Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The Impressive Ferdinand Berthoud Naissance d’une Montre 3 (Incl. Video)
A superb watch, traditionally manufactured in the strictest sense of the word.
What follows is not just the story of a watch, but also that of an extraordinary project – the Naissance d’une montre 3 or Birth of a Watch 3 in English. The Naissance d’une Montre started as a collaborative initiative launched in 2009 by the Time Æon Foundation to preserve and transmit traditional watchmaking techniques. It brings together watchmakers and artisans to create timepieces entirely by hand, using historical tools and methods, thereby safeguarding horological skills. The key supporters of the project include industry figures such as Philippe Dufour, Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey and, of course, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele. The latter has consistently demonstrated a philosophical alignment with the project and has always advocated for the transmission of knowledge and the preservation of traditional savoir-faire. Not to mention the Chopard L.U.C Haute Horlogerie collection on one side, what Karl-Friedrich Scheufele and his team have achieved with the resurrection of Ferdinand Berthoud is simply impressive. In about 10 years, they have restored this illustrious name to the prominence it deserves and have established the brand as one of the most respected in its niche for the integrity, technical mastery, and artisanal excellence of its creations. Coinciding with the brand’s 10th anniversary, the Naissance d’une Montre 3 now stands as the culmination of this remarkable endeavour.
Manufactured… by hand, as it should be
As mentioned, the Naissance d’une Montre 3 project is the story of how Ferdinand Berthoud’s ateliers, craftsmen, and watchmakers have provided the technical and physical resources to create an absolutely fascinating watch, entirely by hand, without the use of CNC machines. This is particularly remarkable in an industry where “handcrafted” is a word on everybody’s lips… but here it is the real deal. It is much more than simply hand-decorating a few parts made with digitally controlled machines. A specific workshop was constituted. The project involved 80 craftsmen and required no less than 11,000 hours of work over six years. The result is a superb wrist chronometer with constant force via a fusée-and-chain transmission system, a bimetallic balance, a central second hand and a compelling movement architecture inspired by the works of Ferdinand Berthoud. And despite being “CNC-free”, the watch precision is officially certified by the COSC, and its finishes meet the brand’s uncompromising standards.
“Naissance d’une Montre 3 aims to harness talents past and future, to gather their notes and sketches and to unite their knowledge in pursuit of a common goal: not the timepiece itself, but rather the preservation of all the expertise that brings it to life. It is clearly more important than ever to safeguard and transmit the traditional watchmaking skills required to produce mechanical timepieces. This cross-disciplinary corporate project draws on all the Maison’s in-house expertise and know-how: design and engineering, laboratory, foundry, mechanics, micromechanics, jewellery, polishing, decoration and watchmaking,” says Karl-Friedrich Scheufele.
Classic Berthoud style
The source of inspiration has been the Ferdinand Berthoud Astronomical Pocket Watch No. 3, created in the early 19th century. And at first sight, the “NM3” looks very coherent with the brand’s modern creations. The watch comes in a 44mm diameter, 13mm thick gold case with a concave bezel, curved sides, a large fluted crown and welded lugs. As mentioned earlier, it has been entirely crafted without the use of CNC, utilising hand-operated tools and traditional techniques such as lost-wax casting.
Its domed sapphire crystal allows you to discover the watch’s breathtaking movement, the hand-wound calibre FB-BTC.FC with off-centre hours and minutes, central seconds and power reserve indication at 10 o’clock. The white gold dials are hand-engraved. The first display is off-centred and displays the hours and minutes. Like for the Astronomical watch N°3, the hours and minutes are displayed respectively with Roman and Arabic numerals. The raised flange at the periphery of the movement is supported by pillars and displays the seconds. The steel hands are flame-blued. The hour hand has a bevelled tip, while the minute hand has an arrow tip. The second hand is extremely thin and long, measuring 25mm in length.
In pure Berthoud fashion, all the structure of the movement, with its stepped bridges and pillars, is entirely visible. The focus on chronometry is also evident, with a constant-force mechanism (fusée-and-chain), a bimetallic Guillaume-type thermo-compensated split balance, a stop-seconds mechanism, and more.
An incredible movement
Although we have seen fusée-and-chain mechanisms in several modern Berthoud creations, this one is a new construction. Let’s start with the basics. Dating from the 15th century, the fusée was used in clocks and pocket watches. It is one of the earliest solutions to the problem of the waning driving force delivered to the regulating organ of the movement. A fusée consists of a cone-shaped pulley, linked to a chain coiled around the barrel. The fusée features a spiral thread to receive the chain. Thanks to the increasing circumference of the thread, the diminishing force of the mainspring is compensated (very much like the gearing of a bicycle). As the mainspring unwinds, the chain rolls on the barrel and off the fusée. The increasing leverage of the fusée compensates for the waning torque of the barrel.
The fusée developed for the FB-BTC.FC calibre features a direct drive stopwork to prevent overwinding. An interesting feature for this chronometer, to prevent the watch from stopping during winding, a winding pawl and an auxiliary spring integrated into the fusee provide torque that enables the movement to continue running (for approximately up to 30 minutes, which is more than sufficient). When fully wound, the barrel delivers 50 hours of autonomy. Specifically developed for this calibre, the chain measures 172 mm in length with 477 components. Although they are handmade, the 285 links are thinner than those used in previous Berthoud watches.
The regulating organ features a bimetallic Guillaume-type thermo-compensated split balance beating at 21,600 vibrations/hour. This traditional solution, no longer in use today, is one of the earliest solutions to the impact of temperature changes on a watch’s precision. Indeed, temperature changes expand or contract metal, changing the balance wheel’s diameter and the hairspring’s elasticity. This causes the watch to run faster or slower. Here, the balance wheel rim is made of two metals with different thermal expansion coefficients and features a cut-out. This allows the arms of the rim to bend slightly with temperature variations, hence changing the moment of inertia of the balance and compensating for the softening or hardening of the hairspring.
The balance of the NM3 is equipped with four gold adjustment screws (for regulating the rate), two nickel silver adjustment weights on the split rim (for regulating thermal compensation) and two fixed weights, ensuring the inertia of the balance. The hairspring itself is custom-made, blued, cut, pinned, counted and centred by hand. As such, balance wheels have virtually disappeared (the latest modern watch I have got in my hands with one was the recreation of a Girard-Perregaux 3-bridge tourbillon pocket watch some 20 years ago), re-learning how to craft and adjust these is a true feat! Another neat detail inspired by past Berthoud creations, the shock absorber system uses diamond endstones visible on both sides of the movement.
As always with Ferdinand Berthoud, each component of the movement is meticulously hand-finished, showcasing the brand’s commitment to impeccable craftsmanship. The bridges and plates are made of sandblasted nickel silver and assembled with polished steel pillars. The quality control of the decorations is carried out using a 6.7x magnifying glass.
Availability & Price
At CHF 850,000, the Ferdinand Berthoud Naissance d’un Montre 3 certainly comes at a hefty price, but again, the craftsmanship behind it is anything but ordinary. And then, you’re not just buying a watch, you’ll be owning a masterpiece… The watch will be released in a series of 11 pieces only. A one-of-a-kind stainless-steel watch that will be auctioned in November 2025 with Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo in Geneva. The remaining 10 pieces are planned to be made in gold and produced at a rate of two watches per year as of 2026.
For more information, please visit www.ferdinandberthoud.ch and timeaeon.org.
