羅傑杜彼,極罕有,極精細及非常吸引,銅自動上弦腕錶,配18k金雕刻微繪12生肖雕像及琺瑯錶盤,“Excalibur 12生肖”,編號5/12,型號DBEX0738,約2019年製
Excalibur Chinese Zodiac A very exclusive limited edition of only 12 pieces made to special order and involving very close collaboration with the client. The present watch is number 5 of the edition and the first example ever to be offered at auction. Imagined and designed by an important Chinese collector and his associates as a highly personal vision and created by one of Switzerland’s finest watch houses, it is arguably the ultimate Chinese market wristwatch. This time, in place of King Arthur and his knights, the little sculpted figures are the different animals of the Chinese zodiac modelled after the twelve bronze animal heads at the Zodiac water clock Fountain of the Yuanmingyuan in Beijing. The famous Zodiac Fountain water clock consisted of twelve bronze Chinese zodiac statues. Thought to have been designed by Giuseppe Castiglione for the Emperor Qianlong, the statues would spout water to tell the time, a different animal fountainhead would spray water every two hours, counting the passing of the day, and all the fountains would spray together at noon. The bronze-cast heads of the stone statues and other treasures were looted during the destruction of the Old Summer Palace by British and French expeditionary forces in 1860 during the Second Opium War. Because of the country's fascination with these particular relics they have been among the most visible examples of attempts to repatriate Chinese art and cultural artifacts. Five of the heads are still missing today. In the words of the commissioning client: "The Yuanmingyuan Zodiac animal heads have a special meaning for every Chinese. Our family has no other agenda, we only want to symbolise the restitution of the national treasure that China lost in the past by inviting the world's best watch company and watchmakers to participate in the production of this animal head watch. The watch represents a symbolic reunion of the 12 zodiac animals, national treasures and invaluable cultural icons of the Chinese.” A great deal of contemplation and attention to detail drawing from historic references contributed to the watch’s design: -The Chinese characters for the 12 hours (each Chinese hour is 2 normal hours) on the case back are written by calligraphy master and seal carver Ma Yi Zhao who is from the Wen Zhou province of China, the same province as one of the partners who designed the Chinese Zodiac watch is from. -The Chinese hours start with the rat for 11pm - 1am - but the horse for 11am-1pm was used for 12 o'clock on the dial because that is the “hour” for noon which is the brightest time of the day and when the “yang” of yin and yang is at its most powerful. -The centre is divided into 24 sections representing the 24 hours and the 24 Chinese solar terms -The bricks on the chapter ring symbolises the Great Wall and the green enamel pattern on the dial is taken from the engraving of the balcony in Yuanmingyuan. -The movement rotor is held in the claws of a "flying" dragon rotating in perpetuity. 此錶由一中國收藏家向品牌特別訂製,共打造了十二枚。設計主題為昔日圓明園海晏堂大水法(十二獸首水鐘噴泉)。錶盤上以十二生肖獸首雕像為小時刻度,獸首造型為大水法之微縮版,以人手精製,只有幾毫米高但卻包含原設計所有細節,獸首底部的雕刻概念來自長城,錶盤中央之綠色琺瑯配黃金紋理取材自圓明園陽台之台階,二十四分隔的錶圈除代表每天二十四小時外,也代表中國的二十四節氣。十二時位置之獸首以馬代鼠,因馬代表午時,為每日陽氣最盛之時,正好取其正能量之意。錶背之十二時辰篆刻出自温州名書法家之手,機芯之自動擺陀為巧妙設計的騰龍,以龍爪牢抓擺陀中央,並不斷轉動為機芯上發條。此錶極富中國特色,錶主透過與品牌的緊密合作,旨在重現昔日圓明園海晏堂大水法的宏偉景象,並像徴性地把當年流失的國寶尋回。