Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants
The Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (französ .: Academy freelance Creative Watchmakers , AHCI) is a 1985 by Svend Andersen and Vincent Calabrese according to Art. 60 ff of the Swiss Civil Code (CC), was established association to revive the traditional craft art of watchmaking parallel to the industrial production of mechanical watches. The association is based in Zurich in the canton of Zurich .
The AHCI is an international institution and currently (2016) comprises 34 members, 8 honorary members and 5 candidates from over twelve countries who manufacture different clocks (wristwatches, pocket watches, table clocks, pendulum clocks, art clocks, music boxes and flute clocks).
Purpose, membership and organs
purpose
- To promote the ingenuity and skill of watchmakers
- Establish and encourage binding of the watchmaker's guild
- To create greater recognition with the audience by bringing together different talents
- To provide the participating artisans with appropriate recognition
The AHCI gives its members and candidates the opportunity to take part in joint exhibitions in order to present their watch creations to a wide audience.
membership
To become a member, there are several requirements:
- horological skills and abilities
- a candidate must develop his own constructions and manufacture them independently
- two sponsors have to support and evaluate new candidates
- the candidate must have presented his exhibit at least three times at an AHCI exhibition
- the candidacy lasts at least two years
- the general assembly of the AHCI must unanimously approve the candidate's active membership.
A candidate does not have to be a trained watchmaker. Self-taught people have also achieved great things in watchmaking history (for example John Harrison or George Daniels ). Physicists and engineers can therefore be found among the members. The control of the manual skills is strict. As before, a candidate must be able to produce his own caliber .
organs
The general assembly is the most important body and meets twice a year. In spring to Baselworld and in autumn; alternately organized by one of the members:
- 2005 at Vianney Halter (Sainte-Croix / Switzerland)
- 2006 with Aniceto Jiménez Pita (Barcelona / Spain)
- 2007 with Marco Lang (Dresden / Germany).
- 2008 with Peter Wibmer (Vienna / Austria).
Members
Significant members include the two founders and honorary members George Daniels, Jean Kazes and Peter Schmid . The organizational board consists of: Aaron Becsei , Robert Bray , Konstantin Chaykin and Marco Lang (President).
Member list
Since it was founded in 1985, many watchmakers have started their careers with the AHCI. Some have developed further and are no longer actively involved. The numbers in brackets describe the duration from / to their membership, whereby the year of exit represents the year of their last appearance in the official list of members.
Honorary members
- George Daniels
- Jean Kazes
- Matthias Naeschke
- George Daniels
- Joseph Snétivy
- Tai Yu Kiu
- Christian Van der Klaauw
- Peter Wibmer
history
Vincent Calabrese laid the foundation stone for the establishment of the AHCI. He designed the "Golden Bridge" model for the watch manufacturer Corum, but reserved the rights to use the designed caliber himself. But he realized how difficult it is for a single independent watchmaker to market his products.
He knew he wasn't the only manufacturer with this problem. It was officially founded in 1985 with his friend Svend Andersen. The AHCI presented itself to the public for the first time in the watch museum in Le Locle. In 1987 the first joint exhibition followed at the watch and jewelry fair in Basel. Meanwhile George Daniels, Bernhard Lederer and Franck Muller were also members.
meaning
For watchmakers, acceptance into the AHCI means, in addition to reputation, above all economic advantages, such as joint presentation at exhibitions.
George Daniels made an important invention in the field of mechanical clocks in the 20th century. He invented the co-axial escapement back in the 1970s . In 1994 the watch manufacturer Omega SA decided to manufacture this escapement in series and in 1999 the “De Ville” series was launched.
The leather goods manufacturer Goldpfeil hired seven members of the AHCI in 2001 to design a watch collection for the company. Since 2001, the American jewelry and watch manufacturer Harry Winston has mainly engaged members of the AHCI for its “Opus” watch series.
In addition to the Corum “Golden Bridge”, Vincent Calabrese also designed a flying tourbillon with an eight-day power reserve for Blancpain in 1985 .
In addition to various awards ( Prix Gaia 2007 / Chronosaward 2007 for innovation technology), Paul Gerber holds the world record for the smallest wooden watch in the world (movement height 2.2 cm) and held the record for the most complicated watch in the world until 2010 . This watch is owned by Lord Aaran (Switzerland) and consists of a total of 1116 parts. Both watches are registered in the Guinness Book of Records. He also designed an alarm clock indication that Fortis Uhren has been marketing under the name "F2001" since 1997. Some Fabergé eggs contain its clockworks. Many designs and inventions by AHCI members ended up in larger series production .
Since many AHCI members sell their watches in limited editions or as individual pieces, they are valued by collectors. A pocket watch by George Daniels (made for Cecil Clutton in 1969) at an Antiquorum auction in the United States, for example, sold for $ 244,500. The original price was £ 1900.
Web links
- Homepage
- Unruh-Stifter , Manager Magazin , July 15, 2004
- For the 20th anniversary of the AHCI (English) , Ian Skellern - March 2006
Individual evidence
- ↑ Website contact details ( Memento from January 1, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- Chronos Special - AHCI Trends - The creatives of Basel..Basel / Geneva 2000..S. 115 ff.
- 20 years / 1985–2005 / AHCI - Académie Horlogères Créateurs Indépendants
- Excerpts from the statutes of the AHCI
- Watch magazine June issue (Issue 6-2006) p. 34 ff.
- Classic Watches - The Lone Fighters - June / July 2004 p. 28 ff.
- Chronos - The Independents - The AHCI at Baselworld - 4/2005 p. 44 ff.
- iW - Chrono Anachronists - Exhibition in Dresden - February 2008 p. 56 ff.