No April’s fool’s joke: 11 years after its resurrection, Ferdinand Berthoud embarks on a new design journey with Mesure du Temps Chronomètre FB 2TV.1. In the past the brand had several comments along the lines of “I love your watches, but I would wear them upside down so that you can see some of the movement,” said Ferdinand Berthoud Marketing director Jonathan Richard. Now, with a reversed and open-worked solution, such prayers have been heard, as the Chronomètre FB 2TV.1 brand’s first journey with having “everything visible from the dial side.”
The most stunning visual aspect is the fusée-and-chain. With a completely redeveloped chain, the constant force during is not only precise during the 60-hour power reserve, it is also a beauty to behold – and a real pleasure to wind up the chain on the (i)conic rollers.
“We had to redevelop the complete architecture of the movement,”. “Not only the chain, we also have a a new flying tourbillon with two additional features; reset to zero mechanism for the central second hand and a stop balance.”
But how does the contemporary masterpiece Chronomètre FB 2TV.1, whose movement comprises of 1´240 components – including 777 elements for the chain alone – actually link with the 18th century watchmaker of Kings including louis the 15thm Louis the 16th, and Napoleon the first? To start with, the fusée-and-chain was something that Mr. Berthoud used for his marine clocks used for serious world explorations – his Marine chronometers had a deviance of ±0.2 seconds per day during their voyages of up to 18 months, not forgetting withstanding the harsh ocean conditions. The Chronomètre FB 2TV.1 also takes inspiration from the more than 4,000 pages Mr. Berthoud wrote about watchmaking, including in his most famous work from 1787, La Mesure du Temps. In this reference work he set out the principles of construction, execution and testing of small longitude clocks along with their application to pocket watches. This rigorously structured approach to knowledge helped standardize and pass on technical best practices within the watchmaking community, as well as supporting the development and production of increasingly accurate, reliable watches.
“The Chronomètre FB 2TV.1 with a flying tourbillon is the first chapter. In the upcoming years we’ll have more chapters with different movements following with the same principle: the mechanism will always be visible from the dial side,” said Mr. Richards.
Highly anticipated by collectors, the dial side approach also provides a chance to flaunt Ferdinand Berthoud’s artisanal decoration expertise: Each movement require nearly 300 hours of manual finishing in a separate part of the Fleurier manufacture building shared with sister company Chopard.
The return-to-zero second pusher on the crown works is reminiscent to a flyback chronograph – but here it is all about setting the watch which also has a stop balance. And as the function is similar to that of a mono-pusher, the balance returns to its rotary state when the crown is pushed back, and as the button is also pushed in the same push, the second returns to zero,
What about the rest of the design? Let’s start with the measurements: The round white wthical gold case of the Chronomètre FB 2TV.1 has a 44millimeter diameter and a 15.46-millimeter thickness.
At 12 o'clock, an off-centred hours and minutes subdial is secured by pillars. Around the edge, a thin white lacquered inner bezel ring – also secured by four pillars – enables the reading of the 25.80-millimeter slender second hand. The asymmetric yet harmonious design is completed by the power reserve at 07.30, where a blue Chemical Vapor Deposition-treated bronze alloy hand moves along with the “instructions” of the arm moving along the neighboring suspended cone.
The production of the hand-wound Reference FB 2TV.1 is estimated at 10-12 timepieces per year.
