INTRODUCING: Laurent Ferrier Sport Auto 40
It’s not just girls who want to have fun, but boys too—and it sometimes even leads to the founding of a watchmaking house
Laurent Ferrier had its genesis in the 47th edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans motorsport event. It all began when three amateur drivers—François Servanin, Laurent Ferrier, and François Trisconi—decided to “have fun” by seeing how high they would place in a Porsche 935 Turbo.
Despite being one of 60 cars on the starting line on June 9, 1979, the dark-horse team ended up third in the overall rankings, with Servanin being named best French driver of the competition. This feat gave rise to a new challenge for Servanin and Ferrier: establishing their own watchmaking house, which they did in 2009.
The lean, green horology machine that you see here is a new 40-piece edition of Laurent Ferrier’s iconic “Série Atelier”. It pays homage to the brand’s unexpected beginnings with a dial in the colours of the car that started it all—the Porsche 935 Turbo No. 40.
Hence, the gradient viridian-green dial of the Sport Auto 40, with an opaline finish and a semi-glossy lacquer, is decorated with a fuchsia transfer that forms a cross in the middle and runs around the chamfered date aperture at three o’clock.
The minute track is indicated by a green transfer in the same shade as that found at the centre of the dial, while the white gold indexes and hands get a splash of orange Super-LumiNova. A tone-on-tone “40” dominates the opaline small seconds dial at six o’clock and symbolises the sticker of the racing car.
The Sport Auto 40’s 41.5mm titanium case with iconic ball-shaped crown is paired with a matching bracelet. A clever mix of finishes, rounded curves, arched lines and a domed sapphire crystal recall the aerodynamic design of racing cars. This approach extends to the movement—visible through a sapphire caseback—whose horizontal satin-brushed and ruthenium-treated bridges are particularly noteworthy.
The LF270.01 calibre is Laurent Ferrier’s second self-winding movement with a calendar. It incorporates a Swiss pallet escapement and an off-centred micro-rotor self-winding system. Apart from a unidirectional ball bearing to cushion impacts and vibration, the micro-rotor has an oscillating weight in platinum positioned directly between the main plate and the rotor bridge for stability and maximum winding power of more than 72 hours.
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