There are watches that hide their brilliance behind a closed caseback and those that put everything on show. Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud spent a decade firmly in the first camp, and I found it genuinely fascinating. Now, with the Chronomètre FB 2TV.1, the brand flips the entire premise: every critical complication faces the viewer, and the spectacle that results is breathtaking. This is Chapter 1 of the “Mesure du Temps 1787” collection, named after Ferdinand Berthoud’s 1787 treatise in which the master codified the principles of precision timekeeping. After a decade of hiding horological complexity on the reverse side, Berthoud now invites you to read every gear, every link, and every pivot directly from above.
What You Are Looking At
The dial side of the FB 2TV.1 is not a dial in the conventional sense. It is the movement itself, brought forward and disciplined into something readable. At 12 o’clock, an off-centred hours and minutes subdial sits anchored on pillars, a direct visual callback to the Chronomètre FB 1. The base material is matt white varnished brass, and the minutes track cuts right into it with glossy black varnished engravings, creating a contrast sharp enough to read at a glance. A separate inner bezel ring in matt white lacquered brass, similarly engraved in glossy black and secured by four pillars, frames the periphery for the seconds hand.
The hands reward close inspection. The hours and minutes pair are sword-shaped, openworked, faceted and diamond-polished in 18-carat gold with a blue CVD coating that gives them a cool, steely depth. The central seconds hand is a 25.80 mm filamentary creation in blue CVD-treated sandblasted titanium, wafer-thin by necessity, since this hand must absorb the shock of flyback reset without any vibration. At 7:30, an arrow-shaped hand in blue CVD-treated bronze alloy sweeps across an engraved power-reserve segment cut directly into the centre bridge. Three distinct blue hues, three different materials, all perfectly coherent. Berthoud clearly thought this through.
Calibre FB-TV.FC: Six Years of R&D
The movement is the centrepiece, and its numbers carry real weight. Calibre FB-TV.FC measures 35.60 mm × 10.70 mm, contains 1,240 components, 777 of which belong exclusively to the 279 mm fusee-and-chain transmission, and demands nearly 300 hours of manual finishing per piece. At 10 to 12 watches per year, the maths on that finishing time is humbling.
The flying tourbillon cage spans 15 mm in diameter and rotates once per minute, built on three polished titanium pillars and supported solely by a single intermediate bridge with no upper bridge whatsoever. The 11.2 mm beryllium copper balance runs at 21,600 vph (3 Hz), carries four 18-carat gold fine-adjustment screws and features a hand-crafted Phillips terminal curve. The entire assembly holds a COSC chronometer certification.
The fusee-and-chain transmission, thoroughly redesigned from its predecessor, now runs in conventional cone orientation with the smaller diameter upward. Berthoud re-profiled the cone geometry to match the mainspring’s actual discharge curve, a subtle but meaningful chronometric refinement. Beneath the fusee, a triple satellite planetary differential enables continuous running during winding, and a double Maltese cross-type stopwork limits crown travel to approximately 6.25 turns. Power reserve grows from the previous 53 hours to 60 hours, and winding requires ten fewer crown rotations than the outgoing calibre.
The two new complications are what genuinely excite me. First, a stop-seconds mechanism immobilises the entire flying tourbillon carriage via the crown in setting position: precise, tactile and purposeful. Second, a flyback-type seconds reset operates via a coaxial pusher embedded in the dynamometric crown at 3 o’clock, returning the seconds hand to zero in a fraction of a second through a cam geometry borrowed from perpetual calendar architecture, eliminating rebound entirely. The 18 half-bridges and 13 pillars that structure the movement are bevelled, engraved and finely sandblasted by hand, and a spectacular 28 mm finishing gear train connecting 12 o’clock to the crown position at 3 o’clock becomes, simultaneously, a structural solution and one of the most visually arresting elements anywhere on the dial side.
The Case: Round, Substantial, Uncompromising
The 44 mm round case in ethical 18-carat white gold follows the profile Berthoud established with the FB 2RE in 2020. At 15.46 mm thick, it is substantial, but domed sapphire crystals on both front and back, glare-proofed on both surfaces, push the depth visually outward. The caseback crystal also reveals the flyback cam and the finishing gear train, so this watch rewards a full 360-degree inspection. The 9 mm dynamometric crown at 3 o’clock integrates the seconds-reset pusher, keeping the case profile clean. Water resistance reaches 30 metres.
Worthy of the Aiguille d’Or Legacy
The reference number FB 2TV.1 deliberately echoes the FB 1.1, the white gold and nickel silver watch that took home the Aiguille d’Or at the 2016 GPHG — the highest prize in independent watchmaking. Production runs to just 10 to 12 pieces annually, limited by the workshop’s capacity alone, not by an edition number. At EUR 382,000 excluding taxes, you get six years of R&D, 300 hours of hand-finishing, a genuinely original complication architecture, and a living piece of horological history. I think it is worth every euro.
Ferdinand Berthoud Chronomètre FB 2TV.1 Technical Specifications
Ref. FB 2TV.1 – EUR 382,000
Functions
- Hours and minutes at 12 o’clock (off-centred subdial)
- Central seconds hand
- Power reserve at 7:30
- Flyback-type central seconds reset via crown-integrated pusher
- Stop-seconds (hacking tourbillon carriage) via crown in time-setting position
Movement
- Calibre FB-TV.FC, mechanical hand-wound
- Flying tourbillon with constant force via fusee-and-chain mechanism
- Suspended fusee with triple satellite planetary differential and double Maltese cross-type stopwork (patented)
- Suspended barrel with pre-winding system (patented)
- Suspended mobile power-reserve cone (patented)
- Variable-inertia balance (Ø 11.2 mm, beryllium copper) with four 18-carat gold fine-adjustment screws
- Balance spring: hand-crafted Phillips terminal curve (steel alloy)
- Swiss lever escapement
- Frequency: 21,600 vph (3 Hz)
- Power reserve: 60 hours
- Jewels: 51
- Components: 1,240 (including 777 chain components across 279 mm)
- Half-bridges: 18 / Pillars: 13
- Tourbillon cage: Ø 15 mm in titanium, on three polished titanium pillars, poised by two 18-carat gold weights
- Movement dimensions: Ø 35.60 mm × 10.70 mm (15¾ lignes)
- COSC-certified chronometer
- Hand-finished: approx. 300 hours per piece
Case
- 18-carat ethical white gold, round case
- Diameter: 44 mm
- Thickness: 15.46 mm
- Crystal: domed sapphire, glare-proofed on both sides
- Case back: screw-down 18-carat white gold with domed sapphire crystal, glare-proofed on both sides
- Crown: 18-carat white gold dynamometric, Ø 9 mm, with integrated seconds-reset pusher
- Water resistance: 30 metres
Dial
- Off-centred hours and minutes subdial at 12 o’clock in matt white varnished brass with glossy black varnished engravings, secured by pillars
- Matt white lacquered brass seconds inner bezel ring with glossy black lacquered engravings, secured by four pillars
- Power-reserve segment engraved on the mainplate at 7:30
- Sword-shaped, faceted, diamond-polished, openworked hours and minutes hands in blue CVD-treated 18-carat gold
- Filamentary central seconds hand in blue CVD-treated sandblasted titanium (length: 25.80 mm)
- Arrow-shaped power-reserve hand in diamond-polished blue CVD-treated bronze alloy
Strap and Buckle
- Hand-sewn rolled-edge alligator strap (125 × 70 mm, buckle 20 mm)
- 18-carat white gold double-blade safety folding clasp, adjustable length (pin buckle available on request)
- Different materials, colours and sizes available on request
