Lederer Central Impulse Chronometer 39mm
Lederer presents the new Central Impulse Chronometer with a diameter of 39mm
After winning the prestigious Innovation Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève in 2021, Lederer’s celebrated Central Impulse Chronometer is back in the spotlight. Today, the watch not only continues to impress with its avant-garde mechanism – which has been further refined – but also with its new, more sober aesthetic, presented in a 39mm diameter case.
This new creation marks a complete reinvention of the CIC’s technical innovation and design, pushing the boundaries of established conventions while preserving the tenets of traditional watchmaking expertise. Its updated appearance offers a modern and refined elegance, in sync with current trends.
Lederer’s CIC 39 embodies creative freedom and technical precision, delivering a new contemporary elegance. Every aspect, from the 18% reduction in the movement’s thickness to the new synchronization of the seconds hands, represents a significant technical challenge, expertly mastered. This new offering highlights Lederer’s dedication to maintaining the genuine spirit of its legacy, simultaneously advancing the frontiers of technical innovation.
At Lederer’s Manufacture in Saint-Blaise, excellence is the standard. Leveraging its autonomy and savoir-faire, Lederer extends the limits of watchmaking traditions, while ensuring its essence and the core values remain intact.
Reducing the diameter from 44mm to 39mm was a delicate endeavor, necessitating a profound redesign of the movement. Beyond raising the bar for precision and ingenuity, this process also opened new realms of creative freedom, unlocking a space for expression with even more possibilities of refinement. Here, reducing was not merely a matter of shrinking; on the contrary, it involved pushing the boundaries further, thinking differently, developing, and finding solutions to deliver uncompromising aesthetics and exceptional exactness.
The difference in diameter is immediately obvious; less so the real highlight: the new detent mechanism for activating the remontoirs. Developed entirely in-house, this redesign significantly enhances the watch’s reliability and performance.
It represents a notable advancement beyond the previous system, which was governed by a Wankel disk on the seconds wheel. Although it was engineered to minimize interference, it was not immune to disruptions, however minimal they might be. In the new mechanism, activation occurs directly within the winder, reducing the force required to engage the system by a factor of 9. This innovative approach not only elevates quality, precision, and reliability to unprecedented levels, but it also introduces a contemporary masterpiece that pays tribute to the great watchmaking tradition.
Inspired by Louis-Abraham Breguet’s pioneering work on the ‘natural escapement’ and George Daniels’s innovative ‘Independent Double Wheel Escapement’ design, Bernhard Lederer revisited the escapement from a modern perspective. The inherent limitations of these innovations – the natural escapement was too heavy to ensure reliable performance and the Independent Double Wheel Escapement, while powerful, was only applicable to pocket watches – led Bernhard Lederer to develop a new geometry, aimed at adapting the novel escapement for everyday use.
To achieve this, Lederer installed two independent escape wheels at the end of two separate gear trains, each equipped with its own 10-second constant-force remontoir. These wheels operate alternately, achieving a remarkable symmetry.
With a detent mechanism that is absolutely one of a kind –its profile, its rubies, its lift angle, its direct central impulse – and therefore theoretically perfect, the result is a truly extraordinary system. This design minimizes friction and ensures the balance wheel receives energy with optimal timing, enhancing isochronism and stability.
From the outset, a frequency of 3 Hz was chosen because a watch worn on the wrist must contend with shocks that impact the movement’s regulating components. These components must resume their operation as quickly as possible after each shock, a crucial requirement for ensuring optimal precision under wearing conditions.
An interesting aspect of this dial’s design lies in Manufacture Lederer’s ability to also produce its own dials, hands, and indices in-house, thus ensuring not only exceptional quality but also adherence to delivery schedules. The integrated manufacturing of these components, which are usually outsourced, reflects the brand’s commitment to uncompromising excellence and independence.
The open seconds counter at 11 o’clock, with its hand sweeping counterclockwise, bears the inscription ‘Dual Chronometer,’ highlighting the two mechanisms central to the Central Impulse Chronometer. Watch enthusiasts who appreciate the watch’s functional duality will appreciate this detail, which underscores the mechanism’s complexity and superior performance. The other seconds counter, positioned at 8 o’clock, with its hand rotating clockwise, has been deliberately ‘closed’ to enhance overall readability and to avoid competing with the visual impact of the constant-force winding mechanism, a feature that further amplifies the precision and innovation at the core of this creation. The ‘Lederer’ signature, carefully inlaid in a cartouche at 5 o’clock, adds a further dimension of depth to this masterpiece. The letters, as if in bas-relief, reinforce the watch’s identity while underlining its exclusive character and attention to detail.
On the case back, a second sapphire crystal, domed and beveled – an element as challenging to craft as the watch’s front crystal – provides an exceptional view of the movement’s architecture. Three-dimensional, symmetrical, oblique, and open-worked, this design offers a visual feast. The barrel, gear train, winding mechanism, escapement, and balance wheel bridges are all skeletonized, showcasing slender geometric shapes.
The Lederer Central Impulse Chronometer 39mm is available in either 18k White or Rose Gold in a limited series of 20 pieces each.
Learn more about the Lederer Central Impulse Chronometer 39mm at Cellini Jewelers, an Authorized Retailer for Lederer. Contact us for pricing and availability at 212-888-0505.