Geneva based watchmaker Laurent Ferrier presents a new watch in his collection: the Sport Auto. A tribute piece to the founders car racing passion that goes back to the 1970s. On 9 June 1979, Laurent Ferrier and François Servanin participated at the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans race in their Porsche 935 Turbo. After racing 292 laps, 3,988.254 kilometers and 24 pit stops they made it across the finish line and were 3rd overall, just behind Paul Newman, who also as a passionate race driver participated in this years edition of Le Mans. After the race, it was Françoise Servanin who had the idea to make their own watch. Eventually, in 2008, Laurent Ferrier was founded. The Sport Auto pays tribute to their racing past and has been designed, how the two men would have imagined their ideal timepiece to wear during each of their races.
The case of the Sport Auto comes in grade 5 titanium and measures 41.5 mm in diameter. The watchmaker has chosen to add a contrasting bezel with softer lines, an evolution of their Square case, to the tonneau-shaped middle case. The Sport Auto case silhouette is both sporty and curvaceous. The bezel displays a circular satin-brushed finish that contrasts with its mirror-polished flanks as well as with the vertical satin-brushed middle case. A fully integrated metal bracelet has been added to this case, also in grade 5 titanium with vertical satin finish enhanced by polished flanks. The inclined sides of the centre links are also polished. The ball-shaped crown is for the first time screwed down and integrated into the middle case. The screw-down crown allows a water resistance to 120 meters.
The domed sapphire allows a bird’s eye view on the dial details. Its different shades of blue with opaline finish gives it a soft and powdery line. The white gold drop-shaped hands and indexes are coated with green Super-LumiNova. At 6 o’clock, a snailed small seconds dial is enlivened with powdered grey markers.
To support the legibility, a well visible grey minute track has been added. The logo and central cross also match this colour. A bevelled date window is placed at 3 o’clock. The main dial and small seconds sub-dial are kept in tone-on-tone.
Laurent Ferrier presents a brand new automatic calibre LF 270.01. The movement is entirely designed, decorated, assembled and adjusted in the Laurent Ferrier workshops. Suitable for a sports watch, it houses a Swiss lever escapement (less sensitive than the natural escapement) using an automatic winding system with an off-centre micro-rotor. The movement is fitted with an unidirectional ball bearing replacing the traditional ratchet system. The micro-rotor is equipped with a 950 platinum oscillating weight placed between the plate and bridge to ensure ideal stability and maximized winding power. Calibre LF 270.01 offers a power reserve of 72 hours.
The sapphire crystal case back is fixed with specific screws similar to those used in motorsport. Each LF 270.01 calibre requires more than 139 manual finishing operations. The bridge of the micro-rotor movement is meticulously decorated by hand; the angles are softened then finished with gentian wood or diamantine, while the surface is mirror-polished. The movement also features: internal angles, zinc-polished surfaces, satin-finishing and circular-graining – all executed by hand in the Laurent Ferrier workshops.
The new Sport Auto is available from today and costs 46.000 Swiss Franc (excl. taxes). The watch is not limited and now part of the permanent collection of Laurent Ferrier.
