Honouring the innovators of photography & watchmaking

The Lensman series is inspired by photographic and watchmaking innovators, the legendary creators who produced iconic images and timepieces that would shape generations to come. From their developments, future creatives would be able to go forth and carve out their own moments in history.

Both photography and horology pioneers such as the inventor of the 35mm camera Oskar Barnack and Abraham-Louis Breguet, inventor of the tourbillon have legacies that inspired future creatives and watchmakers. Lensman 1 is the first of the Lensman series and pays tribute to the innovators that have brought us all a little closer to the moment.

Horage is passionate about horology, of course, but members of our team are also photographers as are so many in our community.

The challenge was to not just create a photography-inspired watch but to take the core attributes of photography and watchmaking and integrate details that resonate with both communities. Boiling down the essence of two very broad and technical product categories, such as cameras and watches, made for a very challenging exercise.

The overarching goal was to deliver a watch that upheld the essence of photography while not compromising on the performance of what our watchmaking engineers had worked so hard to achieve.

Marketing Director Landon Stirling and movement engineer Markus Lindstedt were outspoken in their desire to bridge the worlds of horology and photography. Markus as the gearhead with an understanding of the technical performance of both camera and watch movements put pen to paper and drummed up some very intriguing proposals. Landon as a professional photography purist contributed with his approach to photo creation. Together with Horage founders  Tzuyu and Andi, the team formulated the first design for the project based on Horage's K-TOU tourbillon calibre; LENSMAN 1.

Improving the accuracy of time should be at the core of any mechanical movement maker. Photography is much the same in that a camera should improve image capture. We looked to Oskar Barnack who designed the first commercial 35mm camera. It truly ushered in the age of modern street photography with a compact, intuitive design. The Lensman 1 honours this achievement with design elements of the modern 35mm rangefinder and lens details on the case and dial. The case back also paraprhases a quote by Henri Cartier-Bresson, a pioneering French candid photographer who embraced 35mm film cameras and inspired generations of street photographers.

Mechanical 35mm cameras can last a lifetime with proper care and can be passed down to younger generations, a testament to their mechanical quality. The same is true for mechanical watches. Images captured with a camera provide a moment in time that can be invaluable, but the camera itself, just like a watch, also carries memories and nostalgia for the owner and future generations. You simply cannot put a price on either.

At 41mm in diameter and a thin 10.3mm profile, the case is stunningly proportioned. The lug-to-lug of 49mm combined with the case dimensions make for a very comfortable fit for the majority of wrists. Grade T5 titanium (Ti 6AI-4V), as used in the Lensman 1 case and crown is a premium titanium alloy comprised of 90% titanium, 6% aluminium and 4% vanadium.  This Grade 5 titanium is very lightweight and the reduction in case weight makes for wonderful wearing comfort on the wrist. Another important detail of working with T5 is the ability to achieve an incredible polish with a pure and clean metallic look. Brush decoration work with T5 is superior over T2, which is the typical titanium used by other watch brands.  The resulting case finish on Lensman 1 is nothing short of impeccable.

The aesthetic of the case is inspired by a manual focus camera lens. The body is laser etched with the markings of an f/0.95 aperture ring. An f/0.95 lens is rare and anything under f/1.0 is among the fastest lenses in the world. By fast, it means it allows the most amount of light through the lens to the camera, making it more capable of exposing subjects in lower light. A byproduct of this big aperture is the beautiful shallow depth of field called bokeh which is often found in portrait photography. Shallow depth of field is a narrow/shallow area of an image that is sharp with the rest out of focus, the quality and structure of the out-of-focus area is bokeh. A shallow depth of field draws your eye to what is in focus, the subject, just like a tourbillon cage pulls your eye into the movement. To round out the look of the case is a fixed bezel that‘s reminiscent of a lens‘ focus ring.

The tourbillon is among the most influential of complications that demonstrate the true mechanical prowess and artisanship of a brand. Invented in 1795, it brings the balance wheel and escapement together in a rotating cage. The purpose is to counteract the forces of gravity by constantly shifting the position of these regulating elements, ultimately improving accuracy. The invention of the tourbillon was not to create an elaborate decoration as is the case with many watchmakers today, but rather to be a "tool" to improve movement performance. The complexity and difficulty to produce a tourbillon fascinate both watchmakers and enthusiasts alike. 

Horage is one of very few independents in modern times to wholly develop their own tourbillon.

Reducing a tourbillon's weight and optimizing moving parts is the "pièce de résistance" for movement engineers. As performance watchmakers, our team has engineered the K-TOU calibre with this in mind. At just 0.29 grams the titanium tourbillon cage is one of the lightest cages in the world. It's a marvel of micro-mechanical engineering considering that 34 parts comprise its thin 3.4mm and 11.6mm diameter. 

Dimensions / 41mm diameter, 10.3mm thin, 49mm lug-to-lug, 22mm lug width

Movement / K-TOU hand-wound flying tourbillon, titanium cage at 0.29 grams and 3.4mm thin, anti-magnetic silicon escapement inclusive of anchor, escape wheel and hairspring, chronometer accuracy at -4/+6 seconds per day, 19 jewels, 3.5 Hz (25,200vph), 120+ hour power reserve (5 days), blacked out aesthetic on movement main plate. Blued seconds indicator screw on tourbillon cage.

Case / Grade T5 titanium - hand polished and brushed, laser etched with camera lens aperture on case profile, fixed bezel inspired by camera lens focus ring.

Case back / Exhibition double layer anti-reflective sapphire crystal, engraved with "One's head, one's heart and one eye on the same axis."

Crown / Screw-down Grade 5 titanium with black onyx inset stone.

Dial  Crystal / Domed sapphire with multi-layer internal anti-reflective coatings, round cyclops magnifying lens over flying tourbillon aperture at 6 o’clock.