BCHH x ANDERSEN Genève Celestial Voyager “Sunset over Cappadocia” was conceived and manufactured in collaboration with AHCI co-founder and master watchmaker Svend Andersen in his Atelier ANDERSEN Genève, combining the high craftsmanship arts of cloisonné enameling and engine-turned guillochage, with the classical Louis Cottier-inspired world-time complication as well as numerous artisanal characteristics of Haute Horlogerie in movement and case finishing.
About BCHH
BCHH (Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie) was founded in 2019 by longtime collector Benjamin Chee as his flagship brand. Previously, Benjamin Chee also founded Celadon in 2012 and Milléchron in 2018.
BCHH was born out of a personal dream to combine traditional handmade Haute Horlogerie with artisans from other fields of classical high craftsmanship, to revive and improve upon ancient techniques once almost extinct, and in doing so, to create the finest watches in the world.
The mission of BCHH is also to accomplish Benjamin Chee’s profound wish to put his home country Singapore on the map of Haute Horlogerie not just as a consumer, but also as a creator. To combine Singaporean excellence with traditional Swiss watchmaking of the highest calibre.
The brand identity of BCHH conveys an aura of svelte elegance, sleek futuristic silhouettes, artistic dials, and unique high complications of historical distinction.
The BCHH Celestial Voyager
The BCHH Celestial Voyager was conceived and manufactured in collaboration with AHCI co-founder and master watchmaker Svend Andersen in his Atelier ANDERSEN Genève, combining the high craftsmanship arts of cloisonné enameling and engine-turned guillochage, with the classical Louis Cottier-inspired world-time complication as well as numerous artisanal characteristics of Haute Horlogerie in movement and case finishing.
The watch is produced in a limited edition of 10 pieces, each with a unique dial.
The “Sunset over Cappadocia” dial evokes the elegance and romance of travel, depicting hot air balloons soaring over the ethereal evening landscape of Cappadocia in Turkey.
The highly complicated cloisonné enamel dial exhibits enamelling technique of the highest skill, using more than a metre of gold wire on a dial less than 18mm in diameter and over 20 individually-fired colours.
To make each of the ten pieces in the edition more unique, the balloons on each dial may have different patterns on them, highlighting the level of detail considered in its design.
Cappadocia is written in rose gold on the city ring to reflect this special edition.
The watch is remarkable for remaining a svelte 10.1mm thin while encompassing a three-layered dial comprising a cloisonné enamel dial centre, aventurine city ring and 24-hour ring, as well as a mother of pearl caseback ring, not to mention the world-time complication itself.
Since 1980, ANDERSEN Genève has produced five editions of watches, along with some unique pieces, with the world time complication. In all, less than 1500 watches have been delivered by ANDERSEN Genève worldwide over the past 41 years.
Svend Andersen previously spent 9 years at the “Atelier des Grandes Complications” of Patek Philippe in the 1970s, working on watches with Louis Cottier’s world time complication.
Cottier had earlier developed this complication in 1930, and first introduced it on a wristwatch in 1950.
The five editions of world time watches are –
1. Communication
2. Christopher Columbus
3. Mundus
4. 1884
5. Tempus Terrae
Flowing from this illustrious bloodline, the BCHH Celestial Voyager is made with details and inspiration from all five editions. Firstly, the world time module was designed in the 1980s for the Communication and constantly upgraded. The engine-turned guilloché main rotor in ANDERSEN’s characteristic 21K BlueGold is drawn from the Tempus Terrae. The 1884 inspires the perfect colour for the Celestial Voyager’s 24 hour ring. And from the Mundus, the thinnest world time watch in history, flows the elegance of having two symmetrical crowns at 3 and 9 o’ clock and the overall emphasis on svelteness. Both the Mundus and the Celestial Voyager have been cased exclusively in platinum, reflecting their shared lineage as horological royalty.
Building upon its blue blooded ancestry, the Celestial Voyager features a stunning aventurine city ring with shining gold particles, the first ever use of aventurine on a world time watch in history, combined with a magnificent cloisonné enamel dial.
The dial, a masterpiece in itself, is handcrafted in La Chaux-de-Fonds with great patience and skill by forming thin gold wire by hand into the shapes that create the desired image, on a solid gold base just 18mm in diameter. The colours are then individually filled in by minuscule brushes, and then the dial is fired in an oven over twenty times, with each firing potentially destroying the dial and requiring the master enameller to start again from scratch.
The awe-inspiring artistic dial and superlative movement are encased in a majestic case with separately-soldered flowing “ailes d’aigle” lugs (eagle’s wings lugs). The overall case leverages the characteristic of the harmoniously graceful BCHH design language, with alternating polished and brushed finishing executed by hand.
Extensive finishing work has been done on the movement with special polishing of the wheels, screws and even teeth of the ratchet wheel. Delicate anglage and Geneva stripes add the final outstanding coup de grace to the Celestial Voyager’s beating heart.
The ratchet and crown wheels are all hand-chamfered, mirror-polished and all visible surfaces of the wheels are adorned with snailing and circular-graining.
The wheels of the self-winding mechanism are rhodium-plated with snailing.
The screws are also polished and refined, as well as the plate of the self-winding mechanism and pawl.
The BlueGold rotor reflects the lineage of ANDERSEN Genève, which has been their signature flourish mastered over decades. To produce it, gold is heated in an oven and gradually turns blue, with no two rotors being identical. The traditional engine-turned guilloché main “scale motive” applied to it further adds to the artisanal craftsmanship aspect of the Celestial Voyager.
The watch’s two symmetrical crowns echo the ancestry of the third ANDERSEN Genève world time, the Mundus. They are extremely thin in the pursuit of elegance, yet still tactile given their width. The left crown, bearing the BCHH Seal, adjusts the city ring, while the right crown, engraved with the ANDERSEN logo, adjusts the time.
