This name is synonymous with brilliant simplicity paired with inconceivable complexity in watch design. It stands for seemingly limitless miniaturisation, uncompromising craftsmanship and artistic taste.

Paul Gerber is a man who makes the impossible come true. His lifelong passion has been to design and build masterpieces of watchmaking which showcase his technical and creative brilliance. Asked whether he ever has had to say the words, "No, sorry, that can't be done", the AHCI member answers spontaneously: "If you think that you've invented everything there is, then you shouldn't consider becoming a watchmaker." 

Paul Gerber's wooden cog wall clock, the smallest in the world (foto left) is a technical masterpiece. This design by the master clockmaker, called the "Cow's Tail Eye-Rolling Wall Clock" is designed in the Black Forest style; it consists of more than 245 individual pieces and was hand-made entirely of wood. The movement is a sensationally miniature 22mm. His reward for this masterpiece: his first entry in the Guinness Book of Records.

The foto in the middle shows the automatic Retro Twin watch: It has a double rotor automatic system mounted on ball bearings, one of Paul Gerber's designs and one for which he holds a patent. "The mechanism is designed in such a way that it can be built on a rectangular plate," explains Paul Gerber. Like his "Hand-winding Retrograde", the Retro Twin has a retrograde second hand which jumps back to its starting position after 60 seconds instead of rotating, as is customary. Gerber was a true pioneer in this field, as he was the very first designer to use retrograde second hands in his collections. 

The foto in the right shows the MIH Watch: Initiated by Ludwig Oechslin, the curator of the MIH (Musée Internationale d'Horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland), and funded by the manager of the Lucerne watch shop Embassy, Beat Weinmann, the master craftsman and inventor extraordinaire created "a simple, essential watch with an annual calendar; a watch that is unsurpassed in its simplicity," in accordance with Oechslin's design brief. And that wasn't all: the new watch was to be a kind of antithesis of high-prestige timepieces. Despite the simplicity of its design, which was provided by industrial designer Christian Gafner, this stunning watch conceals a very special feature: it has an annual calendar with only nine moving parts - a third of the quantity usually needed. The innovation in Gerber's calendar module is that the week day, date and month displays are all in a line.

Model 33 (foto left) is another highly innovative piece. It is the only wristwatch in which the moon phase is visible from both sides of the watch. It is positioned in the top left corner of the face and consists of a small sphere with a diameter of 6mm made of lapis and set with 54 brilliant cut diamonds. The three-dimensional moon phase will run accurate up to one day in 128 years and displays the moon's constellation. Another pioneering feature is the "Gerber Escapement" (patent pending), a novel escapement which operates on the principle of equal opposing forces, thus avoiding compressing forces and clearing the field for diverging forces. This miniature, almost entire hand-made work of art was named after the 33 degree Geneva stripes that decorate the bridges. Gerber cleverly calculated the angle so that each gear wheel axis is centrally intersected with one stripe axis.

At first glance, you wouldn't suppose there was anything very remarkable about the small table clock with a 6.5cm pendulet movement shown in picture 6. But this dainty little timepiece features a novel 1-minute flying tourbillon.

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Paul Gerber's career is dotted with unbelievable feats, including the world's most complicated wristwatch, a watch which gained the master watchmaker a further entry in the Guinness Book of Records (see pictures 7 and 8). The fascinating history of this peerless timepiece spans more than a century:

In 1892 Louis Elysée Piguet designed a very beautiful hanging ladies' watch with a minute repeater and petite and grande sonnerie. The watch, which was only 6.4cm² in size, contained a staggering 491 pieces. Only three of these watches were ever made, and two of those have disappeared completely.

The third watch, Nr. 0, was auctioned in 1989 at a sale and was acquired by the watchmaker Franck Muller, whose ambition it was to make the most complicated wristwatch based on the movement of this watch. In 1992 Muller presented his work, which now had 651 pieces, at the Basle Watch and Jewellery Show. He had added the following complications: a perpetual calendar with retrograde month hand and equation indication, weekday, date, 24-hours indication, 4-years cycle indication, moon phases and a thermometer for the internal temperature of the watch, plus the original minute repeater and petite and grande sonnerie, all encased in a platinum wristwatch case. The inspiration for the elegant dial came from Breguet.

The delighted sponsor and owner of the watch, Lord Arran, wanted more; in fact, he demanded the impossible. Somehow a flying tourbillon was to be squeezed into the watch alongside the original spring. Naturally, the original size and case was to be retained as well. Luckily, the owner found an engineer with a passion for watches who was prepared to take on this very tricky job: Paul Gerber. Three years later, in 1995, he had added 121 parts to the watch. The master of miniaturisation had not only broken the world record with this superlative piece, which now consisted of 772 individual pieces, but had also created the smallest flying minute tourbillon in the world.

By now, Lord Arran had definitely acquired a taste for the business. Knowing that nothing is impossible for Paul Gerber, he asked him to add even more complications to the watch: to start off with a split-seconds, flyback chronograph with a second chronograph hand. And a power reserve indicator for both spring houses, indicating the power reserve for the movement and for the chimes. With all modifications the diameter of the case was to remain at 32mm. The displays were to blend in with the classic design of the watch, and particularly that of the dial.

This challenge kept master watchmaker Paul Gerber busy for eight years. What turned out to be especially tricky was the fact that there were no construction plans which could be used as a basis. It goes without speaking that there was very little space left for the new complications. Last, but not least, Gerber couldn't afford to make a single mistake which could damage this priceless, 100-year-old watch.

The result in 2004:

265 additional parts in a wristwatch that now consisted of 1116 individual parts, including 79 for the case (a new, thicker case back was made to accommodate the chronograph mechanism). In sum: a masterpiece of precision engineering which now has 5 new displays and 3 additional pushers. The crystal back (picture 8) gives an impression of the fascinating miniaturised inner life of this peerless piece.

The Guinness Book of Records includes "the Piguet/Muller/Gerber Grand Complication watch is the world's most complicated wristwatch." The names of the three watchmaking artists are engraved in the ring of the back cover. Ever since shooting to fame with this breathtaking piece of work, Paul Gerber has received orders for special designs from all over the watch-loving world.

Text: Corinna Keller

Fotos: Paul Gerber