Naissance d’une Montre (Birth of a Watch) has been a multi-year collaborative quest by devoted watchmakers to preserve and recover the close-to-forgotten traditional techniques by creating entirely hand-crafted timepieces and documenting the process. Naissance d’une Montre 3, the third milestone, was achieved by the skillful team from the Ferdinand Berthoud and Chopard workshops. Culminating six years of research, design, and meticulous manual manufacturing and assembly, the final piece was revealed at the Geneva Watch Days 2025.
Time Æon Foundation and the Naissance d’une Montre Project
In the intoxication of technical progress, many cultural, linguistic, and folklore traditions, as well as craftsmanship techniques, have become extinct or close to it, with the last storytellers passing away. This holds true in watchmaking, too. The super-accurate, computer-controlled machines allow manufacturing at speed, with consistently high quality and at a relatively cheap cost—compared to employing human resources for the same tasks. New materials redraw the boundaries of possibility, and they are processed in entirely new ways and with space technology. Traditional tools have become museum pieces or interior decorations, and there are only a few people left who know how to operate them.
Preserving centuries-old watchmaking methodologies and tools has moved some of the most respected watchmakers of our time to launch the Naissance d’une Montre project in 2009. The goal was to recover machinery as well as the knowledge of its operation in order to create timekeepers the same way as was done hundreds of years ago. Even more importantly, they established the Time Æon Foundation to document the knowledge recovered during the many trials and failures throughout the process. The invaluable resources are built into the curriculum of future watchmakers, who can practice using the tools and machines restored during the project.
The pioneer piece was created by Michel Boulanger under the guidance of Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey, and Philippe Dufour between 2009-2015. Naissance d’une Montre 2 was conceived in a collaboration between Greubel Forsey and URWERK, and manufactured by Cyrano Devanthey and Dominique Buser between 2015-2019. Karl-Friedrich Scheufele (president of La Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud and co-president of Chopard) announced Ferdinand Berthoud’s participation in the third Naissance d’une Montre project at the SIHH 2019, estimating the final piece to be ready in five years. Unlike the previous Naissance d’une Montre timepieces delivered by a single or two apprentices led by master watchmakers, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele decided to tackle the challenge as a team effort with participants from the Ferdinand Berthoud and Chopard workshops.
David Bernard, director of the Time Æon Foundation, shared interesting details about the foundation and the three projects at the SIHH 2019.
Naissance d’une Montre 3
I remember when Karl-Friedrich Scheufele announced joining the endeavour back in 2019 and giving a hint that the finished piece would incorporate their signature constant force fusee-and-chain transmission system, he verbalised his doubts whether they will be able to overcome the challenges it poses. Yet, his face reflected genuine excitement and determination. Last Friday he stood in front of extraordinary watchmakers of our time such as Stephen Forsey and Philippe Dufour, members of press, fellow enthusiasts and participants of his own team, visibly touched by the solemnly crossing the finish line after more than 11.000 working hours of a team of 80 people right at the 10th year of anniversary of the reestablished Ferdinand Berthoud.
Naissance d’une Montre 3 is an 11-piece limited-edition chronometer. Presented at the event during the Geneva Watch Days 2025, the first piece encased in stainless steel celebrates the purest utilitarian watchmaking, while the other ten in comes in 18k gold. All the curves, flutes, concave bezel, engravings, finishing and the structure were inspired by Berthoud’s Astronomical Watch No. 3.
Bimetallic variable inertia balance wheel
The calibre employs a bimetallic balance wheel to compensate the changes in the elastic properties of the hairspring under different temperatures. When exposed to cold, steel balance springs used in centuries old timepieces contract and stiffen, which increases the speed of oscillation. Heat triggers the opposite effect. Invented by Pierre Le Roy in the 18th century, balance wheels constructed of two alloys and with two breaking points on the rim address this problem. The metal at the outer rim (such as brass) expands under the same temperatures the steel balance spring contracts, effectively lengthening the hairspring and thus offsetting its increased stiffness. With the advent of new hairspring alloys that offer iso-elastic properties under thermal variations, this has not been a problem anymore. However, the 0.06 mm nickel-free steel alloy balance-spring wire Ferdinand Berthoud chose to create by hand is particularly sensitive to it.
