John Ermel, Cyclos Managing Director

Cyclos Watch showed their first production pieces at Basel this month. While I was there, I had an opportunity to sit down with the man behind the concept, Managing Director John Ermel. We discussed his background, his company, and his unique timepieces.

John first had the idea for the Cyclos 12 years ago, when he was working as an architect and designer. He was engaged to create a new watch design, and he wanted to do something really different. John liked the idea of displaying the full 24 hours, yet he understood that for many people, a standard 24 hour display is difficult to read quickly. He knew that most people tell the time intuitively by looking at the angle of the hands. On a 24 hour watch, the hand angles are all changed from the standard 12 hour display -  for example, the  “six o’clock” position is midnight, and “ten past ten” becomes 8:10 p.m. Standard 24 hour display watches are just not intuitive.

It occurred to John that the full 24 hour cycle could be displayed, and the standard 12 hour dial hand positions maintained, if the hour hand could  effectively change length, allowing it to point to two different hour scales – an outer scale for a.m., and an inner scale for p.m. As on a standard dial, noon and midnight are both straight up, with noon being on the outer track, and midnight on the inner. On the dial, the two hour tracks form a figure known as  "Pascal's spiral", which might be described in general terms as a smaller circle within a larger circle, with the two circles intersecting at the six o'clock position. The dual hour tracks can be seen clearly on the Day and Night model in the picture to the right. This was the birth of the Cyclos concept. 

Above, Day and Night model (top) and 

sporty a.m./p.m. model

For the next 10 years, John worked on various designs. In 1998, he secured financing from friends to develop his work, and in 1999, he filed for a Swiss patent on his invention. John filed for worldwide patents in 2000, and that same year he began working on prototypes with watchmakers Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey. Robert was a prototypist with IWC from 1987 to 1989. He worked for renowned complication specialist Renaud & Papi from 1990 to 1999, and for seven of those years he was a partner and Vice-General Director. In 1999, Robert, along with Stephen Forsey, founded CompliTime in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Stephen Forsey was born in the UK, and he is a graduate with honors of the British Horological Institute. He received further watchmaking education during 1988 and 1990 at WOSTEP in Neuchatel. He worked for Renaud & Papi from 1992 to 1999, and since then he has been a partner in CompliTime.

Together, John and the Cyclos team built what is now known as the “dual phase module”, shown in Figures 1 and 2 on the right. This device, which contains 40 parts, controls the hour hand’s extension and retraction as it moves around the dial. The hour hand (shown in purple) is attached to a finger (shown in turquoise), which is attached to a radially adjustable arm (shown in orange). The pin of the finger attaches to the hour hand from below, near the tip. The arm to which the finger attaches, and other parts of the module, are hidden by a disk that sits on top of the dial, just below the hands, as can be seen in Figure 3. This arrangement creates the impression that the hour hand is floating in space, as can be seen in the graphic at the top of this article. A series of planetary gears work to maintain the hour hand on the correct axis, and allow it to extend and retract by 3.5 mm as it makes its two cycles around the dial each 24 hours.

Figure 1, a computer rendering of the  dual phase module

Figure 2,  dual phase module detail

Figure 3, detail the Cyclos dial.

The dual phase module is mounted on the dial side of an ETA 2892-A2, which is specially modified and beautifully finished. The Cyclos logo is hand engraved on the rotor. The Cyclos is a COSC-certified chronometer. The case measures 39 mm in diameter not including the winding crown, and 12.8 mm thick. The watch is fitted with a sapphire crystal and display back, and water resistance is rated at 30 meters.   

Cyclos is making their first production watches available as a Special Numbered Initial Edition of 25 pieces, all in gold, and each piece hand assembled. When reserving a number, you have several options:

• Styles: sport or dress

• Case and buckle metal: yellow, rose or white gold

• Dial color:  black or silver

• Strap: black calf, or black or brown alligator

Shown below are the Day and Night dress model with black dial (top left) and silver dial (top right), and the sporty a.m./p.m. model with black dial (bottom left) and silver dial (bottom right).

To view additional images of Cyclos watches, please click here. 

Cyclos will personalize each watch by hand engraving the owner’s name on the case back. Prices for the Special Numbered Initial Edition pieces decline as the edition number increases. For example, Number 1 sells for CHF 28,000, or about US$17,400, Number 12 is CHF 15,000 or about US$9,300, and Number 25 is  CHF12,400, or about US$7700.* Swiss VAT of 7.6% is deducted for orders delivered abroad. As of this writing, approximately 13  of the 25 pieces remain available. When the initial 25 piece Edition has been sold, serial production will begin, perhaps in early 2003. Initial production will be gold pieces only, with stainless steel to follow. The 25 Special Numbered Initial Edition is being sold directly via the Cyclos website.  

I am happy to report that John was quite busy in Basel, with people literally lined up to meet him during the early days of the Fair. Even when I met with him toward the end of the show, people were stopping by to talk every few minutes.  Meeting John was a great pleasure - he has tremendous enthusiasm for the Cyclos project. The concept is simple and effective, and I find the watch visually quite appealing. I think bright days lie ahead for Cyclos Watch.  

For more information, including an animation of the Cyclos watch in action, visit the Cyclos website at www.cyclos-watch.ch.

*All U.S. Dollar prices are approximate and were calculated using Cyclos’ exchange rate of 1.61 Swiss Francs to the U.S. Dollar. 

Image of John Ermel by Michael Disher. All other images © Cyclos Watch, used with permission.

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