Given the highly bespoke nature of the BCHH brand and its rarefied production numbers, practically every aspect of the Celestial Voyager may be customised. From the city names on the ring, to the enamel dial image and the guilloché pattern on the rotor, each Celestial Voyager will stand unique in the entire world.
Absolutely no compromise is made on the quality of craftsmanship of the Celestial Voyager, given the unyieldingly high standards of both BCHH and ANDERSEN Genève. One hundred percent of the watch, and every component, is produced in Switzerland, whether in the ANDERSEN atelier in Geneva or Neuchatel, with the cloisonné enamel dial handcrafted in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Pedigree
100% Made in Switzerland – in the ANDERSEN Genève atelier in Geneva or Neuchâtel, with the cloisonné enamel dial handcrafted in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Only 10 pieces will be made, with each dial unique
BCHH x ANDERSEN Genève Celestial Voyager “Sunset over Cappadocia” Technical Specifications
Movement
- Historical AS automatic movement upgraded in finishing and function by ANDERSEN Genève with proprietary world time complication mod-ule
- 21K BlueGold rotor with traditional engine-turned guilloché main “scale motive”
- Mother-of-pearl ring bearing the names of Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie and ANDERSEN Genève
- Anglage and Geneva stripes all done by hand
- Ratchet and crown wheels are all hand-chamfered, mirror-polished and all visible surfaces of the wheels are adorned with snailing and circular graining.
- The screws are also polished and refined, as well as the plate of the self-winding mechanism and pawl.
- 21,600 vph
- Approx 40 hours power reserve
- Flat balance
- 21 jewels
Dial and Hands
- Multi-part, with a rotating ring displaying 24 hours
- Centre disc of 18mm in cloisonné enamel
- City ring in Aventurine
- BCHH signature formed by hand in gold
- Skeleton feuille hands in white gold with cream finish
Case
- Platinum 950 case with soldered flowing “ailes d’aigle” lugs (eagle’s wings lugs)
- Extensive hand-finishing on case, with fine satin brushing on sides and polished scalloped lugs
- Sapphire front and rear crystals with double AR coating
- Twin symmetrical crowns at 3 and 9 o’clock with ANDERSEN and BCHH Seals
- Left crown adjusts the city ring
- Right crown sets the time
- 37.7mm diameter
- 10.1mm thin including crystal
- 19mm width between lugs
- 30m water resistance
Strap
- Hand-stitched alligator leather with platinum buckle
Price is 58,800 CHF in platinum.
About ANDERSEN Genève
ANDERSEN Genève has been creating high-end timepieces for Collectors for more than four decades. Svend Andersen launched his own workshop in Geneva in 1980 after having spent nine years at Patek Philippe in their Atelier des Grandes Complications.
Svend was already well known by Collectors worldwide, thanks to his outstanding achievement: “The Bottle Clock” in 1969. In 1980 a Swiss Collector asked him to reconstruct and make a new gold case for a very complicated pocket watch movement from Louis Audemars. He did it and more and more Collectors arrived with such demand. So, he started his career as independent watchmaker by first manufacturing pocket watch cases, with harmonious styles, for Collectors. Satisfied with the high quality of the work, watch Collectors started to ask for their personalized and bespoke timepiece (called “Pièce Unique”). Ever since, ANDERSEN Genève has been developing complicated watches such as the annual calendar, perpetual calendar, and jumping hour calendars. One of ANDERSEN Genève’s most complicated watch developed is the Secular
Perpetual Calender. It is a watch that accommodates a quirk of the Gregorian Calendar; three secular years, not divisible by 400: 2100, 2200 and 2300 and are not leap years. In these years’ regular perpetual calendars require manual correction, for e.g. it doesn’t need an extra day in February (there is no “29”). The complication developed by ANDERSEN Genève will show the date without adjustment every year up to and beyond 2400.
Svend gained recognition not only from watch Collectors but also from his peers. He co-founded the AHCI – Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants in 1985. In 1989 he developed the smallest calendar watch (6.5 x 17.4mm) ever produced; roughly the size of a match head. He was awarded world records from the Guinness Book. In 1994 one of his world time watches, the “MUNDUS”, was awarded the thinnest world time watch ever made.
While working at Patek Philippe in the early 70’s, Svend had the chance to work on the world-time complication developed by the Geneva-based watch maker Louis Cottier. Mr. Cottier created the first pocket watch in the 1930’s and then the first wristwatch with an indication of different time zones. In commemoration to Louis Cottier’s first world time wristwatch, ANDERSEN Genève designed its first World time watch in 1989, the “Communication”. It was a great success and the watches were delivered to watch Collectors in 1990. Followed the “Christophorus Colombus”, the “Mundus”, the “1884” and the “Tempus Terrae” series of world time watches and “Pièce Unique”. World time watches are indeed part of Andersen Genève’s DNA.
Other ANDERSEN Genève’s iconic timepieces are the collections of Automaton’s (Eros & Automaton JOKER) watches and Montres A Tact.
Eros watches carry the most complicated horological automaton ever made. It also offers its owner endless personalization possibilities on the automaton and the dial of the watch or for the erotic scene.
Montre A Tact watches have 2 reading time windows on the case of the watch so that its owner doesn’t need to turn his wrist to read time. The complication developed in house is added on a vintage high-quality automatic movement upgraded by ANDERSEN Genève. This watch doesn’t have hands on the dial and offers a wide range of personalization from hand painted scenes to any type of hand guilloché, hand engraving or precious stones. Portraits, coat of arms, miniature painted or hand engraved scenes have been realized with the help of master craftsmen of their respective fields.