or several years now, Bernhard Lederer has been back in the spotlight. This follows a decade of enforced silence during which, at the head of his company MHM, he worked for many big names in watchmaking under confidentiality agreements that prevented him from disclosing details of their collaboration. The release of his Central Impulse Chronometer (CIC) in 2021 marked a resounding comeback, notably acknowledged by both an Innovation Prize and a Chronometry Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG). As he himself says, his priority now is to continue developing his own timepieces in complete freedom. We took this opportunity to look back on his inevitably “non-linear” career as an independent who has never lost his desire to improve both the science and art of watchmaking – at their most fundamental.

At the age of 17, while in a library in his native region of southern Germany, Bernhard Lederer discovered a story that would change the course of his life and lead him on a still ongoing quest to understand the language of escapement systems.

We met him in his workshop in Saint-Blaise, where he welcomed us with his wife Ewa and his team. Bucking the trend of an era where ornamentation often reigns supreme, Bernhard Lederer is determined to return to essentials: the movement and the escapement at its core.

“The great masters – Harrison, Breguet, Leroy, Daniels – spoke of escapements before they talked about finishes,” he recalls. At Lederer, beauty stems from mechanical precision.

Born in 1958 near Stuttgart, Bernhard Lederer grew up surrounded by his grandfather’s pocket watches. At the age of 17, he enjoyed scouring flea markets, taking apart everything he could find and collecting sounds: each escapement had its own music, its own texture, its own breath. He devoured a series of seminal works, from Ernst von Bassermann-Jordan to George Daniels. “I wrote down the ISBN number of Watchmaking and hitchhiked to London to buy the book that became my bible,” he says. His skills were subsequently honed by eight years of intensive training and mentoring in Germany. Museums, auctions, watchmakers working behind the scenes: he learned by immersion. At a very early stage, he experimented with a gravity escapement and explored these parallel paths of precision timekeeping that the industry had abandoned.

©Europa Star archives

©Europa Star archives

©Europa Star archives

©Europa Star archives

©Europa Star archives

The Europa Star archives house a treasure trove of documents testifying to Bernhard Lederer’s journey across more than three decades. ©Europa Star archives

AHCI, BLU and the age of shapes

In 1986 he joined the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI), becoming one of the first members after the founders. Based in Neuchâtel, he set up BLU (Bernhard Lederer Universe) in 2000. Poetic creations – such as Blue Atoll, Blue Galaxy and Majestic/Majesty Tourbillon MT3 – asserted a circular, intensely kinetic vocabulary. Up to 300 timepieces per year left the workshop, exported to Japan, the United States and Russia. The Majesty Tourbillon MT3, launched in 2006 marked the first entirely in-house movement featuring a rare combination of three tourbillons – two flying and one semi-flying in which precision dictates aesthetics. In 2011 the Gagarin Tourbillon sent its one-minute tourbillon orbiting the dial in 108 minutes, the exact duration of Yuri Gagarin’s flight. Then came 2009 and the financial crisis. Baselworld kicked off what looked set to be “a great year” – until all orders were cancelled. Lederer had no choice but to accept development contracts for other companies through his MHM company. Thus began a fruitful but silent decade.

The common thread: reinventing the natural escapement

One particular idea continued to haunt him: resume the quest for the natural escapement. Breguet had dreamed of it, George Daniels had formalised it. Lederer’s response would be to adapt the independent double wheel escapement to the wristwatch, with a higher frequency.

“We added a remontoire, then questioned the obvious: as we saw it, the escapement could become an obstacle. We rethought everything, reduced friction by 96% and rewrote the logic of the energy flow.” The Lederer method is experimental and demanding, involving measuring not averages but instead each alternation, questioning dogmas, changing geometry and observing what the mechanics reveal. The goal is not visual effect, but rather chronometric performance – beauty comes later, as a consequence.

Through a single, meticulously crafted aperture, the CIC 39mm offers a glimpse of its innovative heart: its dual detent escapement with double remontoire is entirely produced in-house and patented by Lederer.

The CIC 39mm and the Longitude

With the CIC 39mm, Lederer transposes this complex architecture into refined proportions, measuring 39mm in diameter and just over 10mm thick. The watch condenses the heritage of the original CIC into a more intimate object that is easier to wear on a daily basis. Available with a silver-toned or green dial, it reveals its dual detent escapement, the result of more than a decade of research, through a subtle opening. Each component is hand-decorated with satin-brushed finishing, mirror-polished bevelling, microblasting, as well as interior and exterior angles.

With its small offset seconds dial, a visual signature inspired by historic marine chronometers, the CIC 39mm Longitude is an invitation to travel issued in two 12-piece limited series: one with a white dial, the other with a cobalt blue dial.

Meanwhile, the recent 24-piece Longitude limited edition – 12 with white dials and 12 with cobalt blue dials – takes the tribute to historical chronometry even further. Inspired by the marine chronometers that once guided navigators, it features a small off-centre seconds dial and pays homage to the calculation of longitude through mechanical precision. Both models embody the tension between heritage and innovation, between the science of past masters and the demands of a contemporary craftsman. But while Bernhard Lederer is the visionary engineer, he is not alone in this adventure. Since the beginning, his wife Ewa Lederer has played an essential role. Responsible for international sales and customer relations, she is both an ambassador and a special point of contact for collectors. At Bernhard’s side since the BLU era, she has accompanied every twist and turn in this journey, from the crisis of 2009 to the rebirth under the name Lederer. In Saint-Blaise, the couple form an inseparable duo, combining technical expertise, family tradition and human warmth. At Lederer, the watch and the relationship with its wearer form one.

Passing on the torch and next steps

The Lederer workshop boasts a rare degree of autonomy. Over 95% of the components are made in-house, from dial to hands and from bridges to wheels. Prototyping, machining and decoration all take place within a few square metres. A team of highly skilled artisans work in an atmosphere of trust and knowledge-sharing. “If necessary, I can still craft every component by hand,” says Lederer with a smile.

Production remains intentionally limited – a dozen timepieces a year – priced between CHF 137,000 and CHF 155,000. Collectors come from Japan, the United States, Italy, Denmark, England and Canada. Each bears the mark of close-up-and-personal craftsmanship, far removed from large industrial circuits.

Today, Bernhard Lederer has already achieved a “level two” – deliberately kept in reserve – of his current escapement and is working on a series of five new escapements: three inspired by historical architecture and two entirely new. “The first level of watchmaking is the escapement. We can and indeed must reinvent it.”