In conversation – the eclecticum sits down with watchmaking talent Anny Weber on working with master watchmaker Paul Gerber
Being mentored by one of the most acclaimed watchmakers has been the ‘jackpot of Anny Weber's life’, and for the Gerbers it changed their life plans
Independent watchmaking ‘is always about the people behind’ – that is a phrase you hear very often when collectors or journalists talk about their horological heroes. Yet funnily enough one seldom really learns about the personalities of the watchmakers apart from their education and skills.
(Anny Weber in conversation with ‘the eclecticum’)
When we got notice that our friends Ruth and Paul Gerber decided to scrap their well-developed retirement plans (no employees anymore, only working at their own pace and delight) and onboarded Anny Weber directly from her final apprenticeship examination, we decided to sit down with Anny to find out about the magic human sauce which redefined their notion of delight… and serves as glue between an experienced watchmaker and a young talent.
From zero straight to master class
In the last years in school Anny visited a career fair where she got to disassemble a watch movement bridge, and she was hooked immediately. The question for her was no longer if she should apply for a watchmaking apprenticeship, but where…
In Switzerland such an apprenticeship comprises practical training with an apprenticeship employer (be it a retailer with a service workshop or a watch company) and school tuition for the theoretical background. That, however focused on being productive in an industrial context. But Anny is always inquisitive and wanted to learn more, particularly she wanted to acquire a thorough understanding of root causes of given problems. So, Anny sought for extra tuition, and through her mother, she met Paul Gerber who accepted to train her in the spare time.
(Anny Weber and Paul Gerber, unclear whether they’re joking or working, or both…?)
Her first impression when she started with Paul was kind of a ‘shit I know nothing’ moment – as her watchmaking curriculum did not really prepare her for comprehensive watchmaking tasks in an atelier like Paul’s, but she picked up quickly by watching closely how Paul does things, even tiny details like how to hold a tool.
‘Together we are stronger’ – working with Paul
Their first ‘project’ together was Anny’s school watch, a workpiece required from watchmaking students as part of their practical final examination. Anny’s idea was to combine her passions for horse riding and watchmaking in the shape of wristwatch with a peripheral jumping hours complication – with a cavallo da salto, a jumping horse as hour indicator. Since she chose a UNITAS 6468 pocket watch movement as base, the radius was comparatively large and hence the jumping distance accordingly, so controlling the forces was quite a challenge.
(Anny’s school watch with a peripheral jumping hour indication)
Anny points out that Paul asks questions rather than lecture, and she appreciates such a much more immersive and sustainable way of learning. Anny says:
„I came up with many ideas myself that I discussed with Paul, and he made sure I only try those which don’t prove impossible only at the very end of the construction, so that I had a chance to complete the watch in time. Else he encouraged me to try even if he knew it would not work so I got to learn from my own mistakes and get a feeling for what are good or not so good ways to solve a problem. Paul is an abundant and generous source of knowledge and routine.”
Having her school watch completed, Anny concludes that the two most important skills she learned was how to create parts, and how to devise test protocols for new mechanisms, what to test, what conditions to select, and which tools to use.
(Anny Weber at the workbench in the Gerber Atelier)
Here we notice how two personalities enrich one another: Anny is quite hard on herself, she doesn’t like to give up too easily and forces herself do things properly (‘black polish has to be… black!’), even if that requires her to work 12 h in a row. Paul on the other side encouraged her to take things in more playful ways and try out various approaches an see if they work (better).
While Paul is richly experienced he is not closed, indeed he’s very curious and open to novel approaches, he can change even if he did it ‘his way’ for many decades. That’s why screw heads are now polished in the Gerber Atelier at twice the usual speed and with a finer result (using a polishing paste Paul had stored unused in his atelier shelves for dozens of years), and Paul no longer considers curved wheel spokes as an acquired taste, while Anny accepted that certain switch cams need to look the way they do… (‘fresh wind at times comes through the back door…’, as Anny puts it).
(Jumping hour cam wheel, Paul Gerber (left) and Anny Weber (right) style…image © Anny Weber)
This synergy also changed life plans: Originally, Paul and Ruth planned for their retirement to slow down and work on select ‘fun projects’ only, alone and without employees. But even this doesn’t necessarily mean working less, particularly for a passionate watchmaker like Paul (in ‘the eclecticum’ team we often joke that Paul is probably the only person who will get upset if one takes over work from him…), so Anny’s arrival induced Paul and Ruth to reconsider, and offer Anny a contract, and so she is not only their third and fourth hand working on Gerber’s Cal. 41 and Cal. 42 watches, but also an additional brain, for the mutual benefit of all.
If you see Anny, Paul, and Ruth together then its immediately clear that they share more than just work. It’s a personal bond that goes further, and there’s a lot of laughter in the atelier (‘being crazy in all seriousness’).
The Waterford Watch ‘deal’ – an offer Anny couldn’t refuse…
Four weeks before her final examination Paul was set to reveal the ‘Waterford Watch Project’ to Anny. As a reminder, this is a unique handwound watch with a slow-beat (2Hz or 14400 vph) movement with oversized balance, Breguet spiral and a moustache pallet, based on an UNITAS 6468 (just like Anny’s school watch).
