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Avoirdupois Force Majeure?

JimInOz
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Spotted an article on this on Time & Tide.

Not unattractive at first glance.
FM-H10.jpg


And the movement is very unusual (note these are only renders, I haven't found any actual pics of the movement).

FM-MH1.jpg



To quote their description....

FORCE MAJEURE BY AVOIRDUPOIS IS AN ULTRA-THIN, AUTOMATIC-WINDING MECHANICAL WRISTWATCH ORNAMENTED, ENGINEERED AND MANUFACTURED IN MANHATTAN. CONTAINING THE FIRST CONTEMPORARY IN-HOUSE MOVEMENT FROM THE U.S.A., CALIBER AVDP.130.LB COMPRISES ZERO SWISS OR FOREIGN COMPONENTS AND ALL COMPONENTS OF FORCE MAJEURE ARE OF DOMESTIC ORIGIN - INCLUDING THE HAIRSPRING.
 
JimInOz
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I'd welcome any feedback from US based members who have seen this and can offer comments.
It looks to be a very unusual caliber and being "all US construction, even the hairspring" is a bit of an eye opener for me.

I'm listening.
 
HamDoctor
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Interesting find. I would welcome locally made U.S. movements - the likes of Hamilton, Waltham and Elgin made great movements back in the day, it would be quite good to see movements coming again from a country that contributed so much to modern watchmaking.

The design fits right in with the other "porthole-obsession-pieces" like the PP Nautilus, but still has enough uniqueness about it to not be entirely derivative. (Did you know that "Hublot" literally means "porthole"? I stumbled across that the other day in a Watchfinder video...)

But why these idiotic names again? French, to signify the quality of American watchmaking... okay, I can live with that, but when the brand name literally is an archaic system of measurement from the 13th century (no relation to watches whatsoever) and the first model is called "Force Majeure" ("unforeseeable circumstances that prevent someone from fulfilling a contract"), I get downright suspicious. It sounds like a gaggle of fourteen-year-olds threw this together, thinking it sounded "cool & edgy" ... and when the project isn't realized and all the money is down the drain, they will point to the name and say "well, this happened".

I'm not saying "they must be scammers", but they are definitely guilty of "negligent use of language".
 
Geezer
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Looks cool.

However, just looking at the movement construction, I don't see how this movement would actually function. Where is the barrel? Where is most of the gear train and escapement? What's the giant wheel that you can see behind the balance wheel. There is no shock-absorber/cap jewel on the balance.
Edited:
 
STANDY
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There last hit was a lamp

IMG_7633.png


And

A “Grand Object Reflector” 😁😁😁


IMG_7634.png


followed by the “Petite Object Collector” 😗


IMG_7635.png
 
Deafboy
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The leap from designer furniture to in-house movements is quite ambitious.
Curious to see what will come of the project.
 
watchyouwant
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"Interesting find. I would welcome locally made U.S. movements - the likes of Hamilton, Waltham and Elgin made great movements back in the day, it would be quite good to see movements coming again from a country that contributed so much to modern watchmaking."

America contributed so much to modern Watchmaking ? That's a rather strange statement. After Pocket watches nothing innovative happend out of the USA. Military watches ? Plastic crap. The rest were rebranded swiss movements....
 
Modest_Proposal
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Beyond the unusual gear train, I notice no obvious shock protection and the regulator, if that's what the wavey steel bit is, has no adjustment marks.

I have seen 8 day pocket watches with massive, movement-wide spring barrels - so if that's what the large black wheel in the back is, I can understand it. But I don't see where the pallet and escape wheel are suppose to be with the black wheel (barrel?) so close to the balance assembly.
 
Geezer
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I think it looks like a free sprung balance wheel with adjustment weights on the balance.

Having said that, the movement looks like a fantasy to me.

Modest_Proposal Modest_Proposal
Beyond the unusual gear train, I notice no obvious shock protection and the regulator, if that's what the wavey steel bit is, has no adjustment marks.

I have seen 8 day pocket watches with massive, movement-wide spring barrels - so if that's what the large black wheel in the back is, I can understand it. But I don't see where the pallet and escape wheel are suppose to be with the black wheel (barrel?) so close to the balance assembly.
 
Aroxx
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STANDY STANDY
There last hit was a lamp

IMG_7633.png


And

A “Grand Object Reflector” 😁😁😁


IMG_7634.png


followed by the “Petite Object Collector” 😗


IMG_7635.png
😁😁::facepalm1:: Can't wait to see how the Tiny Time Teller works out.

