Paul Gerber (watchmaker)
Paul Gerber (* 1950 in Bern , Switzerland ) is a Swiss watch designer.
Life
Gerber completed a four-year apprenticeship as a watchmaker - rhabilleur (restorer) with his father, who ran a watch and jewelery business in Bern , which he completed with a federal certificate of proficiency. He has lived in Zurich since 1970. In 1976, he and his wife opened a watch and jewelery shop in Zurich-Albisrieden and around 1977 began to construct the first miniature wall clock .
In 1993 he handed the business over to his employee, opened a watch construction workshop and now dealt with the planning of constructions, the construction of prototypes for well-known companies and the construction of small series. This was followed by a patent for a double rotor in mechanical watch movements and an in-house bracelet manufacture movement. Since 1989 he has been a member of the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants (AHCI).
plant
His smallest wooden wheel clock (miniature cowtail eye-turning wall clock in Black Forest style) made of boxwood with a height of 22 mm made it into the Guinness Book of Records in 1989 .
The first watch model of its own is the Retrograd with a retrograde second, in which the second hand jumps back once per minute. With a special machine, a double rotor with overlapping rotor circles, he expanded it in 2001 to an automatic clock, the Retro twin .
The completely in-house construction, model 33 , was created in 2004. It is driven by a barrel-shaped manufacture movement and has a diamond-studded globule with a diameter of 6 millimeters, which serves as a three-dimensional moon phase and whose moon phase indicator is precorrected to 128 years. The patented Paul Gerber escapement , which ticks in the manufacture movement, has a one-sided drive and works with forces that slide apart.
For eleven years he worked on the most complicated wristwatch in the world (Piguet / Muller / Gerber Grande Complication ), which now consists of 1116 parts and in 2005 led to the second "Guinness Book" entry. The original wristwatch was in 1892 by Louis Elysée Piguet constructed with 491 hand-made parts in 2006 by watchmaker Franck Muller extended to 651 parts and Gerber with the smallest, flying (suspended) Tourbillon in the world, a split-seconds chronographs with flyback function, jumping minute counter and two power reserve displays for the walking and striking mechanism.
With the manufacture movement model 41 , an automatic movement with a 100-hour power reserve and three synchronously running rotors was created as a further development of the double rotor system. The sports watch model 42 with a titanium case also has a triple rotor winding mechanism.
Gerber also builds the museum clock for the International Clock Museum (MIH) . The MIH watch embodies the museum's mission as an ambassador for the importance of timekeeping and mechanical watchmaking. The watch has been redesigned from the ground up and incorporates a mechanism not found in any other watch.
Awards
- In 2007 Gerber received the Prix Gaïa of the International Watch Museum (MIH) in La Chaux-de-Fonds as one of the most talented watchmakers of his generation for his technical and artistic creations .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gold d'Or - magazine for precious metals, watches, jewelry and precious stones, December 2009
- ↑ Swiss watchmaker and goldsmith newspaper, June 1989
- ↑ The magazine of Bank Privat No. 4, December 2006
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gerber, Paul |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Swiss watch designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1950 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bern , Switzerland |