A closer look at the Rexhep Rexhepi Chronomètre Contemporain II Diamant
For more than a decade, Rexhep Rexhepi has been honing his skills in the art of artisanal watchmaking – exciting, inventive, endlessly driven to excel. We covered how Rexhepi’s youth makes him one of the more interesting figures in an industry, at least historically, dominated by a much older demographic. Years later, the same rings true today.
While we can zoom in on all of the elements of Rexhepi’s creations to showcase his brilliance, one of the watchmaker’s more exceptional traits is the ability to change and evolve over time. There’s a significant difference between early AK-01 Tourbillon Monopusher timepieces and the more recent Chronomètre Contemporain timepieces. Launching with ultra-modern, highly complicated timepieces, Rexhep has leaned into more classical-looking, time-only watches.
A prime example of a recent surprise by the master watchmakeris the new edition of the RRCCII – the Chronomètre Contemporain II Diamant.
Something classic, something new
Usually, diamond or gem-set indices on a timepiece comes across as very formal— it’s an old-school aesthetic. Discrete precious-stone dials were popular during the mid-20th century in men’s dress watches. In the RRCCII Diamant, it feels like Rexhep is exploring that historical trend while trying to sort out how it might appear in a more modernized fashion. It doesn’t feel like a timepiece from the 1950’s – it’s way too modern with the layout of the dial as well as stunningly finished movement on full display through an open caseback. But it does have 1950’s opulent men’s dress watch vibes.
This version of the RRCCII retains the same sector dial, but removes the Roman numerals at 12, 2, 4, 8, and 10 o’clock. Replaced with baguette diamonds, the only alteration to the design of the dial comes by narrowing the border of the sector dial to fit the width of the diamonds.
The rest of the timepiece bears all of the evolutionary upgrades that Rexhep established with the launch of the original RRCCII in 2022. A beautifully symmetrical barrel bridge secures twin mainsprings, each driving different functions. One barrel supplies energy to the balance wheel, the beating heart of the watch responsible for keeping the time. And the other drives the jumping seconds, allowing the seconds hand to leap forward crisply in one-second steps without impacting the movement’s precision. This twin-train construction is novel and stands in contrast to the conventional, single-going train setup of the first edition. The all-new caliber also utilizes a freshly designed balance wheel that relies on regulating screws instead of circular weights. As a result, it boasts 60% more inertia than the balance of the first edition. Combined with a mainspring that delivers 40% more torque, the RRCC02 offers more stable timekeeping over longer periods.
With a helping hand from legendary case-maker, Jean-Pierre Hagman, the case of the RRCCII was also redesigned to perfect its overall proportions. It may appear to be the same as the RRCCI case, but none of the components are interchangeable between the two editions. The sapphire crystal features a more pronounced dome and the lugs are more elongated, providing a more graceful sweep downward. These are the micro-adjustments required when searching for iterative improvements from timepiece to timepiece .
The next step in the RRCC collection
A few closing notes on the RRCCII Diamant:-less about the watch and more about its significance. One, Rexhepi has gathered so much acclaim in the last 5-7 years that everything he creates is closely observed by the industry. There is a real influence that “big” indies have, especially in shaping the taste of the watch community. With that power comes great responsibility, and for us, there’s something exciting in seeing Rexhep take a step in an unexpected direction (even if it’s toward a classic, opulent men’s dress watch). Something as “small” as the addition of baguette diamond indices will likely create a ripple – new ideas for other watchmakers and brands while helping the watch community think favorably about something slightly outside of the increasingly common box of ultra-high-end, time-only watches.
Another thing that makes this timepiece exciting to us: It represents the work of an artist in practice. It was not easily predictable beforehand, but in retrospect, it seems very obvious that there is a clear aesthetic connection between the Chronomètre Contemporain and opulent men’s dress watches of the middle of last century. Without doubt, there’s a throughline between these timepieces and it’s exciting that Rexhep is making these connections in his workshop. A deep understanding of history leveraged to create something of your own defines the creation of every art form. Artists’ work entails playing with the past, bringing it into the future, and adding your own fingerprint to it. Alexander McQueen, the late fashion designer said it perfectly – ”everything’s been done before; it’s just the way you do it.” And we love the way Rexhep does it.