Unveiled in 2025 to mark the tenth anniversary of Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud, Naissance d’une Montre 3 is an ambitious project dedicated to preserving traditional watchmaking skills.
While the first unique example has already achieved an exceptional result at auction, the project is now moving into its next phase, with the first watches from a ten-piece series beginning delivery in 2026.
Production is limited to just two watches per year, reflecting the time and expertise required to complete each timepiece.
The project continues the Naissance d’une Montre initiative, launched in 2009 to safeguard traditional horological knowledge and ensure that practical skills are passed on to a new generation of watchmakers.
Its development has been documented by the Time Æon Foundation, which has supported the initiative since its inception.
The first chapter of Naissance d’une Montre ran from 2009 to 2015 and brought together Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey, Philippe Dufour and watchmaker Michel Boulanger. The resulting series comprised ten watches, with the first example selling at Christie’s in 2016 for more than US$1 million.
The second chapter, developed between 2015 and 2021, involved Greubel Forsey, Felix Baumgartner, Martin Frei and young watchmakers Dominique Buser and Cyrano Devanthey, culminating in a unique timepiece.
Naissance d’une Montre 3 continues this approach through an extensive collaboration between the artisans of Chronométrie Ferdinand Berthoud and Chopard.
More than 80 artisans and specialists contributed over five years to developing the project, combining traditional techniques with the technical and organisational resources of both manufactures.
The first watch was produced exclusively for Phillips in association with Bacs & Russo. This unique stainless-steel example was sold in Geneva on 8 November 2025 for CHF 1,270,000, confirming strong collector interest in the project. The following ten watches are crafted in 18-carat ethical gold, with production scheduled at a rate of two per year from 2026 at a price of CHF 850,000 each.
At the heart of Naissance d’une Montre 3 is a movement designed around traditional mechanical solutions, including a fusee-and-chain transmission.
Assembled from 477 individual steel components and measuring 172 mm in length, the chain helps maintain more consistent torque as the mainspring unwinds.
This mechanism is complemented by a Breguet-type stopwork that limits the useful portion of the mainspring’s winding range to approximately four of its 8.5 turns, while an auxiliary spring maintains energy transmission during winding.
Another notable feature is the Guillaume-type bimetallic balance, made from Invar and brass.
Developed to compensate for the effects of temperature on the balance spring and balance, this construction draws on the work of physicist Charles-Édouard Guillaume, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920 for his research on the properties of nickel-steel alloys.
Guillaume was born in Fleurier, the same Swiss village associated with Ferdinand Berthoud.
The first watch achieved strong results during COSC chronometer testing, with an average daily rate across positions of 0.91 seconds per day, a rate variation of 0.01 seconds per day per degree Celsius and a rate correction of 0.69 seconds per day. Each movement is individually certified by COSC.
The hand-wound calibre FB-BTC.FC measures 37.5 mm in diameter and 8.35 mm in thickness. It comprises 747 components, including the chain, and is built around a nickel-silver mainplate and 13 bridges.
The movement operates at 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz), contains 37 jewels and provides a power reserve of 50 hours.
It features a Swiss lever escapement, a balance-stop mechanism and diamond endstones. Traditional finishing and engraving complete the movement.
The movement is housed in an 18-carat white gold case measuring 44.3 mm in diameter and 13 mm in height, offering water resistance to 30 metres.
The white gold dial features Roman numerals for the hours, Arabic numerals for the minutes, a dedicated seconds ring, and a power-reserve indicator, complemented by blued steel hands finished using traditional techniques.
The gold used throughout the series is certified under the Responsible Jewellery Council’s Chain of Custody standard.
A finalist in the Mechanical Exception category at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève 2026, Naissance d’une Montre 3 is more than a limited series of technically ambitious watches.
By requiring each timepiece to be made through a slow, highly skilled process, the project seeks to preserve practical knowledge in areas ranging from metallurgy and balance adjustment to the construction and finishing of complex movements. Its significance lies as much in the transmission of these skills as in the finished watches themselves. ferdinandberthoud.ch
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