It has been incredible honor being able to participate in the process of creating our latest limited edition — the Isotope × Revolution Mercury. It is a fully polished stainless steel watch with the first-ever mirror-polished convex dial. Arriving at the perfect polish for the case, dial and hands was an infinitely painstaking effort, but arriving at its design is a process that will pleasantly blow your mind. The watch is an abstract exploration of the polysemy of Mercury, as a liquid metal, the American Art Deco streamliner and the Roman god of positive tidings.

Much like experiencing art, the great appeal and joy of beholding the Mercury watch lie not merely in its visual impact but in its abstractions, and this is made possible only when a watch was authentically designed from scratch with little constraints or preconceptions of how it should look like.

Becoming a watch designer or a brand founder after years of astute collecting is hardly an unusual narrative in the watch world, and it often results in watch designs that are an amalgamation of elements drawn from previous watches, put together in good taste. But José Miranda, the founder of Isotope Watches, adopts a more intellectual approach to the creative process, finding sources of inspiration in art, architecture, history and culture. Along with his wife Joana, he founded Isotope in 2016 in Henfield, England, with the aim of creating well-priced yet distinctive watches that span the spectrum from somber to sheer whimsy.

The Polysemy of Mercury

A consistent feature across all Isotope watches is the subtle, and often playful, integration of the brand’s “lacrima” (Latin for “teardrop”) logo into different elements of the watch, such as the lugs, markers, dial or hands. The teardrop shape was inspired by the Kitchen Clock designed by Max Bill for Junghans in 1956, a piece José once owned. Additionally, up until this point, a subversive dress watch was missing in Isotope’s catalog. Hence, that became the starting point for the Mercury.

Subsequently, the Isotope team began toying with the idea of liquid metal droplets. Mercury, known by its chemical symbol Hg, is most famous for its fluidity at room temperature. This was reflected in the Isotope logo on the dial of the Mercury watch, serving as the 12 o’clock marker, featuring a primary droplet accompanied by a smaller residual droplet.

From there, the creative process unfolded like a mind map with the team drawing inspiration from the polysemy of Mercury. The case design found its muse in the Mercury train, a set of high-speed passenger trains operated by the New York Central Railroad in the mid 20th century. Offering faster speeds, improved comfort and a futuristic appearance, the Mercury was part of a larger effort to make train travel more attractive as railroads sought to compete with the growing popularity of automobiles and airplanes. Inaugurated in 1936, the Mercury train was the brainchild of industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss. It epitomized the Art Deco and Streamline Moderne design movements of its era, characterized by sleek, aerodynamic exteriors boasting smooth planes, horizontal lines and curved corners.

Comprised of three parts, the case of the Mercury watch measures 38mm in diameter and 44.5mm lug to lug with a height of 10mm. It is characterized by rounded, sweeping lines and gentle curves. While polishing is often employed to emphasize flat planes and sharp angles, it is equally adept at accentuating curves and domes, creating a sense of fluidity and tactile quality that is enormously satisfying. The shape of the lugs was actually derived from the brand’s logo, each being half of the teardrop’s form. The lugs are raised slightly from the caseband, giving it a wonderfully tactile profile. The caseback is concave and articulates around the wrist nicely. It has a knurled and polished crown with the “lacrima” logo. Despite being conceived as a dress watch, it offers a water resistance of 100 meters.

The Pursuit of the Perfect Polish

Another dimension of Mercury that inspired the watch was the Roman god Mercury, also known as Hermes in Greek mythology, who served as the herald of the gods and was the son of Zeus. The distinctive steel hands of the watch were designed with a laurel wreath in mind, a symbol of victory and achievement in Greek and Roman mythology. The minute hand is tipped with a leaf, and furthermore, both hands converge at each hour to form a large laurel leaf. As a result of their unique form, they had to be entirely crafted and polished by hand, which is something that is virtually unheard of at this price point. The hour and minute hands as well as the subsidiary seconds hand are further elegantly topped by a polished domed hub, enhancing the handset with an unusual amount of depth and detail.

