In 1888, 130 years ago, Carl Friedrich Bucherer opened his eponymous watch and jewelry boutique in Lucerne, Switzerland, and in 1919 he released the first watch bearing his name. It is the former anniversary that the modern Carl F. Bucherer company commemorates this year, and it is doing so in grand horological fashion, with the release at Baselworld 2018 of the Manero Tourbillon Double Peripheral, a timepiece that combines, for the first time in watchmaking, a peripheral-rotor automatic winding system with a “floating” peripherally mounted tourbillon.
Carl F. Bucherer Manero Tourbillon Double Peripheral
The 43-mm rose-gold case of the Carl F. Bucherer Manero Tourbillon Double Peripheral houses a new movement developed entirely in-house, in Bucherer’s ancestral headquarters in Lucerne: Caliber CFB T3000, the third caliber developed by the brand and, like its predecessors, is self-winding by means of a peripheral rotor. (Bucherer was, in fact, the first watch manufacturer to put a watch with this type of automatic winding system into serial production, in 2008.) However, this movement is even more noteworthy than the technically upgraded CFB A2000 base caliber that the brand debuted two years ago, incorporating a tourbillon cage that is also, like the winding rotor, supported peripherally, in this instance by three ceramic ball bearings. This construction not only makes for a more stable connection and smoother running, but has the striking visual effect of...