FERDINAND Berthoud (the brand is a member of the Chopard Group, along with Chopard itself, as well as Fleurier Ebauches SA) was originally launched in 2015, when its first watch, the laconically named FB 1, was introduced.

That watch was inspired by the design, as well as some of the technical features, of marine chronometers and it included, in addition to an unusual central seconds hand directly driven by the tourbillon cage, a chain-and-fusee mechanism for providing unvarying torque throughout the running time of the watch (a standard feature in boxed marine chronometers) as well as a number of other interesting features, including a conical power reserve indicator. The case was inspired by the gimballed boxes in which marine chronometers were housed on board the ships which used them as essential navigation instruments, and the overall design seemed pleasantly harmonious — my first impression of the watch was that for all its complexity, it was surprisingly easy to wear, and that impression was reinforced in 2017, when I finally had an opportunity to wear one for A Week On The Wrist.

The number of watches produced each year at Ferdinand Berthoud is quite low, with the original FB 1 produced in a limited run of 50 pieces in either white gold or titanium, and correspondingly small numbers for follow-ups. The original FB 1 was critically very well received, winning the Aiguille d’Or (first prize for the best watch of the year) at the 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. Subsequent variations of the FB 1 take the same basic movement and design as a starting point, but introduce new design elements; the FB 1.4, for example, omits the sapphire windows built into the case flanks of earlier versions, but adds movement bridges made of sapphire, which allow the owner to better appreciate the complexity of the mechanism, and to more easily see the relationship between the various motive elements, including the fusee, barrel and the tourbillon itself.

The FB 1L is the first Ferdinand Berthoud watch to feature a complication (strictly speaking, things like fusees and tourbillons are not, at least if you are a persnickety traditionalist about watch terminology, complications, but are instead considered regulating devices). The FB 1L shows the age and phase of the moon — the two terms are related but distinct; the phase of the moon is defined as the shape of the sunlit portion of the lunar disk, while the age is the number of days since the last new moon.

These two pieces of information are shown by a hand that points to a sector on the dial that shows the current moonphase, and which also counts up the number of days since the last new moon (up to 14) and then counts down again. The hand is driven by a rack-and-gear system (a “feeler-spindle” as FB calls it) with the nose of the rack riding against a cam the diameter of the entire dial — the display is extremely accurate, accumulating only one day’s error in 577 years. In order to avoid confusion as to whether the moon is waxing or waning, a second window on the dial, located between 4.00 and 5.00 (approximately), lets you easily see if the moonphase hand is rising or returning.

The watch will be made in two versions — the Far Side Of The Moon version (FB 1.L4) shows the far side of the moon on the dial, and is made of sandblasted white gold, with lugs and side elements of ceramised titanium. The Near Side Of The Moon (FB 1L.1) is in white gold, with black ceramic lugs, and shows the side of the moon visible from earth (as the moon is tidally locked in its orbit, the same side always faces us).

Initial thoughts

For a company which takes its inspiration from the life and work of the famous French chronometer pioneer, Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807), the moonphase complication seems a natural one to explore. During Berthoud’s lifetime, a number of different systems for calculating the longitude were tried, and one was the system of “lunar distances” based on using observations of the angular distance between the moon and another celestial object.

Making such observations accurately was a significant challenge (I still remember struggling, one hot summer afternoon on someone else’s boat a few years ago, to learn how to use a sextant) and one instrument used to refine the precision of such observations was a double-telescope apparatus known as a repeating circle — sometimes called a Cercle de Borda, after Jean-Charles de Borda (1733-1799), the French mathematician, scientist and navigation pioneer who invented it. De Borda was a contemporary of Berthoud’s and used his chronometers, most notably during a voyage on the frigate La Flore, in 1777. The system of lunar distances was eventually superseded as marine chronometers became more and more accurate, but the two methods coexisted for many decades and navigators were expected to know both, as the accuracy of a marine chronometer could be checked against the lunar-distance method, which could also function as a backup system of navigation should the chronometer stop working or otherwise malfunction.

The connection between Berthoud and de Borda is something the company, Ferdinand Berthoud, made much of on the release of the FB 1L, but it is a logical connection to make if you are going the historic inspiration route at all and I give the company a lot of credit for handling the complication in a considered fashion.

A standard moonphase display, however accurate, simply does not feel particularly accurate — or perhaps I should say, to be more precise, that it does not situate you with respect to the cycles of the lunar disk in a particularly intuitive fashion. With this version of the moonphase display (for which Ferdinand Berthoud has a patent) you get, once you have adjusted to reading the display, a direct sense of where the moon is in its cycles and in its orbits around the earth. It is much more elaborate than a conventional display (or a spherical moonphase) but then, this kind of fits the notion of using lunar distances to calculate the longitude, which was theoretically as accurate, but much more difficult and complex, than just using an accurate sea-clock to calculate the angular distance from Greenwich.

It is also, in its implementation, very much a celebration of the pleasure watch enthusiasts, and lovers of mechanics in general, take in mechanics as an end in itself. The cam, rack and gear system is enjoyable to watch in operation, and designed in a way very much in harmony with the rest of the watch and like the tourbillon, the direct drive centre seconds and the chain-and-fusee system, it is both unnecessary and clever at the same time, as well as a tangible connection to antiquated but still interesting practices in navigation. And, despite the complexity of the watch, Ferdinand Berthoud recognises that a watch ought not to be uncomfortable to wear, at least occasionally — while the 44mm diameter seems a bit daunting as a raw number, the watch is still relatively flat for a timepiece with a chain-and-fusee mechanism at 13.95mm (this is partly thanks to the “hanging” mainspring barrel and fusee cone, which like a flying tourbillon are attached only to the mainplate, with no additional bridge to add thickness to the watch). — Bloomberg

This article was originally published on Hodinkee.

The basics
Brand: Ferdinand Berthoud
Model: FB 1L
Diameter: 44mm
Thickness: 13.95mm
Case material: White gold with sapphire windows in case flank; ceramic lug elements
Dial: Rhodium-plated brass; moon plate in rhodium-plated sandblasted brass
Water resistance: 30m
Strap/bracelet: Hand-stitched rolled edge alligator leather, white gold double-folding clasp (pin buckle available on request).

The movement
Calibre: FB-T.FC.L
Functions: Hours, minutes and centre seconds; age and phase of the moon
Diameter: 37.3mm
Thickness: 9.38mm
Power reserve: 53 hour
Winding: Manual
Frequency: 21,600vph
Jewels: 55
Chronometer certified: yes; COSC
Additional details: “Suspended” fusee cone and mainspring barrel; one minute tourbillon with titanium carriage, poised with 18k gold inertia blocks; direct drive centre seconds driven off the tourbillon cage; adjustable mass, free-sprung balance with Phillips outer terminal curve (overcoil). Power reserve on the back of the movement; Swiss lever escapement; rhodium-plated German silver half-bridges on titanium pillars.

Pricing and availability
Price: 265,000 Swiss francs or RM1.11 million (FB 1L.1, white gold); 250,000 Swiss francs (FB 1L.4, titanium)
Availability: Not yet announced
Limited edition: 10 pieces in each metal

For more, visit ferdinandberthoud.ch.