The Champion Macassar

The Unnamed Society imagines the symbol of the world’s most popular sport with a hidden horological surprise.

The brand’s watchmaking roots come to full blossom in a 100% Swiss Made Haute Horlogerie concept entirely developed in-house to create a unique piece of interior art. The result: The Champion, a pendulette, or desk clock of exquisite refinement – with a playful twist – hidden in the elaborately crafted, visually arresting geodesic sphere that is the official football size.

Caliber ONE – The Unnamed Society’s first proprietary Haute Horlogerie clockwork caliber. This 205-component mechanical manufacture movement was imagined and designed entirely in-house. Throughout The Champion’s development, Caliber ONE has been continually refined in close concert with The Unnamed Society’s designers to achieve the effect of a mechanism levitating in space. Maillechort (German silver), brass and steel parts offer a stunning spectacle with their black, charcoal and nickel galvanic surface treatments, amplified with refined touches such as hand-finished bridge chamfers. 

The time, told in jumping hours and trailing minutes, is read from two discs at 6 o’clock. The clockwork, self-adjusting with a play compensation system, is manually set (on the right side of the goal, looking at the goalkeeper) and wound (on the left side of the goal, looking at the goalkeeper) with a square key winder. The power reserve is 155 hours. The layered depth brings out the caliber’s centerpiece, the screw balance wheel (often a trademark of high-end vintage pocket watches) framed by elegant (hand-beveled) and dynamic bridges. 

An invisible engineering marvel - The mechanism for opening the sphere, a feat of engineering, was developed specifically with this object in mind. At the soft press of a button, the hinged upper hemisphere silently and smoothly rises, actioned by two gas-filled cylinders concealed in the base, to clear the way for both easy player access and a full view of the wonders within. The system preserves the aesthetic of the whole, regardless of its open or closed state; the way it is designed provides room for the clock mechanism to operate with absolute reliability.

To finalise this complex structure, the expanse of tempered mineral glass allows a splendid view of the mechanism while affording it perfect protection; it also serves as miniature football pitch – albeit only for penalty kicks.

The Champion offers a constant interplay of history and high-tech, of serious watchmaking and lighthearted wonder.