(The Paul Gerber & Anny Weber Cal. 55W Waterford Watch)
For more on the Paul Gerber & Anny Weber Cal. 55W Waterford Watch, please click here.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Paul if he’d simply asked Anny if she would be interested to help. True to his form, he took her aside and asked if she would be interested in a ‘deal’ which would involve Waterford and would make her name known even outside of her native Schaffhausen… actually, she wouldn’t have a chance to say ‘no’ since Paul already had the dial plate completely engraved with both of their names …
(The (early, note guilloché pattern!) raw dial of the Cal. 55W watch, or: one better passes the ‘point of no return’ in time… image © Paul Gerber)
She also would gain international experience and for the first time would have to directly present a creation to collectors. Anny wanted to know more, but Paul was firm: ‘accept ‘the deal’ or not…!’ That combined with a healthy dose of naivety and overconfidence tipped the scale and made her accept it, complemented by a sense of pride and relief that Paul put so much confidence in her abilities to complete the project together.
(Paul and Anny working on the Cal. 55W)
As they were on a very tight timeline to get the watch ready for the festival in September 2023, she got new tasks all 30min (in fact, Paul prepared those tasks carefully so that Anny could complete them, and till today she is sure he would have been faster if he had done the watch alone, but that was not the point…), most of which she had never tackled before.
(Setting the stones into the moustache pallet. Image © Paul Gerber)
It helped that the base construction of the movement with its slow escapement and large balance was already completed by Paul. But at some point, Anny’s curiosity got the better part of her, and so one day over lunch she suggested, more joking than being serious, that the Waterford watch ‘needed’ a Breguet spiral (which Paul doesn’t use with the majority of his watches) – and guess what? Paul said, ‘very well, give it a try, but be warned that the construction doesn’t provide the vertical space for such’.
And this caveat came from the ‘master of the not existing space’…!
(Breguet spiral for the Cal. 55W movement calculated and bent by Anny. Note the thinness! Images © Paul Gerber)
Anny was hooked in the challenge to create something that was not only new for her, but also for Paul – walking an unknown path together. So, although she had never shaped a Breguet spiral before, she not only managed to fit it into the given space (a discipline actually Paul is famous for…) but also succeeded bending the overcoil already at her fourth trial (!).
(Early version of Anny’s Breguet spiral modification (left) and final one (right). Image © Paul Gerber)
In retrospect the Waterford Watch was an intense and extreme experience which prepared her to feel confident as a real watchmaker – in a holistic way: the sum of the experiences, the adventurous moments of the project, and the knowledge she gained – be it at the ‘etabli’, or in conversations with collectors or colleagues.
(ultra-slow-beat 2Hz escapement with large balance, Breguet spring and moustache pallet…)
The watch goes on sale on 11 May 2024 at the Phillips in Association with Bacs and Russo Geneva auction. The ‘dream team’ Anny, Ruth and Paul (and Anny’s ‘fan club’) will travel to Geneva to attend the live auction, and Anny has one message addressed to the future owner of the Waterford Watch:
“I hope that the new owner will be a person who at the one hand has deep pockets (as there is a strong charitable component in the sale of the watch supporting Irish families with boys suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy as well as the Waterford Festival of Time), but on the other side is a bona fide watch aficionado who can appreciate the essence of the watch in a holistic way. I also stand to gain from the sale thanks to Paul’s generosity, but honestly, working with Paul and Ruth is the greatest jackpot I ever could dream of!”
A glimpse into the future – dreams and wishes
Asked about her plans for her future, Anny points to the fun she has working with Paul and Ruth. While she outlined certain areas where she wants to grow, like languages and experiences abroad, she currently feels being at the ‘perfectly right place’ in the Gerber atelier. In her view, there is still so much to gain from Paul and Ruth, not only in terms of watchmaking, but also as a person, through their daily working together and the intense discussions they have. She is sure that Paul and Ruth would be the first to tell her ‘its time for us to let you to go to new shores to learn what you can’t acquire here!’
(Anny, Ruth and Paul bidding goodbye to the Cal. 55W Waterford Watch)
As admirers of independent watchmakers we could not help but ask whether she could imagine herself creating watches bearing the ‘Anny Weber’ name. Her answer is at the same time surprising and not: Clearly, she feels great respect for watchmakers who go public with their own movements and under their own name, but personally she appreciates the great investments in terms of time, particularly, to get such right, and she feels not yet ready to make that step – see above!
‘the eclecticum’s’ take
We’re not sure if Anny, Paul, or Ruth fully realise what is at play here as sometimes its easier to notice from the outside perspective: the triumvirate of the three feels like winning the lottery for all of them – a talent getting the appropriate environment for working together in an ambitious atmosphere, and a renowned master who gets to mentor a worthy student.
We’re sure that here the sum is more than each of the individual people themselves, and without the mutual enrichment of Anny, Paul, and Ruth the Waterford watch would never be completed the way it is now. But also, the three have matured together, and who know, perhaps Paul has found the prodigy who will continue his legacy…?
Definitely, we’ll watch Anny for her career path (and rest assured, our expectations are high ;-)). For now, we cross all our fingers for a sensational auction result of the Cal. 55W Waterford watch!
‘the eclecticum’
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P.S.:
- You can follow Anny on her horological journey through her IG account ‘aw.makingwatches’.
- The watch sold for a price of CHF 24,130 – a huge congratulations from our side!
