Ferdinand Berthoud (1727-1807) was a scientist and Master Watchmaker. Born in Plancemont in Switzerland, he spent much of his life in Paris where he ultimately became ‘Watchmaker-Mechanic to the King and to the Navy’. He will forever be associated with the making of marine chronometers, a means of determining a vessel’s longitude at sea back in the 18th century.
In 2006, Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, Co-President of Chopard, an avid collector of horological artefacts, acquired the Ferdinand Berthoud name. The revived company, Chronométre Ferdinand Berthoud, released its inaugural model, the FB1, in 2015.
The FB1 was endowed with a tourbillon movement and direct drive seconds system, an ingenious power reserve indicator, a suspended fusée and chain transmission system and a stop works. Housed in a gimbal-themed case, the watch was highly ambitious and provided a foretaste of what would has since emerged from the firm’s Fleurier-based atelier.
Dwelling in the rarefied heights of Haute Horlogerie, all Chronométre Ferdinand Berthoud timepieces are exquisitely made and certified by COSC.
