Review: A Carrousel Complication from the Shanghai Watch Company
The whole dial rotates one revolution per hour
I received this watch as a gift and it looked pretty nice at first glance with the escapement visible on the dial. Only after I wound it and wore it for a few minutes that I discovered that the whole dial actually rotated! With some research on the web, I found out more information on this so-called “carrousel” complication, which is similar to a tourbillon in a sense. Historically, A. Lange & Sohne and more recently Blancpain had produced carrousel watches. Nowadays, only some Chinese watchmakers offer watches with this complication as a less complicated tourbillon. Mine is from the Shanghai Watch Company with the watch brand also named “Shanghai”. The reference number of this watch is 6103.
The Shanghai carrousel watch has an escapement that is located on the dial-side for viewing pleasure. The entire dial rotates in tandem with the minute hand, completing one revolution per hour. Please check out the photos below for illustration. We now see why the mechanism is aptly named “carrousel”. As the time is set, the minute hand may have a different location on the dial. One may choose where to position the minute hand with some planning and patience. There is a small sub-dial with a second hand near the escapement. The movement is manual wind with two mainspring barrels connected in series. The timing accuracy is -4.8 seconds per day measured over a few days in my tests.
The center disc of the dial is made of mother of pearl with a curved sundial pattern which shows different colors. The hour/minute/second hands and four screws on the dial are blue with lume in the hour and minute hands. In addition to the brand logo, we may see “Since 1955” and “One Hour Resolution” on the dial. The case back is transparent displaying the mainspring barrels but nothing more. The plate with mainspring barrels on the back doesn’t rotate, if you are wondering. The case is stainless steel with a case diameter of 44mm and a thickness of 14.5mm. The water resistance is rated as 5 ATM.
The original strap is made of black calf leather, which I replaced with a brown strap from Hodinkee/Horween.
The Shanghai carrousel watch is a beauty as the light reflects from its mother-of-pearl dial and I got compliments from folks seeing the piece on my wrist. It is fun to wear and watch as it makes the circular trip every hour slowly but surely.
This is a beautiful watch. I wish we could still find them.