World timers have always been an integral part of the Andersen Genève universe. In the 1980s, when the brand was initially set up, the first thing Svend did was, at the behest of his Italian collectors, develop his own ultra-thin world time module, at just 0.9mm thick. It was finally integrated into 1990’s Communication 24, which was offered on “souscription” – reservation with down payment – with cases crafted by the renowned casemaker Jean-Pierre Hagmann, who, during his lifetime, worked with everyone from brands such as Patek Philippe to the contemporary watchmaker Rexhep Rexhepi.

Now we have the Communication 45 – it is the 10th exclusive world-timer series since 1990 and a tribute to how the brand began. Suffice to say it’s gorgeous. The first thing you notice as you look at the dial is the centre, which appears to have nebulous clouds roiling in it. In fact, this is one of three landmasses – Europe, Asia and the Americas – of which 15 watches will be made for each map. The centre dial is made from proprietary 21k BlueGold. This is gold combined with iron elements and heat-treated to create a layer of oxidisation, and whose rich cognac tone is achieved by kiln firing, which is a brand signature.

This has been delicately engraved with Andersen Genève’s historic waveform tapisserie-guilloché pattern. To create the maps, or landmasses, Andersen Genève invented a new procedure. First, the landmass areas are removed to a depth of 0.2mm, then this void is infilled with a liquid lacquer of unalloyed gold, which is then cured and polished to give a smooth, even inlay of pure gold. The effect is three dimensional, with an apparent visual kinesis despite it being inanimate.

Andersen Genève’s new Communication 45

The 38mm case, this time, is made by the 83-year-old Marco Poluzzi, whose business Andersen Genève acquired and who is famed for making cases without using CNC machines. It has traditional Cottier-style crowns and the instantly recognisable world-time layout with a 24-hour rotating ring surrounded by a city disc representing time zones around the world, which is circular brushed and overlaid with cream lacquer. The local time is read centrally, indicated by the sword-shaped, skeletonised yellow-gold hands.

The movement is also interesting. Its base is a vintage A. Schild, a movement Andersen Genève has used before in its Celestial Voyager, Asprey Heures du Monde and Tempus Terrae. This company was one of the largest movement makers in Switzerland, operating from the 1890s until the 1970s making ébauches for the likes of Fortis and even Jaeger-LeCoultre.

However, as with so many businesses, the release of cheap Japanese quartz into the market hit the company especially hard and it was absorbed into ETA, now owned by the Swatch Group. Andersen Genève has taken this vintage base and added to it its own in-house world-time module, first used in the 1980s, creating a wonderful synergy between watchmaking’s past and near present.

The rotor, also in BlueGold Cognac, has been decorated with the same tapisserie-guilloché as the dial. It is a beautiful timepiece that is not only a nod to Andersen Genève’s history but to the lineage of world timers that started with Louis Cottier, and something that seems to blend tradition with innovation. The very spirit on which Andersen Genève was founded 45 years ago.

POA; andersen-geneve.ch