Meccaniche Veloci presents a unique timepiece from the QuattroValvole collection, the fruit of a collaboration with Nardi, the prestigious Italian firm that makes traditionally-crafted steering wheels. The result is QuattroValvole Nardi Edition, a limited-edition collection of 50 timepieces.
The watchmaking brand has enriched its beautiful creations with a new story of Italian excellence in celebration of a highly traditional company, Nardi: a legendary brand that has worked with the greatest names in the automobile industry for over ninety years.
The new Meccaniche Veloci Limited Edition continues the tradition of a partnership that has in the past allowed the brand to tell stories of fascinating engines and explore a wide range of materials in an expression of creative freedom applied to high watchmaking.
In the words of Cesare Cerrito, CEO of Meccaniche Veloci – Genève: “The engineer Enrico Nardi was an extraordinary character, one of the men who made automotive history in Italy together with personalities of the calibre of Carlo Abarth, Vincenzo and Gianni Lancia, and Enzo Ferrari. The racing car driver, trainer and designer of everything car-related first became a test pilot for Ferrari in the 1940s, then Enzo Ferrari’s right hand man. For Ferrari, in the late 1950s he designed and produced his first steering wheel made of precious wood. Ever since, Nardi steering wheels have been fitted in the fastest, most beautiful and victorious vehicles in the motor racing world, including the legendary Ferrari 250 GTO. It is a great privilege for me to tell the story of this brand, which remains truly extraordinary to this day, through our watches. We share its entirely Italian passion for finding beauty in functional things, as well, of course, as its roots in the extraordinary world of engines.”
With shared conceptual and stylistic intentions, the new timepieces represent the passion that the two brands share for the world of beautiful vehicles, as well as attention to detail. Drawing on their Italian roots, Meccaniche Veloci – Genève and Nardi Personal have a joint philosophy that sets them apart from their contemporaries: producing high-quality creations through the use of select materials, specific production processes and unique style and design.
The characteristic case of Meccaniche Veloci watches, inspired by the design of a piston, is made from titanium and decorated on the edge of the case middle with a narrow, hard wooden insert with beautiful veining and extraordinary resistance. Meccaniche Veloci celebrates wood, the star material of Nardi creations.
The watch dial presents an opaque surface with a delicate guilloché weave. As well as demonstrating the high quality typical of traditional watchmaking, this finish also renders the dial more precious and clearly recalls the harmonious design of Nardi’s most exclusive pedigree steering wheels that are still hand-crafted to this day.
Four small dials edged in blue in tribute to Nardi’s colours stand out against the QuattroValvole’s dial. The two brands’ logos appear at the centre. All the hours and minutes hands are coated with SuperLuminova® and the seconds’ function is fulfilled by the small red hand at the bottom right of the dial, while the date may be read through a circular aperture within the dial above.