However, the most demanding aspect of the project was the mirror dial itself, which was proposed by Revolution founder Wei Koh, having seen José’s incredible Mercury concept for the case and hands. Compounding the difficulty was the domed shape of the dial, intensifying the challenge of achieving a flawless mirror finish. The curvature tends to distort reflection and requires precise polishing techniques to maintain consistency.

“Crafting a flawless convex mirror dial had never been attempted in watchmaking, and despite consulting numerous dial makers, the unanimous response was, ‘It can’t be done,’” says José. Undeterred, José began providing detailed instructions to his engineers, proposing imaginative solutions, and experimenting with innovative polishing techniques. It took well over half a year to arrive at the perfect polish.

On top of that, the dial consists of three parts, again a rarity at this price point: a convex main dial, the flat subsidiary seconds dial insert and its upper ring. This means that three separate stamping molds had to be created. After stamping, the dial components underwent grinding processes to refine their surfaces and shapes, remove any imperfections and achieve dimensional accuracy. Thereafter, each part is topped off with Sallaz polishing, which involves using progressively finer abrasive compounds to prepare the substrate by creating a smooth, uniform surface. All three parts are then soldered together before another round of Sallaz polishing is applied. Finally, the main dial is further polished by hand whereby the dial surface is gently rubbed in circular motions using an abrasive compound to achieve a distortion-free surface. This final manual polishing step is essential as it allows for precise control, ensuring that any remaining irregularities are addressed. The result is a plain, clear and beautiful mirror finish across a convex dial surface, the first in watchmaking.

It is an undeniably exhaustive process with a rejection rate of over 50 percent. Over 350 dials were produced to arrive at 160 good dials, with 150 eventually assembled. Furthermore, an environment devoid of dust and humidity was essential during the assembly process to minimize the risk of contaminants on the delicate surface. It is worth keeping in mind that all this effort was dedicated solely to perfecting the dial alone, hence the watch represents unbelievable value.

The dial is topped by a domed sapphire crystal and visible through the sapphire caseback is the hand wound caliber I-7 which is a modified ETA/Peseux 7001 produced by Landeron. Originally introduced in 1971, the Peseux 7001 is a robust and reliable 17-jewel movement adopted and adapted by a wide range of brands from Blancpain to Omega, and in modern times, from Nomos to Urwerk. It runs at 21,600vph (3Hz) and offers a power reserve of 42 hours. The movement here has been dressed up with blued screws and straight graining on the bridges as well as perlage on the baseplate.

The watch is paired with a 20mm quick-release suede leather strap with a polished steel buckle. It is limited to 150 pieces and priced at USD 2,400. On the wrist, the visual experience of a full mirror watch is undoubtedly dramatic, and the instantaneity of its visual impact has a tendency not to induce the kind of prolonged, contemplative viewing appropriate to viewing a work of art, but it rewards the viewer’s slow looking with a world of detail unheard of at its price point and beyond.

Isotope X Revolution Mercury Limited Edition is available for public purchase now.  Available in a limited edition of 150 pieces, it is priced at USD 2,400 (excluding taxes) each. For enquiries, email [email protected].

Technical Specifications

Isotope × Revolution Mercury Limited Edition

Movement: Manual winding caliber I-7 (modified Swiss-made ETA/Peseux 7001 by Landeron); 42-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours, minutes and small seconds
Case: 38mm × 10mm (44.5mm lug to lug); stainless steel; water resistant to 100m
Dial: Three-part mirror-polished stainless steel with handcrafted leaf hands and teardrop logo
Strap: 20mm quick-release suede leather; mirror-polished steel buckle
Price: USD 2,400 (excluding taxes)
Availability: Limited edition of 150 pieces; 100 timepieces will be available on the Revolution Watch online store, and 50 will be available on the Isotope Watches website.