Oskar Pascal. The world's hardest watch?

Text: Britta Rossander

The summer's first Swedish watch news is designed by two Swedish brothers, Jakob and Petter Paulin, in collaboration with the Swiss movement constructor Cyrano Devanthey. The manufacturing takes place in Fleurier, La Chaux-de-Fonds and in Genève. The brand is called Oskar Pascal and on 18 May the first two watches arrived in Sweden. Eqotime was the first media on site for touch and feel. And I can report that the watches sit well in the hand, feel substantial, are in stripped-back Scandinavian design and give me a slight sense of Porsche design made by IWC in the 1980s. 

The guys, Jakob and Petter Paulin, each have 20 years of experience within their respective fields (product development, mechanical engineering and brand building and product design) but they have never worked together before. Oskar Pascal is their pilot project and they have put their soul and heart into it, in their presentation it says: Oskar Pascal 480 Chrono Limited Edition is designed for those who defy the limits of what is possible.

Jacob built, before he had even turned twelve, a wind turbine at home on the plot. He also constructed a code lock for the door to his room and built himself an electric car. It has carried on like that and now results in what they call the world's hardest watch together with his brother.

– If you are obsessed you passed the stages extremely interested, nerdy and inspired long ago, says Jakob.  

Everything is mechanical, no charging or connectivity as far as the eye can see. Nice I think, as I am not so into connected watches. The guys have vacuumed Switzerland to bring out the best partners and Cyrano Devanthey is as mentioned behind the construction in the case and for the link that is special to fit the watches' ”needs”.

The world's hardest case?

The cases are 3D-printed in ZR01. A metal that is used by NASA to make mirrors on satellites and drill heads for the Nasa Mars Rover. The ultra hard case is polished eight times until the surface becomes mirror bright. Unlike other metals ZR01 has a disturbed atomic structure which gives unique strength and hardness. It is not magnetic and has an extreme hardness with its 483 on the Vickers scale. So four times higher than aircraft aluminium and three times stronger than stainless steel.

– It is a metal that is hard tough and strog and should not to be mixed up with the materials Rado used earlier which is synthetic diamond that can crack if you are unlucky and drop your watch, says Jakob who is the most knowledgeable about materials.

Movements from Vaucher

One of the best makers of mechanical movements, Vaucher Manufacturer Flerurier, is behind the movements that are put in. Getting your movements made by them is no easy thing. They scrutinise their possible future customers with a loupe and very intrusive questions during a long and drawn out process. Many are turned away but the Swedes managed to pass through the eye of the needle which in Hermès (the owners) fashion is very small.

– Something we are very happy about, says Petter as he carefully unpacks the watches.

Pod

 With the watches come, if you want, different Pods (easy to mix up with podcast). It is a mechanical addition that is placed like sort of a UTC dial á la the new-old Breitling Chronomat.

The Compass Pod is equipped with a Francis Barker SAS button compass with full military specifications for survival use. The compass is included as a standard NATO article specified by the British army. The compass is constructed to hold up in the toughest situations the second world war could offer. It is said to have been possible to swallow for captured military pilots who could then reuse it as a guide during escape. And it works well all the way down to –40 ° C.  

The Activity Pod is equipped with a mechanical activity tracker. A sapphire crystal protects the small dial with a daily activity scale from 0–100. For an individual goal it is calibrated on the back of the pod. This Pod is developed in collaboration with Jean-François Mojon at Chronode in Switzerland. One of the world's most experienced watchmakers for mechanical movements with a past as head at IWC and as constructor of movements for among others HYT, MB&F and Czapek. 

The links' system has been developed and tested by Oskar Pascal and consists of tailor-made links and inserts for Pods and leather straps. The straps can be changed by screwing with the tool that comes with the watch when it is bought.

– Our Pod system is built on a few basic principles: modularity, focus and user friendliness. No connection, no charging, no mobile app. A future-proof system where you can easily change and add new Pods, says Petter.

Automatic chronograph

The OP-X movement is an automatic chronograph with 50 hours power reserve, 189 parts, 28 jewels and 4 Hz (28’800 A/h). Hour and minute in the centre. Small seconds at 3 o'clock, 60 seconds counter in the centre, 30 minutes at 9 o'clock and 12 hours counter at 6 o'clock. Added to this is a date window at half past four. The big seconds hand is of carbon fibre which is very finicky in production.

– Since we wanted minimalist design we had to think differently and brought out, against all the advice we got, a hand in carbon fibre that weighs 0,002 g but that is stronger than one in steel. We have made it bright blue so that it despite its slender shape will be clearly visible.

The straps are hand-sewn in Genève in black or brown calfskin.

The guys say that since the mountaineer George Mallory answer to the question of why he wanted to climb Mount Everest was: ”Because the mountain is there”. So their answer to why they make the world's hardest watch is: ”because no one else has done it”. 

The watches cost from 38 500 € to 48 400 €. The watches are individually numbered and at present movements for 25 examples have been produced. Pod costs 3 150 – 3 650 €