21 BLACKJACK BY CHRISTOPHE CLARET

Last Basel Fair we witness the launch of an amazing piece, the 21 blackjack by Christophe Claret, Claret  was born in the Lyons area of France and studies watchmaking in Geneva before beginning his carrier as an antique watch restorer, in 1989 he founded his company with another two masters of the watchmaking industry, Giulio Papi and Dominique Renaud, and for the next 20 years he spent his time working for the most prestigious  brands and high-end clientele.

In 2009, the 20th anniversary of his company, Christophe Claret introduced the DualTow, an extraordinary mechanical showcase of his skill. This first complete watch led to a second, the Adagio, and now a third – the 21 Blackjack.

This last masterpiece the 21 blackjack arrives with the process of creating a new watchmaking style: the interactive watch, it contains 3 different casino games. To start there is Dice. This game features a pair of miniature dice, 1.5 mm on each side – and incidentally, perfectly legible – which are located in a cage at the 4 o’clock position on the side of the case and, visible through a sapphire crystal, offering the oldest game of chance. When shaken in their tiny capsule, the dice can be used by one or more players, for a game of craps, for example.

Next, roulette: on the back of the watch the winding rotor, which is visible through a glareproofed sapphire crystal, serves as the roulette wheel. Once set in motion by one or two undulatory movements, the wheel turns for a few moments before stopping. “Place your bets! The bets are down! No more bets!” Here there is no ball, however, but an arrow inlaid into the winding rotor that stops at one of the 37 numbers (from 0 to 36) applied to an internal flange. “Eight, black, even and low!” Your lucky number? If it were, a special key would have been used to place it opposite a green emerald set into the back – a rather extraordinary custom feature for those who believe in their lucky number. Superstition has its reasons that Reason cannot know…

And finally the BlackJack Game. Until now, no one has ever had the idea and the ability to adapt this complex Blackjack card game to an automaton watch.  On the lower part of the dial, between 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock, the player’s four cards appear in windows. Two are visible, the other two hidden by shutters. On the upper part of the dial are three additional windows for the dealer’s cards, one of which is visible, the other two also hidden by shutters.

Playing could not be easier! A pushpiece at 9 o’clock arms a spring that triggers, all at once, the seven discs on which the cards are printed. Made of solid gold to impart the ideal weight and inertia, these discs each rest on a double set of ceramic ball bearings. After a few seconds, they are randomly stopped by a jumper-spring. The extremely delicate symbols and numbers on each card are made with successive transfers, requiring that they be fired in a dedicated oven once for each colour.

At this stage of the game, three cards are face up: two of the player’s cards and one of the dealer’s. The next step is delightful. If the player is going to hit, he presses the pushpiece at 8 o’clock, engraved with the word “player.” One of the shutters then opens, revealing his card, and at the same time, in a supremely refined touch, a bell rings to indicate “hit.” Each time a shutter opens, whether for the player or the dealer, the note will sound. The striking mechanism’s hammer and bell are visible through a side window at 2 o’clock.

When the player’s turn is over, the dealer can take a turn, always following the strict rule “Dealer must draw on 16 and stand on 17” – a rule which is even written out on a small plaque affixed to the dial in one version of the 21 Blackjack! The dealer operates the pushpiece marked “dealer” at 10 o’clock to open one of the two shutters. Now all that remains is to count up the points and determine the winner. The dealer has some 216 different card combinations; the player no less than 4096; for a total of 884,736 ways to win or lose.

This Manufacture Calibre BLJ08 is a self-winding COSC chronometer-certified movement comprising 501 parts and two barrels ensuring a power reserve of about 72 hours. In addition to the casino games and chime, it displays hours and minutes. To ensure extreme accuracy, it operates at a frequency of 4 hertz, or 28,800 vibrations per hour.

The price:  from 178,000.00 CHF up to 210,000.00 CHF depending on the case material

Hope you liked this one, we live you with the official video for this piece, amazing!