This story about the Andersen Genève Perpetuel Secular Calender 20th Anniversary will contain a lot of numbers. It will be about the number of days, months, years and leap years and at some point it could be quite hard to follow. But this story will also have people having sexy time in a watch. So please bear with us until the end.
Let’s start with the complicated stuff. In 1996, Andersen Genève presented the first perpetual secular calendar in wristwatch form that was “programmed” for a cycle of 400 years. Devised to accommodate the whims of the Gregorian calendar, this rare and challenging complication automatically adjusts its display to months with 30 or 31 days, and to the 28 or 29 days of February, and takes into account century years which, because they are not divisible by 400, are not leap years, namely 2100, 2200 and 2300. A single correction and February will have just 28 days (instead of the 29 shown by every other perpetual calendar).
Hand-engraved days of the week
In celebration of the 20th anniversary of its perpetual secular calendar, Andersen Genève has added a new complication: a day of the week indication. Given that their names are derived from the names of the sun, the moon and five planets, these seven bodies are shown as hand-engraved gold buttons on the dial. The current day of the week is shown by a dot in a small aperture above each one. Proposed as a 20-piece limited series, in platinum only. But what or/and who is Andersen? His name doesn’t sound Swiss. Andersen Genève was founded by Svend Andersen who was born in Denmark in 1942. He absolved normal and practical school and a four years’ apprenticeship as watchmaker. With his diploma from the Danish Watchmaker School integrated in the Royal Technological Institute of Copenhagen, he went to Switzerland in 1963 in order to see how the world’s best watches were made.
A Bottle Clock on show
He first worked at Gübelin Lucerne in the after-sales service and in 1965 he joined Gübelin Geneva. He was also responsible for the shop service because of his excellent knowledge of languages. In 1969 he made, as a hobby, his first Bottle Clock which was displayed at the Montres et Bijoux Show. This unique performance had brought him the renowned “Watchmaker of the impossible” as it was mentioned in the international press. Indeed, nobody had ever realized such a clock. Patek Philippe got interested in Andersen’s creations and, in 1969, Svend joined their Atelier des grandes complications. Svend launched his own workshop in the late 70’s after having spent 9 years at Patek Philippe. He started his career as independent watchmaker by first manufacturing cases for Italian collectors. Satisfied with the high quality of the work, the watch collectors started to ask for their own bespoke timepieces. Since then Andersen Genève has been developing complicated watches like the annual calendar, perpetuel calendar, and jumping hour calendar.
Erotic automata
Even more complicated are Andersen Genève’s watches with erotic scenes. Erotic scenes on watches are being asked by watch collectors for centuries. Pocket watches were having painted “erotic scenes”. Andersen Genève gave life to those scenes by creating the most complicated erotic automaton on the market since 1994. Eros watches carry the most complicated erotic automaton available on the market. It also offers its owner endless personalisation possibilities on the dial of the watch or on the erotic scene. Every fantasy can come true in a watch atelier. Thanks for sticking with us all the way to the end of the story, we hope you feel satisfied now.
Andersen Genève Perpetuel Secular Calender 20th Anniversary specifications
Movement: Automatic, “perpetual secular calendar” module developed and manufactured by Andersen Genève, 28 jewels, 28,800 vib/h, 40-hour power reserve. • Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, perpetual secular calendar with day, date, month and leap years over 400 years. • Case: Platinum, 42.8 mm. Water-resistant to 30 metres (3 bar / 100 ft). • Dial: Blue gold, hand-guillochage with “diamonds” motif. Sun, moon and five planets engraved in white gold, Andersen Genève logo engraved in white gold. Back dial with perpetual secular calendar display on 3 subdials (4-year cycle over 48 months, 400-year cycle with hand making two rotations per century, secular wheel making one rotation in 400 years). • Bracelet/strap: Hand-stitched alligator with platinum buckle.
