Description

A rare, fine and attractive limited-edition rose gold wristwatch from the famous Swiss independent watchmaker Svend Andersen, who established his brand in 1978. Limited edition launched in 2004. Case in 18k rose gold, diameter 41mm, 9mm thick, sapphire caseback with, engraved on the rim, “Universal coordinated times” inscription and stamped piece number in a 120-piece limited edition. Two-tone grey dial with central world map and meridians, applied white gold dot hour indexes, outer 24-hour ring divided into nocturnal and diurnal hours, outer revolving ring with names of 30 world cities and GMT. Restored antique vintage self-winding A. Schild caliber, rotor with gold plate engraved with a portrait of Sandford Fleming, and “1827–1915, Inventor of World Time” inscription. Functions – indication of time in hours and minutes, world time. Brown leather strap, 18k pink gold Andersen Genève pin buckle with blue enamel Andersen Genève logo. Limited edition of 120 pieces.

Svend Andersen is a notable and important watchmaker, one of the founding fathers of the Academy of Independent Watchmakers (Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendant, AHCI) in 1985. Prior to that, from 1969, he had worked for nine years in the Atelier des Complications of Patek Philippe. That is why this lot is extremely interesting, since in the restoration and adjusting of the antique movement, he showed all his skills and experience accumulated over many years of working with complicated mechanical watches.

Louis Cottier, a watchmaker from Geneva, developed in the 1930s a complication to display world time, simultaneous indication in all 24 time zones of the planet. Svend Andersen became acquainted with the legacy of this master while working for 9 years at Patek Philippe – this brand was the principal client of Louis Cottier. Early in his career as an independent watchmaker Andersen developed the world time complication for his own brand, and, since 1980, it has been a great part of Andersen Genève production, with no fewer than five basic designs equipped with this function, and around 1,500 watches produced in total. These include the Communication, the Christopher Columbus, the Mundus, the ‘1884’ and the Tempus Terrae watches, as well as numerous bespoke and unique pieces based on these designs.