Hennessey Offers a $200K Transparent Rolex Tuned by Skeleton Concept for Each Venom F5 Car

A Rolex, to be precise, but not the regular oyster timepiece, but a heavily reworked movement encased in a see-through case. The creation of the French company Skeleton Concept, the watch is a small-scale complement of the Venom F5 ultimate performance engineering.

The Hennessey Venom F5 Concept is a masterpiece of precision in time telling and intricate case fabrication. The process took more than 30 days of continuous extreme-precision five-axis lathing. The unexpectedly long machining process is due to the unusual choice of sapphire crystal. A substance with extreme hardness – capable of enduring the toughest abrasions without a scratch – the crystal is obtained by melting aluminum oxide at over 3,100 Fahrenheit (1,700 Celsius).

Under controlled cooling, the metal oxide becomes transparent and tougher than nails. With a hardness score of 9 out of 10, sapphire crystal is a little softer than diamond (the hardest material on the planet). This poses a significant challenge when carving a solid block of sapphire: extra-special diamond-coated tools are required to cut the glass-like metal oxide. The mineral's unique mechanical properties are why precision machining takes such ample time to complete.

Inside the space-tech case, a Rolex 4130 caliber from the Cosmograph Daytona keeps a very accurate time account - the chronograph is correct to one-eighth of a second. A 30-minute counter on the 3 o'clock dial and a 12-hour one at the 9 o'clock marker minutely measure longer-duration activities.

The self-winding paramagnetic hairspring oscillator stays within 2 seconds a day. The perpetual movement watch has a power reserve of 72 hours (if not worn). The counterweight – visible through the transparent back – is plated with 24k gold. The same coating covers the sub-dials on the face of the Rolex, while the minute and hour hands are of black gold.

The bezel pays homage to the Venom F5 chassis – it is made of carbon fiber and features a contrasting tachymeter up to 400 kph (248.5 mph). A pair of high-accuracy screw-down glossy black pushbuttons control the chronograph function. The two controls symmetrically flank the winding crown at the 2- and 4-hour positions.

The hour numbers themselves are replaced by five-pointed stars – a tribute reminiscence of the lone star of Texas, the home state of Hennessey. The strap rubber straps of each Hennessey Skeleton Rolex watch will match the car's color to which it is paired. The Swiss manufacturer's only reminder about the noble mechanism pulsating in the timepiece is the crown logo on the winding knob.

The watch case has a diameter of 40 mm and is water resistant up to 330 feet (100 meters/10 atmospheres). Every single one of the 24 pieces comes with a five-year Hennessey warranty – the same as Rolex offers for the caliber – and can be ordered directly from Hennessey.

"Hennessey has enhanced the engineering of high-performance vehicles for more than 30 years, a process that led ultimately to the creation of our $3M hypercar – the Hennessey Venom F5. The car pushes the boundary of possibility through advanced engineering, a parallel we've brought to the watch that heroes engineering with its unique and beautiful sapphire case," says Alex Roys, Hennessey COO.

A world-first for the horology industry, the Hennessey Venom F5 Concept is as much a work of technical supremacy as the car it draws its inspiration from, the uncompromising Venom F5. Assembled in the USA, the hypercar has a carbon fiber monocoque with aluminum alloy subframes. The carbon fiber body aids in keeping the total weight down to 2,998 lbs. / 1,360 kg.

The Venom F5 power comes from the 6.6-liter twin-turbocharged V8: 1,817 horsepower and 1,192 lb-ft of torque (1,616 Nm). The producer put a seven-speed automatic gearbox to link the engine to the rear wheels and aims to prove that the F5 prophecy of the powerplant is fulfilled. The F5 moniker refers to the category five level on the tornado intensity measurement Fujita scale. An F5 tornado can reach speeds of 318 mph (512 kph) – coincidentally, Hennessey's target for their hyper-fast machine.