Christophe Claret Rolls the Dice for a Triple Win with the Amazing 21 Blackjack Watch
Posted in articles&news on Apr 18th, 2012 No Comments »
Christophe Claret has rolled the dice for a triple win with his amazing 21 Blackjack Watch. Christophe Claret, in keeping with his innovative genius, has created yet a third exclusive watch that is a mini-casino just at arms length. Christophe Claret has captured the spirit of gambling all in one watch and it is all about games of chance.
Dice – First it is loaded with dice! That’s right – dice. There are two 1.5 mm functional miniature dice housed inside a clear cage or capsule located at 4 o’clock, located on the side of the watch case and ready for any takers wanting a quick game of craps. Hope abounds for luck is a lady tonight.
Roulette – Flip the watch over to find a functional roulette wheel encased by a sapphire crystal. While the roulette wheel does not have an actual ball it does have an indication mark to point out the winning number (numbered from zero to 36) along with a small winding rotor to set the wheel in motion. Place your bets down because once the wheel is in motion – no more bets!
Blackjack – However, the sultan of card games is none other than Blackjack. The technical complications that went into integrating Blackjack into this timepiece are absolutely astounding.
There are two sets of card display windows, one for the dealer the other for the player. At the top of the watch dial are three windows (one open, two closed by shutters) for the dealer and just below these windows is a plaque that reads “Dealer must draw on 16 and stand on 17” – a long standing rule in the game of Blackjack. Located at the bottom of the watch dial is the second set of six windows (2 open, 4 closed by shutters) for the player.
Initiating the game – A push-piece located at 9 o’clock initiates the face-up display of the three of cards, one for the dealer and two for the player. Should the player choose to hit he merely has to press the push-piece inscribed “Player” located at 8 o’clock which will in turn sound a bell to signify a hit opening a third shutter window to display another card for a total of three visible cards for the player. The dealer will also press a push-piece inscribed “dealer” located at 10 o’clock opening one of his two remaining shutters to reveal at the sound of a bell his card. At this point both dealer and player count their cards to determine the winner. Possible card combinations for the dealer are 216 with 4,096 possible card combinations for the player, for 884,736 total ways to win or lose.
The 21 Blackjack timepiece is exceptionally entertaining; the complexity to automate each game required meticulous attention to detail in both its design and assembly. 21 Blackjack is by far Christophe Claret’s most notable masterpiece to date.
This timeless masterpiece contains Manufacture Calibre BLJ08 movement, a self-winding COSC chronometer-certified movement consisting of 501 part and two barrels with an impressive power reserve of approximately 72 hours. It operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour for time accuracy. The dial is available in beautiful black onyx or titanium and grey sapphire with gold/ceramic or black PVD/ruby hour/minute hands. Select models have different casino plaque designs displaying card games, Joker or Las Vegas themes. It also bears Christophe Claret’s new logo crown available in titanium or titanium/gold with a ceramic or ruby cabochon on the tip of the crown. It also has a black alligator leather wrist strap.
Christophe Claret’s 21 Blackjack has raised the bar successfully manufacturing such diverse technological automaton complications in one watch that not only delivers time, but entertains with three astounding games of chance – making its owner one lucky ace. It would stand to reason that it is a limited-edition timepiece – six models with 21-pieces each.
If you are relatively new to the watch collecting world and have only recently felt the warm embrace of this specific addiction then the concept of a special jewellery box that coddles and gently rotates your watches in your absence may seem odd or even unnecessary. To the contrary, the idea of a watch winder is actually both simple and practical, much like a garage for a exotic car, a watch winder provides the best care possible for your watches and ensures they are ready for you to enjoy. Wolf Designs is one of the most respected watch winder manufactures in the business with nearly 180 years worth of experience making watch winders and designing their modules to meet the needs of hobbyists, collectors and aficionados alike. Naturally, we jumped at the chance to spend a couple of weeks using a Wolf Designs Roadster Triple with our humble (and ever changing) collection of watches. The Triple, as the name suggests, allows you to simultaneously wind three watches while still providing room for the storage of an additional six timepieces. The Roadster Triple sits roughly in the middle of Wolf Designs winder line up which ranges from single watch winders to the eight winder Viceroy or the modular 4.1 series of winders.
