Sakura ANDERSEN Genève X BCHH

ANDERSEN GENÈVE X BCHH

CELESTIAL VOYAGER SAKURA

ANDERSEN Genève and Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie (BCHH) are delighted to unveil their latest world-timer collaboration, the Celestial Voyager Sakura. This enchanting timepiece, limited to just 20 pieces, celebrates Japan’s glorious cherry blossom season through spectacular artistry in cloisonné enamel, combined with decorative elements in mother-of-pearl and purple BlueGold, and watchmaking of impeccable finesse.

BACKGROUND

In 2021, ANDERSEN Geneve launched its first Celestial Voyager watch with Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie (BCHH), inaugurating a partnership celebrating the ultimate expression of world timer watches with decorative enamel dials – a traditional and highly coveted format in haute horlogerie.
Subsequent Celestial Voyager editions, all of them highly limited, have included two “Sunset over Cappadocia” versions released in 2022 and 2024; Aurora and Arctic Sunrise editions in 2023; and the Celestial Voyager “Supersonic”, also in 2023, which celebrated glamour of Concorde.
Over the past four decades, ANDERSEN Genève has emerged as a leading authority in highly crafted world time watches made in the classical tradition of Louis Cottier, the complication’s inventor. This expertise originates from founder Svend Andersen’s work with Cottier-derived world timers in Patek Philippe’s Grand Complications workshop during the 1970s. Through various series and innovations, this cherished and elegant complication has become a cornerstone of ANDERSEN Genève's watchmaking legacy, with a sophisticated in-house world-time module that has been repeatedly refined over the years.

In 2023, ANDERSEN Geneve celebrated its close links with Japanese collectors with a two-tone “Rising Sun” edition of its iconic Jumping Hours watch, with a platinum case and an exceptionally beautiful dial in rose gold, decorated with a mesmerising guilloché display.

The Celestial Voyager Sakura brings these threads together in unforgettable style. It is a homage the joy of wanderlust, to the beauty of Japan and one of the world’s most captivating natural displays, and to artistic perfection.

Dial design – cloisonné virtuosity

The dial of the Celestial Voyager Sakura shows the famous blooming of the cherry blossoms, which occurs each spring. These blossoms are highly celebrated in Japanese culture for their beauty and their fleeting nature, symbolizing the transient nature of life: the season is marked by festivals and hanami (flower-viewing) parties, where people gather to appreciate the blossoms and enjoy picnics under the flowering trees.
In a depiction heavily influenced by the aesthetics of traditional Japanese art, we see an arching bridge over a river, against a background of pink Sakura blooms, with snow-capped Mount Fuji rising on the far horizon. In the foreground are a trio of delicate cherry blossoms in close-up.
Designing this scene, on a disc just 18.3mm in diameter, was a significant challenge in itself, and required multiple sketches and experiments to establish a harmonious balance of features, colours and atmosphere, which could then be rendered in enamel.

With cloisonné enamel, the enamel is held in place by microscopically thin strips of gold wire – these are bent and soldered to the dial to form compartments (cloisons) that are filled with powdered enamel, which is then fired in a kiln to fuse it into a smooth and vibrant surface. For the Celestial Voyager Sakura, the wire provides an outline for the traditional ‘soribashi’ bridge, the snowy mountain peak and, in incredible detail, the individual petals and stamen of the blossoms, against an almost pointillist background of Sakura blooms.

Since each colour requires a different melting temperature, dozens of firings in the oven are required – any mistake puts the entire dial at risk of warping or cracking. It is an exhaustive process requiring immense patience and experience, conducted at a level accessed only by very few watch brands.

Time around the world

In the traditional style of a classic world-timer, this central scene is surrounded by a rotating 24-hour ring and a city ring for showing the time in 24 time zones around the world. The city ring is in mother-of-pearl inlaid with gold letters. In celebration of the pink cherry blossom, the 24-hour ring carries a pink ruby stone – as used in the movement – in the position of the sun at 12pm.