The cynic in me is curious about it being "Manufactured in Manhattan" and not "Made in the USA". Very strict requirements to be made in the USA. Shinola learned that one the hard way and had to take it off their products and use Made in Detroit or whatever they use.

Also, the others make some very good points about how that movement will work.
 
p4ul
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Aroxx Aroxx
😁😁::facepalm1:: Can't wait to see how the Tiny Time Teller works out.



Merde de vache?
 
Scarecrow Boat
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Aroxx Aroxx
The cynic in me is curious about it being "Manufactured in Manhattan" and not "Made in the USA". Very strict requirements to be made in the USA. Shinola learned that one the hard way and had to take it off their products and use Made in Detroit or whatever they use.
I’m very curious* about this too, but as Jim stated above, Avoirdupois is claiming that everything is of domestic origin with zero imported components:
“COMPRISES ZERO SWISS OR FOREIGN COMPONENTS AND ALL COMPONENTS OF FORCE MAJEURE ARE OF DOMESTIC ORIGIN - INCLUDING THE HAIRSPRING.”

*Specially considering they have zero watchmaking history and their first go at it will be a 3.3mm slim movement?
IMG_8659.jpeg


https://avoirdupois.com/forcemajeure/
https://avoirdupois.com/forcemajeure/
  • MOVEMENT SPECIFICATIONS
  • -
  • CALIBER..............AVDP.130.LB
  • CADENCE................17,280VPH
  • MAINSPRING STORAGE.....60 HOURS
  • WINDING.22K GOLD ROTATING MASS
  • DIAL...................INTEGRAL
  • REHAUTE................INTEGRAL
  • MAINSPRING BARREL.......ORBITAL*
  • TIME SETTING....PAUSED BALANCE
  • JEWELS....462 SAPPHIRE SPHERES*
  • *PATENT PENDING


  • $12,950.00
 
Watch my Whisky
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watchyouwant watchyouwant
"Interesting find. I would welcome locally made U.S. movements - the likes of Hamilton, Waltham and Elgin made great movements back in the day, it would be quite good to see movements coming again from a country that contributed so much to modern watchmaking."

America contributed so much to modern Watchmaking ? That's a rather strange statement. After Pocket watches nothing innovative happend out of the USA. Military watches ? Plastic crap. The rest were rebranded swiss movements....

Without American demand, the watch market wouldn’t be what it is today.
 
Tony C.
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Why didn't they just call it the Neo-Nautilus? 😁

neoN9.png


And after all of that effort, those hands are the best design that they could come up with? 🤦
 
HamDoctor
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watchyouwant watchyouwant
"Interesting find. I would welcome locally made U.S. movements - the likes of Hamilton, Waltham and Elgin made great movements back in the day, it would be quite good to see movements coming again from a country that contributed so much to modern watchmaking."

America contributed so much to modern Watchmaking ? That's a rather strange statement. After Pocket watches nothing innovative happend out of the USA. Military watches ? Plastic crap. The rest were rebranded swiss movements....

Maybe we differ in our definition of "modern". I was referring to mass manufacturing since the mid-1800s (which the Swiss copied), and companies like Hamilton ("the American Patek"). Yes, the glory days are gone and more than 60 years in the past, but American watchmaking used to be something else, like British watchmaking even before that.

I like the quirks and specialties that come with having more places with a healthy watch industry. Thank the heavens for Japan, otherwise all we would have is Switzerland (okay, and Germany, and France...).
 
Aroxx
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watchyouwant watchyouwant
"Interesting find. I would welcome locally made U.S. movements - the likes of Hamilton, Waltham and Elgin made great movements back in the day, it would be quite good to see movements coming again from a country that contributed so much to modern watchmaking."

America contributed so much to modern Watchmaking ? That's a rather strange statement. After Pocket watches nothing innovative happend out of the USA. Military watches ? Plastic crap. The rest were rebranded swiss movements....
I'm no historian, this info comes from a recent series I watched on Hodinkee about American watch making. My understanding is the Americans introduced modern mass production techniques to the watch industry. That is, the processes everyone is using today. I'd say that's quite a large contribution.
 
Bruce235
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If it is all about "'merica!" why use French words in the name and model? Curios marketing.
 
Larry S
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If this is true, they benefit from all the work of RGM, Weis etc to bring back some form of infrastructure to support watchmaking. Almost $13K from a furniture store? Hmmmm.
 
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