Communication 45

Description

A WORLD IN PLATINUM: ANDERSEN GENÈVE INTRODUCES THE COMMUNICATION 45 IN PLATINUM

The acclaimed worldtimer returns in an exquisite new guise, in three series of 15 timepieces each

When ANDERSEN Genève launched the Communication 45 in 2025 — marking 45 years since the brand's founding — it was greeted with wide acclaim: praised by collectors and press alike for its innovative dial work, intoxicating style and sublime craftsmanship. Now, for 2026, the watch returns in a new and equally compelling form: a platinum case housing a deep blue BlueGold dial, with a world map inlaid in white gold.

TWO LANDMARKS, 45 YEARS APART

In 1990, Svend Andersen’s first series-produced wristwatch, the Communication, was the first classical, Louis Cottier-style worldtimer to appear on the haute horlogerie market for a generation. Encouraged by a group of Italian collectors, and in collaboration with legendary case-maker Jean-Pierre Hagmann, Svend developed it first as a souscription run of 24 pieces, and then as a watch made in serial production, albeit in a highly limited way. Fewer than 100 were produced, notable for their gorgeously retro casework and ultra-slim, delicate craftsmanship. It would prove the first of a succession of worldtime models that have formed a cornerstone of ANDERSEN Genève watchmaking ever since.

In 2025, the anniversary of this icon was marked with the unveiling of the Communication 45, a new worldtimer made in yellow gold that was celebrating the first Communication watch made in 1990. It combined a number of the hallmarks of ANDERSEN Genève, a brand that produces around 50 watches each year from its original Geneva workshop. These include an in-house complication module based on Svend’s original ultra-slim mechanism; an achingly beautiful hand-made case; and a centre dial of 21ct gold textured with a wave-form tapisserie-guilloché, and heat-tempered to a cognac shade of BlueGold. Within the centre-dial, a world map – in three variants, for Europe, Asia or the Americas – was created with an innovative etching process, inlaid with gold.

COMMUNICATION 45, PLATINUM EDITION

For 2026, the Communication 45 appears for the first time in platinum, celebrating again the Communication from 1990 made in platinum.

Like its predecessor, the Communication 45 Platinum Edition is produced in three distinct 15-piece series, each centred on a dial map depicting one of three regions: Europe, Asia, or the Americas. The classical worldtime layout – a 24-hour rotating ring, a city disc spanning the full circle of time zones, and skeletonised sword-shaped hands at centre – remains unchanged in format, yet transformed in atmosphere.

The platinum case, hand-made in ANDERSEN Genève’s La Chaux-de-Fonds atelier, retains the curvaceous form and signature cornes-de-vache/gouttes d’eau lugs, now rendered in one of watchmaking’s most prestigious and demanding metals. It is fitted with two crowns: city selection at 9 o'clock, winding and time-setting at 3 o'clock, in the tradition of Louis Cottier's 1950s worldtime design.

At the heart of the watch is a dial in 21ct BlueGold, worked with ANDERSEN Genève's historic wave-form tapisserie-guilloché pattern using an authentic 19th-century machine and a Belle Époque template discovered by Svend Andersen over 30 years ago. For the Platinum Edition, the dial is fired to ANDERSEN Genève’s signature deep blue tone, the original expression of its BlueGold technique, in which gold laced with iron elements is precisely fired in the kiln, to bring it to a unique radiance of colour.

The landmass areas of the map are inlaid in white gold, via the innovative, multi-stage etching and infilling process developed for the Communication 45: the surface is removed to a depth of 0.2mm, then filled with liquid lacquer of unalloyed white gold. Against the deep blue of the tapisserie sea, the white gold continents form an elegant contrast – a different drama to last year's cognac and yellow gold, but no less striking.

Around this, the 24-hour ring is divided into day/night sections in silver and midnight blue respectively. The silvered city ring is circular-brushed, bearing 24 city names (for 24 time zones) in the bespoke Communication 45 font, with Geneva represented once again by the brand’s ‘screw head’ logo.

A WORLD OF CRAFTED DETAILS

Each Communication 45 Platinum case is made entirely by hand under the guidance of Marco Poluzzi, 84, whose workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds was acquired by ANDERSEN Genève in 2022 and now serves as the brand's second Atelier. Making a platinum case requires even greater skill and patience than a gold case, due to its higher density and hardness, and tendency to gum up tooling. As with last year’s yellow gold model, the voluptuous lugs are made and polished individually, before being soldered to the case with absolute precision.

Inside is a vintage, ultra-slim automatic calibre, fully disassembled and hand-finished in the brand’s Geneva workshop, with frosted bridges, mirror-polished screws and perfectly chamfered bevels. It is paired with the latest version of ANDERSEN Genève's in-house worldtime module, the direct descendant of the 0.9mm ultra-thin mechanism originally designed by Svend Andersen in the 1980s. The rotor, in matching deep blue BlueGold engraved with the waveform tapisserie, completes the ensemble.

Each piece is hand-engraved with its edition number by a 67-year-old master craftsman (Jean-Pierre!).

Milestones in Time: Key Dates in ANDERSEN Genève’s Worldtimer Journey

· 1942 – Svend Andersen is born in Padborg, Denmark

· 1969–79 – Works at Patek Philippe; restores original Louis Cottier-made worldtimers

· 1979 – Founds ANDERSEN Genève as an independent maker of bespoke timepieces; the first watch was delivered in 1980

· 1990 – Launches Communication 24, with 24 pieces by subscription; followed by a series-made edition, called simply Communication

· 1991 – Chronograph; followed by a series-made edition requested by Italian collectors, called OM21 (oro mundi)

· 1992 – Christophorus Columbus – worldtimer showing map of Columbus’s 1492 voyage

· 1994 – Mundus, sets record for the world’s thinnest worldtimer (still holding in 2025)

· 2004 – 1884, celebrating 120 years of global time zones

· 2005 – Voyage World Time (Shellman collaboration)

· 2015 – Tempus Terrae, celebrating 25 years of worldtimer by ANDERSEN Genève

· 2022 – Heures du Monde (Asprey collaboration)

· 2022–2024 – Celestial Voyager enamel editions with BCHH

· 2025 – Launch of Communication 45 in yellow gold (45 years of ANDERSEN Genève 1980-2025)

· 2025 – Launch of the world’s first Split Second Chronograph Worldtime – The “Rattrapante Mondiale”

· 2026 – Launch of Communication 45 in platinum (45 years of ANDERSEN Genève 1980-2026)

ANDERSEN Genève has also made several special worldtimer series on request, as well as bespoke commissions for unique pieces. These have on occasion seen the worldtimer paired with other complications including minute repeaters, chronographs, perpetual calendars, retrograde displays, alarm functions, etc.

ABOUT ANDERSEN GENÈVE

Founded in 1980 by master watchmaker Svend Andersen, ANDERSEN Genève has become one of the most exclusive Ateliers in Swiss watchmaking. A co-founding member of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI) – an organization co-instigated by Svend – it is one of the few brands to specialise in bespoke haute horlogerie, working one-on-one with collectors around the world and with craftsmen in Swtzerland. It is known for its highly complicated watches, refined worldtime watches and artistic craftsmanship, bringing a deeply artisanal approach to every creation.

Since 2015, ANDERSEN Genève has been owned and directed by Pierre-Alexandre Aeschlimann, working in close collaboration with Svend Andersen (84 years old), Marco Poluzzi (84 years old), and a small, in-house team of talented and passionate engineers and watchmakers […]

Supplied by the brand to the GPHG for its entry.