-spoke design finished with circular-grained faces (cerclage) and hand-polished bevels.
Main plate
Main plate made from German silver, finished with powder-frosting, spotting (perlage) and black gold electroplating.
Bridges
Bridges made from German silver, finished with frosted nickel and powder-frosted black-gold, with rounded bevels and internal angles made and polished by hand (poli bercé), straight-grained flanks, and diamond-polished countersinks for the jewels and screws.
Balance bridge
Single-arm cantilevered balance bridge in stainless steel, rounded and black-polished by hand (poli noir).
Components
Mirror-polished crown wheel, winding pinion and click-wheel (poli bloqué). Chamfered and polished screws and pins. Other components straight-grained with polished bevels.
