News The Hublot Antikythera movement has joined the Archaeological Museum of Athens' collection alongside the remains of the original vessel, treasure and Antikythera mechanism, which have been reunited for the first time since their discovery in 1901.
On the 5th April 2012, attended by the Greek Minister for Culture and the Director of the Archaeological Museum of Athens, Nikolaos Kaltsas, the Hublot movement officially joined the National Museum's collection and will now be on display alongside the remains of the original mechanism. It is the first time that a museum of archaeology has invited a watch manufacturer to exhibit a movement as part of its collections.
Barely six months ago, at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, Hublot unveiled the movement it had developed to the public. It is still on display as part of the exhibition entitled «Antikythera, the enigmatic machine which arose from the depths of time» until December 2012, paying tribute to man's ingenuity and creativity.
At the behest of Jean-Claude Biver, Chairman of the brand, only four Antikythera movements would be created. Four, and no more. No commercialisation. The project has the purest of intentions. The first movement is already on display at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, the second has officially joined the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Athens, the third will be put up for auction to raise funds for the museum to conserve the original Antikythera mechanism. Finally, the fourth and last will be kept by Hublot at its manufacture as a souvenir of this great adventure.
Hublot also wanted to pay tribute to this masterpiece of Antiquity by reproducing the mechanism in miniature, resulting in a movement with the dimensions of a wristwatch, adding to it hours, minutes and a tourbillon escapement system. The perfect fusion between ancient and modern times. The various known indications of the Antikythera «machine» have been faithfully reproduced on this wristwatch, both on the front and the back. The primary face of the movement shows: the calendar for the Panhellenic games (including the ancient Olympic games, the precursor to our modern Olympics), the Egyptian calendar, the position of the sun and the movement and phases of the moon in the constellations of the Zodiac. On the back of the watch movement, the lunar/solar astronomical cycles can be found: Callippic, Metonic, Saros and Exeligmos.
The Antikythera mechanism is one of the most mysterious objects in the history of civilisation. Nowadays it is renowned and studied in great detail by the scientific community, but when it was first discovered back in 1901, its great historical and technical value remained a mystery to be uncovered. The very idea of a «machine» created in Greco-Roman Antiquity did not enter the conceptual framework of the specialists of the time. Thereafter, obscurantist statements from non-scientists claimed that the artefacts from Antikythera were almost extraterrestrial in nature, which only served to muddy the waters.
The fragments of this «machine» were only analysed in depth, taking a multidisciplinary approach, at the beginning of the 21st century. This work enabled the complexity of this extraordinary mechanism to be better understood. We now know that this «astronomical instrument» dates from the 2nd century BCE (circa 150 - 100 BCE,). Originally, it served as a «calculator»; its bronze gear trains were housed in a wooden box measuring approximately 33 cm x 18 cm and its case was sealed with two bronze plaques covered with inscriptions. Only 82 fragments of this «machine» still remain, some minuscule, and all corroded. A state-of-the-art tomography study (using an X-ray scanner) has provided images which can be used both scientifically and archaeologically, revealing numerous internal gear trains which are invisible to the naked eye, toothed wheels and new inscriptions hidden under the concretions.
In 2006 and 2008, the revelation by the scientific journal Nature of tomographic analyses performed on the fragments of the machine certainly fuelled the imagination of some less conservative watchmakers. Mathias Buttet, current Director of Research and Development at the Hublot manufacture, wanted to pay homage to the historical legacy which this first mechanical masterpiece represents. A technical tribute and a miniature recreation of the entire Antikythera mechanism as revealed by scientific analysis, crafted to fit perfectly on the wrist. It is also an homage to watchmaking, as it adds a new dimension to this astronomical calculator: that of a timepiece in its own right, capable of accurately measuring the time. It is the first time in the history of watches that a watchmaking development office has taken direct inspiration in this way from an «archaeological» mechanism dating back to Antiquity. It is also the first time that a watchmaking team has worked hand in hand with a team of scientists bringing together leading international figures in archaeology, epigraphy and historians of mechanical engineering.
April 17, 2012
