Guilloché, platinum, jumping hour and a little something extra.
Watch manufacturers are fond of marking big dates by releasing watches which are meant to be a culmination of the experience they've built up or serve as a reminder of where it all began. The legendary watchmaker Svend Andersen marked the 40th anniversary of his brand ANDERSEN Genève last year, introducing three models in one go.
The Tempus Terrae "25th Anniversary" worldtime with a bezel encircled in baguette-cut diamonds, a white-gold anniversary edition of the Automaton JOKER watch created in partnership with Konstantin Chaykin, as well as the Jumping Hours 40th Anniversary watch with a dial fully decorated with exquisite guilloché.
The anniversary year has been and gone now, but Andersen has decided to present yet another version of the anniversary model: the Jumping Hours 40th Anniversary in platinum. This watch has made the shortlist of pieces nominated for the Artistic Crafts prize awarded by the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG).
The watch will have to compete with the Hermès model featuring a toucan stitched using silk thread, the Bvlgari Divas' Dream with a peacock's feather on its dial, Louis Vuitton's piece with an animated relief sculpture of a skull and snake, as well as two models with engraved images by Voutilainen and MB&F.
Andersen remains true to the much loved geometric patterns unlike the last two competitors on the list who've placed their bets on comprehensive narratives: Kari Voutilainen depicts the Duluth Aerial Lift Bridge in the US state of Minnesota, while the sketch by engraver Eddie Jaquet is inspired by the novel "Around the World in Eighty Days".
In order to transform the dial into a canvas for artistic experimentation, Andersen has placed an aperture at 12 o'clock for the hours and a mini counter for minutes at 6 o'clock. The rest of the dial is the canvas, dominated by the hand-engraved “Magic Losange” guilloché pattern. The dial is made of a material called BlueGold — 21-karat gold which is heated with iron elements to produce a blue tone.
The platinum series of Jumping Hours 40th Anniversary watches is limited to 40 pieces, yet each one of them can be considered a unique piece. The engraving and finishing is done by hand, which guarantees that no one dial will be identical to that of any other piece in the series. Those with a true appreciation for refined guilloché will feel their pulse accelerate when they flip over the watch to take a look at the caseback.
The rotor made of 18-karat yellow gold is decorated with the Grain d’Orge pattern tracing the ANDERSEN Genève logo in the shape of a letter "A". The rotor ensures enough energy will be stored to keep the Frédéric Piguet 11.50 movement running for 60 hours (the movement maker was acquired by the Swatch Group in 1992 and then merged into the firm Blancpain in 2010).