Skeleton Concept reimagines the Rolex GMT-Master II Batman for Paris Saint-Germain footballer Presnel Kimpembe

PRESNEL KIMPEMBE

Presnel Kimpembe was born on August 13, 1995 in France, to a Congolese father and Haitian mother. Named after his maternal grandfather, for him the value of family has always been of utmost importance. Passionated with football since a young age, Kimpembe took his first steps in football at the age of 10 years old. He made his professional debut for Paris Saint-Germain in 2014 and participated in the UEFA Champions league for the first time in February 2017. Presnel Kimpembe was born to become a winner: he won his first “French champion” title with Paris Saint-Germain at the end of the season. France and the rest of the world had the pleasure to discover his talent and joviality over the summer of 2018, during which he was crowned World Champion with Didier Deschamps’ french team “les Bleus”. Since then, Kimpembe keeps playing for PSG as a centre-back with the club’s emblem bolted to his heart.

Skeleton Concept reimagines the Rolex GMT-Master II Batman for Paris Saint-Germain footballer Presnel Kimpembe

THE KIMPEMBE CONCEPT

When we first met with Presnel Kimpembe, we discovered a very passionate and creative man with a special sense of aesthetics and fashion.  It’s not for nothing that Kimpembe began his own streetwear collection in 2020. Once the football player finds an interest in something, he wants to get to the bottom of it, understand and master the subject to its smallest details. That’s also what happened during the process of creating his exclusive Skeleton Concept timepiece.

Never doing things halfway, Kimpembe challenged our watchmakers into skeletonizing his Rolex®  GMT-MASTER II “Batman”. A real technical challenge that has never been taken up by any other team of master watchmakers before us. Another requirement was to keep the “sportswear” aspect of the timepiece and intensify the blue color on the bezel, since it is his signature color.

A TECHNICAL FEAT

Due to the particularity of the movement and its 2 complications (the date disc and the second GMT time zone), hundreds of hours of hard work and several sketches were needed to create the design and craft it. Our master watchmakers had to use a lot of ingenuity and creativity in order to find the technical solutions to keep the complications working all the while skeletonizing the cutout of the dial and the rest of the movement in a harmonious and flattering way.

The density of the original movement of the GMT-Master II, required a particular attention. A special sandblasting treatment was made in order to keep the consistency of the timepiece and add a matte  aspect to its visual beauty. The movement has been fully refined. Its color is a beautiful pale Oyster steel gray that enhances the bi-color blue and black bezel – carefully chosen by the World cup Champion, Kimpembe. The matte bracelet in Oyster steel fits perfectly with the color palette chosen for this design.

Skeleton Concept reimagines the Rolex GMT-Master II Batman for Paris Saint-Germain footballer Presnel Kimpembe

A FLOATING VISUAL EFFECT ON THE MOVEMENT

The smooth handmade anglage adds life and volume to the movement that is achievable only in haute horology. The strong-edged plate with its Rubi creates a nice and delightful reflection of the light. Thanks to the superposition of the Sapphire module of the date, the numbers on the dial seem to be “floating”, as if suspended in air…. almost transparent.

We also gave Kimpembe a special nod: the number 3 on the date module is in blue – as “3” is his number on the football team. The Kimpembe Concept turned the GMT-Master II watch into a dynamic and elegant timepiece. The skeletonized timepiece is of exceptional finesse, the result is exquisite.

PRE-ORDER

WORD OF PRESNEL KIMPEMBE

“Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve always been a fan of everything that has to do with customization. I have been lucky to learn more about the fascinating and complicated world of horology, thanks to the master watchmakers of Skeleton Concept. The process of personalizing my timepiece has been marvelous to me. I feel blessed and lucky to wear such a unique timepiece.”

Specifications

MODEL CASE

 

Oyster, 40 mm, Oystersteel

 

OYSTER ARCHITECTURE

Monobloc middle case, screw-down case back and winding crown

 

DIAMETER

40 mm

 

MATERIAL

Oystersteel

 

BEZEL

Bidirectional rotatable 24-hour graduated bezel.

Two-colour blue and black Cerachrom insert in ceramic,

moulded numerals and graduations

 

WINDING CROWN

Screw-down, Triplock triple waterproofness system

 

CRYSTAL

 Scratch-resistant sapphire, , Cyclops lens over the date

 

WATER RESISTANCE

Waterproof to 100 meters / 330 feet

 

MOVEMENT

Perpetual, mechanical, self-winding, GMT function

CALIBER

3186, Manufacture Rolex

 

PRECISION

-2/+2 sec/day, after casing

 

FUNCTIONS

Centre hour, minute and seconds hands.

24-hour display. Second time zone with independent rapid-setting

of the hour hand. Instantaneous date.

Stop-seconds for precise time setting

 

OSCILLATOR

Paramagnetic blue Parachrom hairspring.

High-performance Paraflex shock absorbers

 

WINDING

Bidirectional self-winding via Perpetual rotor

 

POWER RESERVE

Approximately 72 hours

 

BRACELET

Oyster, five-piece links

 

BRACELET MATERIAL

Oystersteel

 

CLASP

Folding Oysterlock safety clasp with

Easylink 5 mm comfort extension link