tiffany & co. | the 250th hour

Some anniversaries call for fireworks, but this year, Tiffany & Co. has chosen to celebrate America’s 250th birthday by reviving a forgotten horological masterpiece from its archives. To mark the semi-quincentennial of the Declaration of Independence, the jeweller has unveiled a meticulously restored astronomical clock originally built for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Following an intensive seven-month restoration inside the house’s Geneva watchmaking workshops, the nearly 2.5-metre-tall timepiece has returned to New York, taking up permanent residence inside The Landmark flagship on Fifth Avenue. Constructed over two years under the direction of master watchmaker Joseph Lindauer at Tiffany’s former Union Square workshops, the Louis XV-style cabinet is an ornate marvel featuring floral marquetry, California mother-of-pearl inlays and 13 gilt-framed silvered dials. Beyond its decorative artistry, the mechanism houses an astonishing 21 complications that track civil time, perpetual calendar details and complex celestial movements. And as if that wasn’t impressive yet, the clock features a unique, custom-engineered display built solely to record the number of years since the United States declared independence. As the nation hits its 250-year milestone, the mechanical counter reaches that exact figure, literalising history through an engineering feat first spun over 130 years ago. Although... Read more » The post tiffany & co. | the 250th hour appeared first on Schön! Magazine.