By 
MECHANICAL ENTROPY is the first piece from Fiona Krüger’s second collection of timepieces – the Chaos collection.
Fiona combined the seemingly contradictory notions of order and perfection associated with fine watchmaking versus disorder and chaos, which describe the passing of time according to the laws of physics. These contrasting but related ideas were the basis around the creation of her designs and the development of the brands first exclusive calibre: Chaos I.
Mechanical Entropy highlights the beauty of the mechanical movement: a minimalistic case with generous front and back openings and no dial means the whole of the graphic movement is on show. The movement itself is not fully skeletonised; the openings were drawn as explosions to highlight specific components, the look and position of each component carefully considered in order to create this 3-dimensional mechanical drawing: a snapshot of the passing of time.
THE MOVEMENT:
The gear train stretches out the length of the mechanism, displaying each wheel on the path towards the erupting balance wheel. The shattered hour and minute wheels have been pushed off-center and the bursting barrel of the mainspring is visible through the exploding main plate and bridges in the top right of the movement. As you wind up your watch the barrel turns, animating the eruption. Each distinctive section of the beautifully finished movement is delicately framed by various size explosions, building up in layers from the movement’s bridges to the mainplate.
The plates and bridges of the two-tone movement have a brushed finish with a black PVD coating, while the openings and the larger surface explosion on the font of the movement were created with laser technology and a galvanic colouring process
in either gold or rhodium.
HANDS AND INDICES:
Polished shard hour and minute hands hover above the movement: a large white lacquer hand indicates the hours, and a skeletonized hand with lacquer detail indicates the minutes. Metallic fragments on the underside of the sapphire mark the hours. These floating indices add to the feeling of depth.
THE CASE:
The 3-part watchcase acts as a subtle frame around the intricate movement. Its deceptively simple form follows the shape of the movement itself, with its crown at 12h the only symmetrical element to this otherwise unconventional watch. The case and crown have a mix of brushed and polished finishes, highlighting every angle and facet of their design.
THE NAME:
Mechanical Entropy is named after the concept of entropy used in physics to explain the second law of Thermodynamics, and subsequently the passing of time.
Entropy. n.:
Lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder The second law of thermodynamics says that entropy always increases with time.
Everyone has an intuitive understanding that time moves forward, that broken glass will not un-shatter, spilled milk will not un-spill. The scientific explanation of this is a concept called entropy, which explains that things always go from a state of order towards a state of disorder or chaos, but never the reverse. This is how we know time only moves forward (aka: the arrow of time).
Of course, if you delve deeper into the world of physics, we discover that one day your spilled milk may just un-spill – but we’ll leave that to the physicists to deal with!
About Fiona’s Chaos Collection
Answering the question “What is time?” has preoccupied the greatest minds in human history. Our obsession with time and our attempts to measure, control, surpass, and understand time have lead to some of the most profound scientific discoveries, poignant works of art, and of course fine watchmaking.
Discovering the answers to this question was the catalyst for the Fiona Krüger Chaos collection – brought to life through her collaboration with renowned movement manufacturer Agenhor and featuring Fiona Krüger’s first exclusive calibre: the Chaos movement.