Case and Movement

The 37.8mm case is in pink gold – as with all ANDERSEN Geneve cases, it is extremely refined. The case design includes the distinctive ‘eagle’s wings’ lugs, a hallmark of ANDERSEN Genève and BCHH collaborations, that are made separately, hand polished and individually soldered to the body of the case, a traditional method that is rarely found in modern watchmaking.
On the reverse of the watch, the remarkable artistry continues. As with the city ring, the back ring around the movement is made of beautiful mother-of-pearl, adding further luxury and refinement, while the winding rotor is made of 21 carat BlueGold that has been heated to a dramatic, shimmering shade of pink-purple, and decorated with an intricate, interlocking wave-form guilloché. BlueGold is an ANDERSEN Geneve speciality, and a material that is exceptionally difficult to work with. To achieve it, 21ct gold is mixed with iron elements and heat-treated to turn it a radiant shade of blue, or in this case pink-purple – a technique that, in watches, ANDERSEN Genève alone has mastered. Achieving this shimmering shade of pink-purple colour is extremely difficult and requires the very highest skill.

The slimline haute horlogerie movement exhibits a variety of hand-finishing techniques, including chamfering, Geneva stripes, snail decoration of wheels, mirror polishing of screws and even polishing of the teeth of the crown wheel. The complex world time module is developed and assembled in-house by ANDERSEN Geneve watchmakers, and has been repeatedly refined over several years.

Despite the complex three-layered dial and complication module, the watch is just 10.1mm thick, maintaining its air of exceptional elegance.

All watch components are 100% Swiss-made, either in the Ateliers ANDERSEN Genève in Geneva and La Chaux-de-Fonds or with partners in Switzerland. The cloisonné enamel dial and guilloché work are carried out by craftsmen in the canton of Neuchâtel.

Exclusivity and Customization

As with all ANDERSEN Genève and BCHH creations, the Celestial Voyager Sakura is a highly exclusive piece. Only 20 pieces will be produced, each one customizable to the client’s specifications. This ensures that each watch is a unique heirloom, reflecting the personal preferences of its owner.

ANDERSEN Genève

Since 1980, ANDERSEN Genève has been creating high-end timepieces for collectors around the world. Its work combines incredible ingenuity with beautiful craftsmanship, much of it produced in limited edition series or on a bespoke basis for clients wanting something personalised, something completely unique.

Svend Andersen first achieved fame in the watch world in 1969 with his “Bottle Clock” invention – a horological take on the “ship in a bottle” concept. He went on to develop his craft in the Grand Complications Atelier at Patek Philippe, where he worked for nine years. In 1980, he began taking private commissions from discerning collectors, soon opening his own workshop in Geneva – ANDERSEN Genève was born.

Ever since, ANDERSEN Genève has been developing watches of significant complexity and beauty. In particular, it has become famous for its series of magnificent Worldtime editions; the ingenious “Montre A Tact” watches that replace a dial and hands with a pair of time reading windows in the top and side of the watch; its perpetual calendars; the “Secular Perpetual Calendar”,  which requires no manual adjustment up to and beyond the year 2400; and its exceptional Jumping Hour models.

Svend Andersen is also the co-ounder of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendents (AHCI), which represents and promotes the work of the world’s finest independent watchmakers.

With two small teams working in the heart of Geneva and, since 2022 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, only a few dozen timepieces leave the ANDERSEN Genève Ateliers every year – in fact, fewer than 1,300 timepieces have been manufactured since 1980. In all that time, the Geneva Atelier has remained at the same location next to the Rhône river, where traditional watchmaking artisans have worked for centuries. As such, Svend Andersen and ANDERSEN Genève have at the heart of independent watchmaking for over four decades.

BCHH (Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie)

BCHH 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 collector, 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-end complications of historical distinction.