The New Jacob & Co. Astronomia Régulateur Has a Floating 3D Architectural Movement

Famous for creating some of the most intricate and mind-boggling timepieces in the world, Jacob & Co. puts forth watches that spark debates. Over the years, the unique design of the Astronomia collection has inspired a series of versions that feature a range of technical improvements and backdrop sceneries. Seems Jacob and Co. has now come up with another winner: the Astronomia Régulateur (Ref. AR200.40.AA.AA.A), made of rose gold and with a movement that floats in a 3D stage. It may be noted here that just a few days ago, the timepiece maker released two new Astronomia Revolution timepieces in white and black gold. 

Watch regulators play a crucial role in the precision and accuracy of mechanical watches. They are an essential part of a watch's movement, allowing for adjustments to be made to the timekeeping rate. The regulator is part of a watch's escapement mechanism, which controls the release of energy from the mainspring to advance the watch's gears and hands at a controlled pace. Specifically, the regulator adjusts the effective length of the balance spring (also known as the hairspring), which in turn controls the oscillation speed of the balance wheel.

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The most recent of Jacob & Co.'s carousel movement series is the Astronomia Régulateur. It has a rotation speed of 60 seconds and carries three arms. One arm is for the flying tourbillon and the other two are for time display, both composed of a translucent blue material and devoted to the minutes and hours. The flying tourbillon makes one rotation per minute. Being a part of the vertical platform, it has a second rotation axis, also rotating in one minute. It is, therefore, a double-axis flying tourbillon. 

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The subdials would mostly be unreadable because they revolve with the platform. Differential mechanisms mitigate this by rotating the dials in the opposite direction, guaranteeing that they stay upright at all times. This unique regulator's crucial seconds indication is read by a golden hand that emerges from the base of the movement and rotates counter-clockwise in 60 seconds on a blue translucent ring.

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The platform of the brand-new edifice rotates at a pace of 60 seconds. To sustain the extraordinary force needed for its rotation, the movement needs to store a large quantity of energy. Consequently, to balance the force applied by the mainsprings, Jacob & Co. has created a constant force mechanism. An intermediate spring that reloads six times per second makes up this system. Initially, to improve accuracy, the balancing wheel's energy collected is distributed evenly using a constant force. This is essential to maintaining a steady, even rotation for the platform of the movement at a constant pace every minute.

Limited to 250 pieces and sized at 43 mm, the Astronomia Régulateur is crafted from 18 ct rose gold and has a single-block sapphire caseband. The base of the dial is polished, while the subdials are domed, made of blue polycarbonate and has white printed scales. Both subdials have dauphine red gold hands. The timepiece has a vertical rotating central platform, which does a clockwise rotation in 60 seconds; the off-centred subdials rotate counter-clockwise in 60 seconds and come with two differentials; and the flying tourbillon takes 60 seconds to rotate. The watch is powered by Calibre JCAM56, a manual winding movement with a 48-hour power reserve. The timepiece is finished on a blue alligator leather strap with an 18 ct rose gold deployment buckle.