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Svend Andersen
Svend Andersen was born in Denmark in 1942. He absolved normal and practical
school and a four years' apprenticeship as watchmaker. With his diploma from the
Danish Watchmaker School integrated in the Royal Technological Institute of
Copenhagen, he went to Switzerland in 1963 in order to see how the world's best
watches were made. He first worked with Gubelin Lucerne in the after-sales
service and in 1965 joined Gubelin Geneva where he also did the shop service
because of his excellent knowledge of languages.
In 1969 he made, as a hobby, his first Bottle Clock which was
exposed at the "Montres et Bijoux" Show. This was the very exploit that had
brought him the renown "Watchmaker of the impossible" as it was mentioned in the
international press. Indeed, nobody had ever realized such a clock.
Patek Philippe got interested in Andersen's creations and in 1969 he joined
their Atelier de complications.
After nine years in this high-performance workshop and with a lot of experience,
he started his own workshop in 1979.
In 1983 Frank Muller joined the Atelier of Svend Andersen after having finished
the Geneva Watchmaker's School. At that moment, Svend Andersen developed his
fly-back perpetual calendar and restored the Patek Philippe private collection
of old watches, the collection which nowadays is called the Patek Philippe
Museum. Working on this collection was an excellent apprenticeship for Frank
Muller and everybody knows his success today.
In 1989, Svend Andersen created his first World Time Watch "Communication"
followed by a special subscription series "Communication 24" of which his
Highness the Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark wears the No. 1.
Another of Svend Andersen's achievements is the World's Smallest Calendar Watch
certified by the Guinness Book of Records 1989.
In 1992, Svend Andersen created the "Christophorus Columbus" World Time
Commemoration Watch. This is a numbered series of 500 pieces in yellow, white,
rose, gold and platinum cases.
In 1993 followed the "Perpetual 2000" with the Art Deco look. Here the week, day
and month of the year have disappeared from the dial and only the date is
indicated in a very big window. It is the only readable perpetual calendar on
the market. At the backside of the watch is a 4 x 12 months indicator so that
the calendar can be set correctly.
In 1994, Andersen took up again his great passion, the World Time Watch. He
created and executed 24 pieces of "Mundus", the World's Thinnest World Time
Watch, ony 4,2 mm thick in a platinum case, waterproof, with two sapphire
glasses. In the same year, as a world première, the Wristwatch with the Jewish
Calendar "Hebraïka" had been developed by Svend Andersen together with Alain
Silberstein. A real mechanical horological exploit.
This ingenious calendar mechanism has come back in 1996 with a new extension:
The "Perpetuel Secular Calender", which is the first real Perpetual Horological
Wristwatch Calendar.
In 1997, Svend Andersen developed "Eros", the most sophisticated and animated
Erotic Automaton Wristwatch. The mechanical watch has a classical look and a
solid gold case.
1998 saw the emergence of an old idea of Breguet: "La montre à tact", the
tactful watch.
This idea has been adapted to our epoch and applied for the wristwatch.
The development of this kind of watch allowed to present, in 1999, the "Date
discrète".
Of course, the year 2000 could not be commenced without a new calendar watch:
"The Perpetuel Impératrice", a lady's wristwatch with a golden case of 32 mm
diameter. It is the smallest perpetual calendar watch ever made. Based on the
system of "Perpetual 2000", all unimportant indications have been moved to the
back so that the dial remains unchanged and readable.
After many researches, the "Jour et Nuit" has now come out as the "Grande Jour
et Nuit" with the ANDERSEN GENEVE signature on the dial.
2002 Svend Andersen presented in Basel the "Orbita Lunae", an entirely new way
to indicate the moon phases.
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