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High voltage: BWD X BB Zenith El Primero Superconductor

Bamford Watch Department and Black Badger team up to create a new innovative timepiece made from superconducting materials

Watches & Jewellery 12 Aug 2020

WD X BB Zenith El Primero Superconductor

The Bamford Watch Department and jeweller Black Badger are united by a bold and daring spirit, and for their latest collaboration the duo have harnessed the power of electricity to create a new watch that’s just as high-tech as the name suggests.

The BWD X BB Zenith El Primero Superconductor immediately captures attention with the unique honeycomb pattern on its case. However, rather than being achieved through any form of etching or engraving, this distinctive design is down to the choice of superconducting material. Here filaments of niobium metal are housed within copper; when exposed to a special acid, the copper is eaten away leaving the niobium structure untouched, thus revealing a dramatic, skeletonised effect. The material is then machined down and lightly acid-etched to make the honeycomb pattern stand out further.

Such superconducting materials have been used by Black Badger in its jewellery designs for several years, and have now been applied to this Zenith timepiece powered by the watchmaker’s renowned and precise El Primero movement. Limited to 20 pieces, the watch is available for pre-order from 17 August.

£14,500; bamfordwatchdepartment.com, blackbadger.se