The Highest Level of Watchmaking!

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Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud. The date was Tuesday, September 22, 2015; the place, Paris. At the Yacht Club de France, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele officially unveiled Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud, the fruit of many years’ exploration of the works of MasterWatchmaker Ferdinand Berthoud. At a time when standardization, generic movements, and ever-shorter times to market had become the norm, the manufacture chose to go against the flow by offering the fruit of patient creation: an entire universe, commensurate with the stature of the man who inspired it: Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807). Ferdinand Berthoud, Watchmaker-Mechanic by appointment to the French King and Navy from the time of Louis XV through until the Empire, was one of the greatest figures in watchmaking. He wrote a large number of treatises and is considered to be the father of timekeeping for the French Navy. He was also responsible for some of the most significant advances in the determination of longitude, the key to supremacy on the high seas in the eighteenth century. Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud set out to live up to this legacy. The goal has remained unchanged: namely, the quest for precision. Implementation was preceded by a long period of meticulous historical research. A large number of timepieces made by the master were acquired, together with first editions of his watchmaking treatises. Each acquisition was carefully analyzed, documented, and restored. The collection is now housed in a dedicated private museum at the manufacture in Fleurier, Val-de-Travers – the district in which Ferdinand Berthoud himself was born in 1727. Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud's approach is based on two pillars: honoring the master's legacy, and pursuing his quest for precision. The innovation that defined Berthoud's watchmaking genius has been transposed to the twenty-first century. The movement has been designed, produced, and fully hand-decorated using traditional tools, then assembled and adjusted in the manufacture, before being officially certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC ... Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres). The Chronométrie workshop is located in a delightfully wooded area facing the “Chapeau de Napoléon”, a hill perched above the village of Fleurier and nicknamed after its evocative shape reminiscent of the Emperor’s two-cornered hat. Its privileged location in this tranquil setting instils a sense of peace and serenity provides a perfect working environment for the watchmakers in the exercise of their craft.

Ferdinand Berthoud timepieces require ancestral know-how combined with cutting-edge technology, two qualities fully mastered by company's engineers and craftsmen. Machines have no place within Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud. Entirely hand-decorated using traditional tools identical to those used by Ferdinand Berthoud, each component, even if invisible, contributes to the beauty of the movement. Performing the numerous and complex operations of traditional decoration therefore requires years of learning, considerable mastery and a great deal of patience. Chamfer is a perfect example: the hand of the craftsman forming the bevel to be polished must be safe, delicate and meticulous so that the edges of the pieces shine with incomparable brilliance. Specular (also known as black or mirror) polishing is another illustration, involving polishing the surfaces in such a way as to ensure that light is reflected in one direction only. At each stage in the manufacture of these components, the finishes are checked under a 6.7x loupe. The Geneva Hallmark (Poinçon de Genève) is "only" checked under a 2,5x loupe!!! Since no imperfection is tolerated, this higher than usual degree of magnification ensures that no detail, however small, goes unnoticed. Such is the vision of watchmaking excellence cultivated by Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud.

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