INNOVATION|CW


well as he had grown up having to make do and mend with only the most basic tools. It led to him making a prototype of a monopusher chronograph without resorting to modern machinery. This resulted in the Lang & Heyne King Albert of Saxony watch, a £60,000 platinum work of art which was produced in tiny numbers. Since 2008, however, Jahnke has worked with a small, high-end firm in the watchmaking town of Biel, which devises, develops and produces watch mechanisms for a few select watch brands - one of which is Christopher Ward. Here, Jahnke is allowed to work without constraints and allowed to realise, or attempt to realise, his wildest watch-making dreams. When I visited him at his workshop in March, he had recently designed Christopher Ward's innovative Harrison Jumping Hour movement which, unusually, takes its power from the central minutes wheel, resulting in more efficient energy use and greater accuracy than conventional jump hour mechanisms.


At the time, Jahnke told me of his latest project - the creation of another monopusher chronograph


based on a highly modified Unitas movement. More than six months later, this has come to fruition in the form of Christopher Ward's most sophisticated and complex watch to date, the C900 SP - a beautifully understated, classic-looking chronograph powered by its own, exclusive, monopusher movement. The tourbillon, the minute repeater and the perpetual calendar are often cited as representing the pinnacle of the watch maker's art while the chronograph is regularly taken for granted. In reality, however, this mechanism which can accurately dice time into fractions of hours, minutes and seconds remains one of the most noble complications of all and is still among the most exacting to create - especially when its functions are controlled by one pusher rather than the usual two. It is partly for that reason that this new movement has taken almost three years to develop following Jahnke's discovery of a prototype chronograph in 2009 which was based on the well- known Unitas 6497 calibre. Jahnke was immediately taken with the thinking behind the mechanism, recognising similarities ➸


far left; All functions are controlled through the single pusher on this extraordinary watch, above: The case is 15.7mm deep to


accommodate Johannes Jahnke’s JJ02 calibre


www.christopherward.co.uk


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