Therefore, they embarked on recreating the bimetallic balance wheel – a process long forgotten. As Karl-Friedrich Scheufele highlighted, creating the wristwatch compatible brass / invar bimetallic balance wheel took literally years singlehandedly. As an inner material, they used invar a nickel-steel alloy with a near-zero coefficient of thermal expansion invented by Charles-Édouard Guillaume. Initially they tried to fuse the two metals, but following the many unsuccessful attempts, they went on to weld them under controlled temperatures and vacuum.
The final 18-part balance wheel measures 10.94 mm in diameter at the balance rim and 12.56 mm at the screw. Unsurprisingly in a Ferdinand Berthoud piece, its hourly 21,600 vibrations can be observed at the front. Interestingly, two genuine diamonds cut by experts of the Chopard manufacture act as endstones for the shock absorbing balance-staff.
Fusee-and-chain transmission system
For the first time, the fusee-and-chain transmission system also received a prime position directly on the watch face. The barrel situated between 7-8 o’clock is connected to the fusee at 4-5 o’clock by a chain measuring 172 mm in length. It consists of 285 links that are held together by 191 pins with a diameter of a mere 0.30 mm. General Manager Vincent Lapaire shared that, assembling the chain of this size by hand has proven to be one of the toughest jobs. It is extremely easy to bend the tiny pins or make the link too stiff. For some watchmakers it causes stress, while for others it is the contrary – it releases stress and love doing it to the extent that they would ask around in the workshop for chains yet to assemble.
Normally, during winding the transmission of power is suspended from the fusee to the finishing gear train by a differential gear. In the FB-BTC.FC calibre, a winding pawl and an auxiliary spring integrated to the fusee supplies torque to power the movement for a 30 minutes instead.
Phillips Watches auction in November
The ten 18k gold examples have already been sold to collectors. Two will be produced annually starting 2026.
The first example in steel presented at the Geneva Watch Days will be the last to find home by the gavel of Aurel Bacs during the Geneva Watch Auction: XXII by Phillips. The piece will be one of the highlights of the sale on 8-9 November, 2025. The proceedings will be offered to support similar projects in the future.
The project’s afterlife
By refusing digital shortcuts, the project not only honours the legacy of Ferdinand Berthed but also safeguards the tactile knowledge that defines true haute horlogerie.
The manufacture established the a special workshop called Atelier Tradition, incorporating the acquired and restored machinery used for the project. Machines include a 1960 Schaublin 102 single-axis lathe, dedicated to shaping circular components (arbors, fusees, pillars, pinions, wheels, barrel drums, studs, winding stems, screws, etc), a 1960 SIP jig boring machine for reaming, milling, drilling, grinding and tapping operations on various components (levers, mainplates, wheel plates, bridges and springs), or an Aciera F3 vertical mill among others.
A team of micro-mechanical engineers will use these to produce the ten golden pieces in the next 5 years. The workshop will also be available for young watchmakers to immerse themselves in the centuries old techniques that may serve a very solid basis for future watchmaking endeavours.
‘Naissance d’une Montre 3 is a true tribute to watchmaking expertise’, says Karl- Friedrich Scheufele, President of Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud. ‘For more than six years, artisans from across the Chopard group, with perseverance and experience, committed themselves to a mission to master the traditional watchmaking skills required to create this extraordinary timepiece. On the tenth anniversary of Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud, we could not imagine a more fitting tribute to the Master Watchmaker, who dedicated his career to developing the most accurate timepieces of his time and sharing his knowledge.’
For the broader audience, a film from the many hours of video recordings taken during the process will come out in the near future.
Photo credits: Loupiosity.com
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