HANDCRAFTING DREAMS
From 2019 to present day, the watch brand has been working in secret on a phenomenal project to create a new exclusive series of timepieces, drawing on traditional methods and the transmission of knowledge.
Naissance d’une Montre 3 embodies a return to the values that underpinned watchmaking in centuries past, before its modern industrialization, a time when precision and quality of manufacture were the raison d’être of a timepiece. While some brands continue to uphold this centuries-old tradition, they are now few and far between. In collaboration with the Fondation Time Æon and with the support of the International Watchmaking Museum (MIH), Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud set itself the challenge of creating a mechanical masterpiece based on traditional methods, training craftsmen through the transmission of knowledge and renovating old machines. For nearly six years, around 80 people devoted themselves to the manufacture of this limited edition of 11 pieces, one in steel and ten in gold, inspired by the Pocket Watch Astronomique No. 3 by Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807), created by his collaborator Jean Martin (unknown) in 1806.
Unveiled at the end of the summer, Naissance d’une Montre 3 combines several technical advances within its 44.3 mm diameter, 13 mm thick case. The hand-wound FB-BTC.FC caliber houses a split bimetallic balance wheel with thermal compensation, a constant force fusee-and-chain mechanism, a barrel with a sawtooth ratchet and pawl, a balance stop system, and a shock absorber with diamond counter-pivots. Handcrafted using traditional tools, this 3Hz movement, certified as a chronometer by the COSC, delivers 50 hours of power reserve and displays its spectacular architecture on both the front and back. This mechanical structure is topped by a metal ring at 2 o’clock for the hours and minutes, while the large blued seconds hand rhythmically sweeps over this landscape of golden gears.
