1776 Atelier Liberty 250

1776 Atelier introduces Liberty 250, a 25-piece gold timepiece created for the 250th anniversary of the United States.

The project brings together American movement manufacturing, traditional hand finishing, and documented historical material connected to the founding of the country. More than 90% of the movement is manufactured in-house, including the main plate, bridges, wheels, screws, balance, and regulating components. The primary movement components are produced from raw American-sourced brass, ground to flatness using restored vintage machines before machining. Milled pieces are then extensively hand-finished, assembled, and regulated in the United States.

The movement features a free-sprung balance and handmade two-piece hands. Finishing includes hand anglage, black polishing, solarization grinding, hand engraving, thermal coloring, and hand-finished steelwork. The anglage on the open worked architecture features 222 internal angles, a detail requiring over 200 hours of hand craftsmanship.

Liberty 250 is housed in an 18k gold case manufactured by RP Uhrgehäuse in Germany to 1776 Atelier specifications. The primary story remains the movement, the handwork, and the American historical material incorporated into the presentation box.

Each Liberty 250 is delivered in a handmade wooden box crafted by an atisan woodworker in the United States. 1776 Atelier secured authenticated wood from a beam originally installed in Independence Hall in 1735. The beam remained in the building through the Revolutionary period and was present when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. A small piece of that wood is inlaid into every Liberty 250 presentation box, accompanied by provenance documentation and a certificate of authenticity.

Liberty 250 is a gold American watch made for America's 250th anniversary, with the manufacturing, hand finishing, and historical material to support the occasion.

The Watch

Liberty 250 is produced as a focused 25-piece gold edition. The design is classical, restrained, and intended to keep attention on proportion, handwork, and the movement.

The dial uses a layered construction featuring a scalloped design that incorporates 62 internal angles. The dial is accompanied with handmade two-piece hands. Each hand is shaped, fitted, polished, riveted and thermally colored by hand. The plum color is known to be the most difficult color to achieve and is unique to this commemorative model.

The case is 18k gold and manufactured by RP Uhrgehäuse to 1776 Atelier specifications. RP Uhrgehäuse is used for the precious-metal case work, while the movement program, finishing, assembly, and regulation remain central to the 1776 Atelier project.

The Movement

The Liberty 250 movement is manual-wind and manufactured more than 90% in-house. The main plate, bridges, wheels, screws, and regulating components are produced from raw American materials.

The movement uses a free-sprung balance. This construction removes the conventional regulator index and places rate adjustment at the balance itself, a choice associated with stability and serious mechanical watchmaking.

Finishing is performed with traditional techniques: hand anglage, black polishing, solarization, grinding, thermal coloring, hand engraving, Geneva striping and hand-finished steelwork. Bridges incorporate Côtes de Genève, media blasted surfaces and angalge, highlighting the atelier’s focus on movement finish and breadth of finishing capabilities.

Movement highlights

• More than 90% of the movement manufactured in-house

• Primary movement components produced from raw American materials

• Main plate, bridges, wheels, screws, and regulating components produced in-house

• Free-sprung balance

• Handmade two-piece hands

• Hand anglage and hand-finished internal angles

• Black-polished steelwork and screws

• Solarized, ground, engraved, and thermally colored components

• Finishing, assembly, and regulation performed in the United States

Traditional Finishing

Liberty 250 uses a broad traditional finishing language of high horology. The movement includes polished bevels, black-polished steelwork, solarized components, ground elements, hand engraving, thermal coloring, Côtes de Genève and hand-finished internal angles.

Black polishing requires surfaces to be brought flat enough to shift from dark to bright depending on the angle of light. Solarization is produced as a radial finish. Grinding prepares steel and setting components before their final surface treatment. Anglage defines the bridge architecture through hand-polished bevels and sharp transitions flanked by media blasted surfaces.

The finishing work is distributed across the movement rather than isolated to one visible plate. Wheels, screws, steelwork, bridges, and hand-finished details receive attention under magnification.

Presentation Box and Independence Hall Wood

Each Liberty 250 watch is delivered in a handmade wooden presentation box crafted by an artisan woodworker in Arizona.

A small piece of authenticated wood from a beam originally installed in Independence Hall in 1735 is incorporated into every box. The beam remained in Independence Hall during the Revolutionary period and was present when the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence. It was removed during restoration work in the nineteenth century.

Each piece is accompanied by provenance documentation and a certificate of authenticity. The inlay is engraved with the Liberty Bell, connecting the presentation box to the historical material without turning the watch itself into a souvenir object.

Technical specifications

1776 Atelier Liberty 250

Limited edition of 25 pieces

Case

• Material: 18k 5N rose gold
• Diameter: 41 mm
• Thickness: 10.2 mm with domed sapphire crystal
• Lug-to-lug: 49.5 mm
• Domed AR-coated sapphire crystal
• Flat AR-coated sapphire crystal caseback

Dial and hands

• Two-piece layered dial with hand-finished bevels
• Hand-applied satiné circulaire on upper dial surfaces
• Frosted recessed areas
• 62 hand-finished internal angles
• Finished in black rhodium
• Handmade two-piece hands, shaped, polished, fitted, and thermally colored by hand

Movement

• Hand-wound 1776 Atelier Caliber L250
• Approximately 48-hour power reserve
• Number of jewels: 19
• Frequency: 2.5 Hz, 18'000 vph
• In-house manufactured free-sprung balance
• Proprietary open-worked three-quarter bridge and balance bridge
• In-house manufactured main plate
• In-house manufactured bridges
• In-house manufactured wheels
• In-house manufactured screws
• In-house manufactured hands
• Individually numbered movement
• 222 hand-finished internal angles
• Hand-applied anglage on all edges
• Côtes de Genève on bridges contrasted by frosted (media-blasted) edges bordering hand applied anglage.
• Black-polished and chamfered screw heads with thermally colored plum screws (bridge screws are thermally colored)
• Gear train fully beveled on both front and back
• Solarization-ground ratchet wheel, crown wheel, setting wheels, and barrel cover
• Circular graining on the gear train and balance wheel
• Open-worked setting lever
• Bridges and main plate finished in black rhodium
• Gear train finished in rose gold.

Functions/Indications

• Hours and minutes
• Small seconds

Strap and buckle

• Black leather strap
• 18K 5N rose gold pin buckle
• Lug width: 20 mm

MSRP: USD 44'000

For more information, please visit 1776atelier.com