Watching the clock takes on new meaning when you have a skeleton watch on your wrist. One of the most revered and beautiful feats of watchmaking, a skeletonized timepiece can command tens of thousands of dollars and relegate collectors to waiting lists. Sculpted by hand, a skeleton watch has a movement that has been carved away to such an extreme degree that up to 60 or 70 percent of the metal is gone, leaving an open-faced, mechanical work of art.
Typically, skeletonized movements are housed between transparent sapphire crystals and casebacks so the details are on full display. The bridges, plates and rotors are often intricately etched and engraved by artisans who have spent hundreds of hours on the fine workmanship. Indeed, these exquisite timepieces offer the wearer (and admirers) a special insight into the world of haute horlogerie.
