If you ask watch enthusiasts what they consider to be the most fascinating complication, quite a few will probably answer ‘world time’. It is a complication that many haute horlogerie manufacturers have tackled, but they are not alone. Some have made it their hallmark, whilst others have created watches that have become examples of technical and artistic mastery, as is the case with the ANDERSEN Genève manufacture.
The most recent examples are the Communication 45 models in gold, launched in 2025, and in platinum, unveiled at the Geneva Watch Days 2026. These models trace their origins back to the worldtimers that Svend Andersen, the brand’s founder, created in the 1990s; these laid the foundations for the current models, becoming examples of the very finest watchmaking applied to a historic and long-cherished complication.
SVEND ANDERSEN AND THE ‘WORLD TIME’ COMPLICATION
Svend Andersen first came into contact with the ‘world time’ system whilst restoring watches in Lucerne in the 1960s; he subsequently deepened his understanding of it during the decade he spent in Patek Philippe’s Grand Complications workshop in the 1970s. Indeed, Patek Philippe was one of the first brands to utilise the world-time mechanism and its display, developed in the 1930s by Louis Cottier.
Fascinated by this complication, in the late 1980s Svend Andersen developed his own ultra-thin world time module (often just 0.9 mm thick) at the request of a number of Italian collectors. This module formed the basis of his first world timer, the Communication 24, launched in 1990 via a subscription scheme. He went on to produce twenty-four pieces, featuring blue-and-gold world-map dials and gold cases, crafted by the specialist Jean-Pierre Hagmann.
The design was very simple and clean, featuring a large gold bezel inscribed with city names, a rotating flange displaying the 24 time zones, an enamelled globe at the centre of the dial, and two prominent gold dagger-shaped hour and minute hands. With its classic proportions, city-name bezel and distinctive lugs, it drew inspiration from the first world time watches created by Cottier for Patek Philippe.
That small series was an immediate success. The announcement of the opening of subscriptions was published in a single specialist magazine in Germany: in just two weeks, 18 collectors paid the subscription deposit to secure their watch. The remaining six pieces sold out in no time.
This was followed, also in 1990, by the first mass-produced watch from ANDERSEN Genève, known simply as the Communication, almost identical to the first model, with the case again crafted by Hagmann, but featuring teardrop-shaped lugs rather than straight ones. Although mass-produced, only a small number were made – fewer than 100.
THE COMMUNICATION 45: FROM GOLD TO PLATINUM
More than 40 years on, and having developed the world time complication in a number of limited editions – which you can read about here – ANDERSEN Genève launched a new world timer in 2025. It is the Communication 45, featuring a 3N yellow gold case, handcrafted in a limited edition of 45 pieces – one for each year of the brand’s existence. This is the tenth series of world time watches created by Andersen Genève since 1990. Refined, technically challenging and captivating in its details, the Communication 45 embodies the manufacture’s core values: meticulous design and craftsmanship, the use of exceptional materials, and a deep and unwavering commitment to artisanal techniques, both in mechanics and in decoration.
This year, the manufacture is repeating the concept, with the Communication 45 making its debut in platinum, once again paying homage to the 1990 Communication, whose case was crafted from the same precious metal. Like last year’s watch, the Communication 45 Platinum Edition is produced in a limited run of 45 pieces, divided into three distinct series of 15 pieces, each featuring a dial depicting Europe, Asia or the Americas. The world time layout remains familiar, but the overall mood is transformed.
THE DIALS OF THE COMMUNICATION 45 AND THE ‘GUILLOCHÉ-TAPISSERIE’
Beyond the mechanics, the true heart of the watch lies in the dials and their exceptional cartographic decoration. In both the gold-cased and platinum-cased versions, the central dial is crafted from 21-carat ‘BlueGold’. It is engraved with the historic wavy ‘guilloché-tapisserie’ motif. This is applied prior to the burnishing process, using a vintage guilloché-tapisserie machine that replicates a model originally created for decorating pocket watches during the Belle Époque, between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This machine, which preserves the depth and texture of the original motif, was discovered by Svend Andersen over 30 years ago in the workshop of a master guilloché artisan, Mr Mayor, and has been a hallmark of Andersen Genève watches ever since.
The mould used to create the ‘guilloché-tapisserie’ dates back to the 1980s and 1990s; it is a glass disc. Svend Andersen used this mould to create many different models for ANDERSEN Genève. When Mr Mayor retired, the Manufacture managed to recover the mould featuring the original tapisserie pattern. The problem was that, by 2021, no one in Switzerland owned a ‘guilloché-tapisserie’ machine any more.
Thanks to a guilloché enthusiast near London, ANDERSEN Genève was able to carry out the first tests for the Communication 45 dials, as he owns two ‘guilloché-tapisserie’ machines. It is also thanks to him that ANDERSEN Genève managed to replicate the original mould – made of glass and far too fragile – to reproduce it in resin. In 2025, the Manufacture found a workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds that owns a ‘guilloché-tapisserie’ machine, and since then all the dials have been produced there.
THE NEW ‘BLUEGOLD’
‘BlueGold’ is a gold alloy combined with ferrous elements and subjected to heat treatment, which develops a coloured layer of oxidation on the surface with a brilliant and permanent sheen. The shade is achieved through precise control of the temperature, firing time and atmosphere within the kiln – the result of extensive experimentation by the watchmakers at ANDERSEN Genève.
