Oslo Architecture

by Rachael Palacios

A lot has changed since Michel Paulsen, one of Norway’s oldest watchmakers, returned from Hamburg in 1836 to start his own business. For one thing, his city of Christiania was renamed Oslo, and the watch and clock company he founded quickly became a staple in the Norwegian public and private timekeeping.   The company was taken over by the Lie family in 1913, giving it its current name Alf Lie.  
Lie had been with the firm for quite some time and had traveled in 1903 to the United States to learn about manufacturing. He worked with Tiffany’s and Black, Starr & Frost, taking timepiece orders from renowned names like Ford and Vanderbilt. By 1918, Lie had a watchmaker’s shop working in full swing in Norway, implementing the know-how he acquired abroad, with a staff that included eleven watchmakers.
Alf Lie went on to become a major player in Norwegian timekeeping. It made wristwatches and made clocks for public spaces, many of which are still seen and fully operational. In addition, the firm also provided the accurate time signal for the Norwegian National Broadcasting Service (NRK.)
Third-generation watchmaker Espen Saastad and his family business merged with the company in 2000. Saastad’s extensive experience with watchmaking and his forward-looking vision have led the firm since then, and most recently he created a new timepiece for its Great Nor collection.

Vikings
Any fourth grader today will quickly remind you it was the Vikings, not Columbus, who first reached the Americas from across the Atlantic. Alf Lie’s Grand Nor collection takes this Norwegian venturesome spirit on a new voyage with the AL01, a tourbillon mono-pusher chronograph featuring a uniquely designed case. Norse modernity endows the case with an unusual architectural feature—a pair of steel bars that arch along the edges of the tonneau-shaped titanium case. The cut out dial eliminates all non-essential features and decoration, displaying only the functions of the chronograph, central hours and minutes and the five-day power reserve indicator.
Mechanically speaking, this timepiece charters new ground with a manual wind movement caliber 1450 AL created by the former BNB Concept. The back of the case maintains Scandinavian modernity with its display of parallel bridges made of an aluminum and lithium alloy. This alloy reduces the weight yet maintains the strength of the bridges.
This elegantly designed timepiece comes with a rubber or leather strap with folding clasp in titanium.