To commemorate Alberto Santos-Dumont’s contribution to the aviation industry, DELTAt released the SoRa – The First Flight Special Limited Edition. It is a crossover project with Yplus7880. Only twenty pieces will be produced, and each one's dial is handcrafted and resembles one of the three important scenes of the first aircraft, the 14-bis, in the aviation history.
The aviation pioneer, Alberto Santos-Dumont, born on 20th July 1873, spent his whole life dedicated to the aviation industry. His famous aircraft, 14-bis, is the first aircraft that did not employ any catapult or similar device to place the craft aloft. As far as the world knew, it was the first airplane flight ever. On 13th September 1906, Santos-Dumont made his first flight of 7 or 13 m (according to different accounts) above the ground with his 14-bis. On 23th October 1906, his 14-bis biplane flew a distance of 60 meters at a height of 2 to 3 meters during a seven-second-long flight. Santos-Dumont won the 3,000 francs prize archdeacon, instituted in July 1906 by the American Ernest Archdeacon, to honor the first flyer to achieve a level flight of at least 25 meters. Modified the aircraft again, he returned to Bagatelle on 12th November. This time the Brazilian made six increasingly successful flights. One of these flights was 21.4 sec long within a 220 meters path at a height of 6 meters.
Santos-Dumont and Louis Cartier met and become good friends in 1900. At some point during the celebration for Santos-Dumont's Deustch prize conquest at Maxim's, Santos-Dumont complained to Cartier about the difficulty of checking his pocket watch to time his performance. This triggered Louis Cartier to invent a watch with a leather band and a small buckle, to be worn on the wrist, for Santos-Dumont. This is the first mass produced watch ever made, and it is also the first pilot watch in history.
The 14-bis is not only the first aircraft that did not employ any catapult or similar device to place the craft aloft, it also triggered the first mass produced wristwatch to be produced.
The story of Alberto Santos-Dumont and his famous 14-bis, the first aircraft in the aviation history, happened in three places in France. He first built the 14-bis in his hangar in Neuilly St. James, and then he transported the 14-bis to Bois de Boulogne and has it tested on its polo ground. Finally, he successfully made his first unaided flight at Château de Bagatelle and earned the Aéro-Club de France prize.
SoRa – The First Flight’s twenty pieces will also divide into three groups, each group resembles the characteristics of one of the three places. A miniature 14-bis will be flying over the scene as the minute hand.
No.01 to No.07 will resemble the scene of Neuilly St. James.
No.08 to No.14 will resemble the scene of Bois de Boulogne.
No.15 to No.20 will resemble the scene of Château de Bagatelle.
1. Using the grinder and knife to shape the houses.
2. Cut out the houses and fine tune the shapes.
3. Different kinds of design had been made.
4. Some of them will be combined to form bigger structures.
5. Completed buildings will then be arranged in lines, preparing for base coating and coloring.
1. Lining up the miniature buildings for coloring.
2. Base painting.
3. Coloring completed.
4. Scale.
5. Lining up trees.
6. Trees production.
7. Miniature train-heads and vintage cars production.
8. Miniature train-heads and vintage cars completed.
9. Dials coloring.
