quattro's deep dive into Svend Andersen's record-breaking Calendar watch from 1989 uncovers a fascinating piece of independent watchmaking history. By detailing its inspiration from Jaeger-LeCoultre's Duoplan and the technical ingenuity behind its calendar module, he sheds light on Andersen's significant contributions to horology. This post not only celebrates a Guinness World Record holder but also contextualizes its creation within the broader landscape of micro-mechanics and independent craftsmanship.
While browsing through the book Andersen Genève 45 Years of Independent Watchmaking , I came across this Calendar watch presented on pages 72-73.
Photo of my personal copy
As the caption at the bottom of the page states, this is the
smallest horological calendar watch and it earned
Svend Andersen an entry in the
Guinness Book of Records in
1989.
credit: @ahci_updates
First, here is what the watch looks like, with its yellow gold case and white gold lugs.
Its design is clearly inspired by the Jaeger-LeCoultre Duoplan âCrab Lugsâ, which, unlike the Andersen Genève, is a time-only watch.
As
Timothy Barber writes, the watch âwas built on a
tiny 1930s movement, a
handful of which were
salvaged from a
Parisian safe that had been locked for 50 yearsâ.
credit: @ichigo_ichieThese
movements used by
Svend Andersen are
based on the
Jaeger-LeCoultre calibre 101, which is the
smallest movement in the
Duoplan family, whose specificity is, as I explained in
this other post, to
group the
components on
two planes/
layers in order to obtain the
smallest possible
size.
Here is a caliber 101 signed Jaeger-LeCoultre...
...
another one
signed by the
European Watch Company (based on a
JLC ĂŠbauche)...
... and the
complete Duoplan family, with the
caliber 101 on the
left (the other three calibers are 104, 403 & 409).
credit: Watchfinder, Artcurial & Jaeger-LeCoultre
In the example of the Andersen Calendar watch presented above, the movement is signed Cartier.
And Svend Andersen added a calendar module which is only 0.7 mm thick on top of it, under the dial...
The
photo below shows just
how small this
watch is.
credit: @shellmann_isetan
As a
conclusion, here is, first,
another example with a
base movement signed
European Watch Company.
This one
belongs to
Yoshihide Isogai, former President of
Shellman Watches in Tokyo: you can see him talking about this watch in the
video below from minute 17:04.
credit: Hodinkee
And here is the actual
prototype, which
Svend Andersen gifted to
RenĂŠ Beyer and which is
on display at the
Beyer Museum in
Zurich.
I could be wrong, but the
movement seems to be
signed Cartier vertically.
RenĂŠ Beyer (left) receiving the
prototype from
Svend Andersen's hands (right).
credit: Beyer
Of course, this watch is very small, and its design certainly won't appeal to everyone (but I like it personally).
However, how can one not admire the way in which Svend Andersen, a watchmaker of great talent, has pushed the feat of miniaturization a little further by adding, in a very elegant way, a calendar complication to such a small timepiece?
Thanks for reading.
Best, Emmanuel
Talking Watches With Yoshihide Isogai