This technique remains exclusive to this manufacture in watchmaking. As each piece is crafted individually and is subject to a myriad of nuances in terms of timing, chemical composition and atmospheric factors – all aspects which, ultimately, are guided by the watchmaker’s intuition – every “BlueGold” piece becomes a unique variation with its own character.
THE HAND-FINISHES OF THE COMMUNICATION 45
In the gold version, the rich cognac hue of the dial is achieved through oven firing at the Andersen Genève atelier, using the ‘BlueGold’ technique. Against the golden reflections of the sea, the continental areas in yellow gold stand out, inlaid through a multi-stage engraving and filling process that the manufacture has developed specifically for this watch.
In the so-called Platinum Edition, the dial is fired to achieve the deep blue hue characteristic of Andersen Genève, an effect distinct from the cognac and yellow gold but equally striking. Here, the continental areas, which stand out against the blue backdrop of the sea, are inlaid in white gold using a multi-stage engraving and filling process developed for the Communication 45: the surface is removed to a depth of 0.2 mm, then filled with liquid lacquer of unalloyed white gold.
The gold-cased version features a 24-hour ring divided into day and night sections in cream and brown respectively; in the platinum version, these are silver and blue. The city ring is cream-coloured in the gold version and silver-coloured with a circular satin finish in the platinum version. The names of the 24 cities, corresponding to the 24 time zones, are set in the Communication 45 typeface, created specifically by Andersen Genève. In place of the name ‘Geneva’ is the brand’s logo, which depicts a screw head.
THE COMMUNICATION 45 CASES
Both the 3N yellow gold and platinum cases measure 38 mm in diameter and 8.97 mm in thickness, and are crafted entirely by hand in La Chaux-de-Fonds, at ANDERSEN Genève’s second workshop. They are the work of Marco Poluzzi, a long-standing collaborator of the manufacture, who creates them without the use of CNC machines. For over 50 years, Poluzzi has collaborated with many of the leading names in Swiss watchmaking, and in 2022 his workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds was acquired by ANDERSEN Genève, which has made it its second production site alongside the Geneva workshop. The acquisition holds profound significance: Poluzzi is now training a new generation of boîtiers (artisans specialising in case-making) to carry on this delicate traditional craft.
The cases of the Communication 45 feature a three-part structure, are hand-polished to a mirror finish, and are distinguished by the shape of their lugs, which combine the teardrop style – previously used by Jean-Pierre Hagmann for the 1990 Communication – with a more sinuous silhouette. Viewed in profile, the effect is that of ‘cornes de vache’, reminiscent of models from brands such as Vacheron Constantin and Patek Philippe.
Each case is hand-engraved with its own edition number and features two crowns, one on each side: the one at 9 o’clock is used to select the city, whilst the one at 3 o’clock winds the watch and sets the time. The crown for selecting the city is engraved with the special C45 Anniversary logo, featuring the number 45 enclosed within a globe; the crown for setting the time bears the brand’s logo. Each watch is individually numbered ‘X/15’ according to the map of the continent featured on the dial, and the number is hand-engraved on the case back.
THE MOVEMENT BY ANDERSEN GENÈVE
The movement powering the Communication 45 in gold and platinum is a vintage automatic calibre, specially selected by ANDERSEN Genève for its slim profile and reliability. Calibres of this type have been used in several of the brand’s world timer models, including the Celestial Voyager, the Heures du Monde created in collaboration with Asprey, and previous editions of the Tempus Terrae. It operates at 21,600 vibrations per hour and has a power reserve of 40 hours.
This calibre is complemented by the latest version of the ‘world time’ module manufactured by ANDERSEN Genève, based on the one originally designed by Svend in the 1980s and continuously refined to ensure the very best in terms of precision, efficiency and ease of use.
Each calibre is decorated to an exceptional standard, entirely by hand. The bridges and plates feature a delicate satin finish, resulting in a matt texture reminiscent of early 20th-century finishing styles and creating a striking contrast with the polished chamfers. The screws are mirror-polished and the teeth of the wheels are finished to precise tolerances, enhancing both functionality and aesthetics.
What really catches the eye, however, is the BlueGold oscillating weight, which shares the same colour and tapisserie guilloché decoration as the dial: in the gold version it is cognac-coloured, whilst in the platinum version it is deep blue. The brand’s ‘A’ logo is engraved on the underside of the balance bridge, with a polished, hot-blued screw head at its centre.
AVAILABILITY, PRICE AND CONSIDERATIONS
Both watches feature a strap with a pin buckle, in 3N yellow gold or platinum. The gold Communication 45 has a brown crocodile leather strap, whilst the platinum version has a dark blue suede strap. The prices? 49,800 francs for the gold model, 54,800 francs for the platinum model.
In essence, the two editions of the Communication 45 – in yellow gold and platinum – confirm that there is still scope to reinterpret a historic complication such as World Time through an authentically artisanal approach, far removed from the logic of mass production. From the creation of the Grand Feu enamel dials to the painstaking work on the cases, every detail reflects a philosophy that places artisanal expertise at the centre, preserving techniques and skills that continue to represent the essence of independent haute horlogerie.
From 2 to 6 September, during the Geneva Watch Days 2026, visitors to Geneva will have the opportunity to visit the ANDERSEN Genève Atelier (by appointment, which can be requested via the official website:https://www.andersen-geneve.ch/contact). This is an opportunity not only to see and try on the Communication 45, but also to step inside the workshop where every creation takes shape, observing at close quarters the techniques and craftsmanship that have defined the brand’s identity for over forty years. Because, in this case, understanding the watch also means understanding the people, the tools and the artisanal expertise that make it possible.
By Davide Passoni