If you need an excuse to tick a trip to Tokyo or Osaka off your bucket list, Andersen Genève can offer as good a reason as any. The revered watchmaker has created a special edition for its Japanese clientele, a community that has always been staunch supporters of the brand.

To appreciate Andersen Genève’s provenance, one need only look at the date of its founding – 1980 – a time when traditional watchmaking was under siege by quartz technology.

Svend Andersen, the company’s founder, was one of the earliest proponents of a movement comprising like-minded master watchmakers, many of whom joined him when he established the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI).

All were artisans who refused to let the mechanical wristwatch succumb to the onslaught of throwaway, battery-driven ephemera. Early adopters were the most fastidious watch connoisseurs in the world: Japanese collectors who recognised that this coterie of horologists wasn’t simply keeping mechanical watches alive, but furthering development with new calibres and functions.

Andersen Genève swiftly created a following in Japan and since those early days, the company has produced watches specifically for Japanese collectors, among them several unique pieces. Most notable is the Shellman Voyage World Time watch of 2005, a 50-piece limited edition made in collaboration with Mr Yoshi Isogai of the celebrated retailer Shellman. As few are resold, any limited editions are quickly snapped up by the company’s devoted followers.

Recalling the 40th Anniversary timepiece released in 2020, the Andersen Genève Jumping Hours watch in red gold with blue gold dial, the new Jumping Hours Rising Sun Edition features a hand-crafted platinum case with a dial of 18k pink gold, its rosy dial a nod to the celestial object. Limited to 50 pieces, the new edition was unveiled at the Tokyo residence of Switzerland’s ambassador to Japan, Mr Andreas Baum, on 13 June this year.

Jumping Hours watches are an Andersen Genève specialty, the complication showing the hour through a window in the dial, located at what would conventionally be the 12 o’clock position on a conventional display. As the hour is represented by a numeral, rather than the sweep of a hand, the hour “jumps” from one to the next. The minutes, however, are shown via a white gold hand pointing to a railway chapter ring, printed in dark blue, in a sub-dial at the bottom of the main dial.

It is an exemplar of minimalism, allowing the dial itself to showcase a combination of exquisite guilloche patterns. These were realised by one of Switzerland’s finest engravers, with each dial demanding several days’ effort and three different engine- turning machines to achieve the elaborate surface. The main dial carries a “magic losange” pattern, while the minutes sub-dial is finished in a hobnail pattern.

As for the 38mm case itself, this, too, requires different machining techniques to create the satin- brushed flanks and mirror-polished bezel. The curved lugs, a signature design feature of Andersen Genève, are made separately, then carefully welded to the case, framing the grey leather strap. The caseback is fitted with sapphire glass to reveal the hand-finished movement, with anglage around the components, Côtes de Genève decoration and mirror-polishing of the screw-heads. All finishing is undertaken in-house by skilled artisans.

Powered by the Frédéric Piguet 11.50 calibre, the movement bears a decorated winding rotor in 18k pink gold and is accented by a ring of 21k blue gold, the colour created via a unique heat-treatment process. As the movement is ultra-slim, its dimensions make it an ideal host for the jumping hours mechanism developed and assembled in-house by Andersen Genève. Its two-barrel architecture provides a generous power reserve of up to 72 hours.

Priced at CHF 48,800, the Andersen Genève Jumping Hours Rising Sun Edition will soon join the ranks of the most coveted collectibles. Then again, any Andersen Genève timepiece is a rara avis.