Henri Grandjean & Cie is leaning fully into spectacle with the latest versions of the Magician Atrivm.
The independent marque’s mysterious triple-axis tourbillon now arrives in red and green sapphire crystal cases, pairing a deliberately futuristic architecture with traditional Grand Feu enamel work.
It’s a watch built less around discretion than mechanical theatre, yet the details reach back to the marine chronometer legacy of Henri Grandjean, the Le Locle watchmaker whose name has been revived for contemporary haute horlogerie.
At a glance
- Henri Grandjean & Cie has introduced the Magician Atrivm in red and green sapphire crystal cases.
- The watch features a mysterious triple-axis tourbillon mounted on transparent sapphire discs to create a floating effect.
- Each version is limited, available by private viewing appointment only, and priced at CHF 990,000 excluding taxes.
A floating tourbillon in a coloured sapphire stage
The Magician’s central idea is simple to understand and extremely difficult to execute.
At 9 o’clock, three concentric tourbillon cages rotate at different speeds, yet the mechanism appears to hover without any visible connection to the movement.
That illusion comes from transparent sapphire crystal discs, which replace the usual visual cues of bridges or supporting pillars.
The innermost cage completes a rotation every 10 seconds, the middle cage every 18 seconds, and the outer cage every 60 seconds.
Weight matters enormously in this kind of construction, so the cages use lightweight materials to limit energy loss and protect chronometric stability.
The first cage is made from magnesium, the second from titanium, while the outer cage combines titanium and steel.
Red and green sapphire reshape the Magician Atrivm
The two new Atrivm references follow earlier blue and transparent white sapphire interpretations, but the stronger colours give the watch a very different presence.
At 45mm across and 16mm thick, this isn’t a small watch, though the transparent architecture softens the case visually by allowing light to move through it.
The red and green sapphire cases also echo the floating quality of the tourbillon, making the entire watch feel more like an exposed mechanism suspended inside a coloured crystal vessel.
Both models use sapphire crystals with anti-reflective coating on the front and back, and water resistance is rated to 30 metres.
Grand Feu enamel meets marine chronometer cues
The Atrivm concept isn’t purely contemporary.
Henri Grandjean & Cie has added traditional Grand Feu enamel to the off-centred hours and minutes display at 3 o’clock and to the plate around the tourbillon.
The enamel is matched to the case colour in either red or green, with a mottled surface that gives the dial a more hand-worked character.
The open chapter ring reveals the layered dial construction, including a date wheel and a star-shaped date indicator with an integrated index below.
Above the chapter ring, a 24-hour day and night display uses sun and moon medallions, a small poetic flourish inside an otherwise highly technical composition.
The silver Breguet-style Arabic numerals and spade-shaped hands are deliberate nods to 19th-century watchmaking, connecting the modern brand to Grandjean’s chronometry background.
Calibre 1831 and the Noiraigue workshop
Inside is the hand-wound calibre 1831, a movement conceived, developed and assembled by Henri Grandjean & Cie at its workshop in Noiraigue in the canton of Neuchâtel.
The movement measures 38.5mm in diameter and 12.1mm thick, with 218 components and 29 jewels.
It runs at 3Hz, or 21,600 vibrations per hour, and uses two barrels for a 40-hour power reserve.
Finishing is treated as part of the watch’s identity rather than an afterthought, with Geneva stripes, straight-grained flanks, mirror-polished chamfers and circular-grained wheels executed by hand.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Henri Grandjean & Cie |
|---|---|
| Model | The Magician Atrivm Red Sapphire and Atrivm Green Sapphire |
| Case size | 45mm diameter, 16mm thickness, 45.8mm lug-to-lug |
| Case material | Red or green sapphire crystal |
| Water resistance | 30 metres |
| Dial | Red or green Grand Feu enamel chapter ring with silver Breguet-style numerals |
| Complication | Mysterious triple-axis tourbillon, date, and 24-hour day and night indication |
| Movement | Hand-wound in-house calibre 1831 |
| Frequency | 3Hz, 21,600vph |
| Power reserve | 40 hours from two barrels |
| Components | 218 components, 29 jewels |
| Tourbillon rotation | 10 seconds, 18 seconds and 60 seconds across three axes |
| Strap | 22mm white alligator strap |
| Availability | Limited, private viewing by appointment only |
| Price | CHF 990,000 excluding taxes |
For collectors drawn to independent watchmaking at its most architectural, the Magician Atrivm Red Sapphire and Green Sapphire are unapologetically niche propositions.
They combine a dramatic mechanical illusion, rare sapphire case construction and old-world enamel craft in a way that feels closer to a horological installation than a conventional complicated wristwatch.
