Introducing: The Horage Autark Tourbillon
The new Horage Autark Tourbillon is an audacious offering from a company that seeks to provide an incredible level of accessibility to watch collectors. Specifically, today, we’re talking about a Swiss-made micro-rotor tourbillon for under CHF 10,000. In a world where watch prices have gone mad, this sounds incredible. Let’s take a closer look.
For a relatively young company (with watches on the market since 2015), Horage already has an impressive track record. Its catalog consists of accessible watches with in-house movements that are far from run-of-the-mill. As an example, the brand has a self-produced micro-rotor caliber called the K2 as well as a tourbillon, the K-TOU. Prices, especially for the latter, manage to fall around or under the five-figure mark. Somehow, Horage is also able to achieve a Swiss content of 87% to 98%, so these watches aren’t reliant on low-cost country sourcing. Today, the brand seeks to continue its journey by offering the Autark Tourbillon, which will contain a rare type of caliber — a micro-rotor tourbillon.
The Horage Autark Tourbillon
The new Horage Autark Tourbillon is at least as much about the movement as the watch that surrounds it. We’ll start with the powerplant because I think it’s an impressive feat. On the Horage website, the company goes to great (and understandable) lengths to explain the challenges around creating a micro-rotor tourbillon. While many of us love micro-rotor movements due to their resulting slim case thicknesses, they have their drawbacks. Notably, they typically have smaller balance wheels. This doesn’t pair well with traditional tourbillons as they require far more power than a standard watch movement.
The new K-TMR caliber
The Horage solution to this quandary comes via the use of different materials. First, the micro-rotor is made of platinum (Pt950), which is incredibly dense. On the other side, to aid power usage, Horage has built a tourbillon cage out of titanium. Finally, the escapement and hairspring are made of silicon. The result is the K-TMR caliber. It will provide an impressive power reserve of at least 72 hours and is only 3.9mm thick. The brand sees the movement as the best combination of its in-house K2 and K-TOU calibers. From the specs alone, this sounds incredible. From a decoration perspective, customers can expect manual Côtes de Genève finishing and a gold bridge.
A sporty titanium watch with an integrated bracelet
Horage wisely chose its integrated-bracelet offering as the first model to receive the new K-TMR caliber. The result is the Autark Tourbillon, and from the initial photos, it’s compelling. The brand was very clear with us that the final production models may change to some degree. For example, the current prototypes show a power reserve indicator at 10 o’clock. It is uncertain if this will remain on the final design. Additionally, we have seen photos of red, blue, anthracite, and silver fumé dials. The color options aren’t fully decided, nor are the tones for the index surrounds (gold and/or silver). On the other hand, we do know several of the fixed points.
Horage’s Autark Tourbillon will use Grade 5 titanium for its case and bracelet. The latter measures 22mm wide at the case and tapers to 16mm at the clasp. The clasp is a push-button affair with a 10mm micro-adjustment range. Sapphire crystals are found on both sides of the case and water resistance is useful at 10 ATM. As far as the dimensions, this sounds like a highly wearable piece. The diameter is in the sweet spot of 39.5mm, and the lug-to-lug is 48.3mm. Also, the thickness sounds lovely at just 8.8mm.
Horage Autark Tourbillon — Availability and pricing
Horage will open pre-ordering on its website and claims that deliveries will take place in roughly 18 months. That’s a bit of a wait, but it should be incredibly rewarding once the watch is in hand. Pricing is set to start at CHF 9,990, which seems like an amazing value for everything that’s on the table. If that sounds good to you, you’ll want to get in early. The price increases by CHF 100 each week until it reaches a final retail price of CHF 14,990 in around 42 weeks’ time (after launch). I understand that some may want to know the final decisions on some of the cosmetic aspects before ordering, but I am impressed by the near-instantaneous feedback from the company on its site’s forum regarding such topics. Also, while no one can predict a brand’s future decades from now, Horage offers a serious level of transparency about its servicing program.
For me, I’d love a stealthy version without the power reserve indicator and even without the tourbillon on the dial. What a sleeper! Still, showing the movement isn’t bad either, and I understand that it’s the main attraction. There are a number of upstart brands today bringing a real challenge to the establishment. However, it’s difficult to think of another company that offers this much watch for the money — especially one that hails from Switzerland. I’ll certainly be following the Autark Tourbillon closely.
Let us know what you think of this project in the comments!
