Martin Braun the founder of Antoine Martin was this week in Singapore to launch the brand's partnership with Yafriro as its local authorised dealer. Hosting a small dinner for collectors and media at St Regis Hotel, Martin Braun spoke at length how the new company was formed in 2011 and showcased at Baselworld 2013 the Slow Runner. The food served was impressive as expected from the six star hotel whose reputation for quality is thoroughly deserved.


The function room hosted the 20 guests and representatives of the authorised dealer and Antoine Martin. It was a congenial event where many who are unfamiliar to each other and to the brand found themselves enjoying the music food and the watches laid out for guests to inspect.

Martin Braun seen here in this collage speaking passionately about how after creating the brand Martin Braun, he partnered with a backer to create the new brand Antoine Martin for the purpose of creating watches not previously featured in the market. This was the motivation for the creation of the Slow Runner which has the largest balance wheel ever seen in a wrist watch. Running at only 7200 beats per hour the balance wheel is somewhat hypnotic to look at.


The watch seen here in stainless steel is priced in excess of SGD 30,000.  The aesthetic novelty of the large movement would be attractive for those who are enamoured by mechanical movements. The simplicity of this large balance wheel belies the difficult engineering problems that had to be solved.


Notably there are large rubies at the end of each spoke of the balance wheel which are probably to assist in dealing with the potential friction.


The delivery of this model is expected very soon. While the style and design of the new balance wheel may not be universally popular, there are some who liked the novel idea of a large pulsating balance wheel.
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