Bernhard Lederer – Central Impulse Chronometer CIC 39 Racing Green Gold LVMH Watch Prize - 2025
Being named a finalist for the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize marks a defining milestone in Bernhard Lederer’s independent journey.
This distinction places Lederer among the most forward-thinking creators in contemporary watchmaking, recognizing a relentless commitment to innovation, integrity, and chronometric performance.
“I am honoured that the CIC 39 Racing Green has been selected as a finalist for the Louis Vuitton Watch Prize This recognition carries particular significance for me. As it comes after nearly forty years of independent watchmaking dedicated to the pursuit of mechanical performance and sincerity, I have never considered innovation as an end in itself, but as a responsibility to question established principles, refine the foundations of Haute Horlogerie, and contribute, step by Step, to the long-term evolution of our craft. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for this distinction, which encourages me to continue building a watchmaking rooted in patience, transmission and respect for time.”
BERNHARD LEDERER
The CIC 39 mm enters the LVMH Watch Prize semi-finals, a milestone for Lederer’s philosophy, not just a watch.
On December 15th, the CIC 39 mm Racing Green was named among the semi-finalists of the LVMH Watch Prize, recognized not only for its striking architecture but for the vision that shaped it. This press release exists to share that vision: a watchmaker’s pursuit of mechanical truth, sincerity, and the belief that horology’s future lies not necessary in ornament, but in meaning. The CIC 39 mm stands as a creation that advances watchmaking at its core: quietly, profoundly, and with deep respect for time itself.
An unresolved truth became a lifetime pursuit
The story of the CIC 39 mm begins with a centuries-old dilemma: the inherent fragility of the detent escapement.
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George Daniels explored it.
What followed was not simply development, but a voyage. Years of experiments, recalculations, doubt, and persistence. Solutions that dissolved as soon as they appeared. Yet every failure revealed a truth, a clue, a fragment of understanding. Progress was demanding and deeply personal but never abandoned.
The breakthrough arrived only when Lederer understood that refinement could not solve the problem. Reinvention was necessary. Two independent gear trains, each driven by its own constant-force mechanism. Two escapement wheels alternating their impulses with exact regularity. And at the origin of this harmony, a regulating organ, the metronome, securing coherence even at low amplitudes. The idea that resisted solution for centuries finally found its voice on Lederer.
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“I was not born into watchmaking. Curiosity brought me here, and my failures taught me the craft” - BERNHARD LEDERER .
The philosophy that dares to pursue the impossible
For Bernhard Lederer, a watch is never an object, it is a manifestation of thought. A place where he chooses to go precisely because no one else dares to. His work is not meant merely to be admired, but to be understood.
Each component, each curve of architecture, each force in motion expresses a belief that watchmaking still holds unexplored territories, and that its future belongs to those who pursue sincerity rather than spectacle. His philosophy is anchored in convictions shaped not by habit, but by a lifetime of questioning and by the courage to follow paths others abandoned.
Innovation must be meaningful.
For Lederer, a creation has value only if it solves a real mechanical challenge, clarifies a system, stabilizes energy, or deepens understanding. Anything else is only noise.
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Progress must honor truth
Advancement cannot betray the craft. It must carry the wisdom of the past while refusing to be limited by it. To move forward in watchmaking is not to discard tradition, but to refine it until coherence appears.
Performance must be pursued through structure, not style.
A watch should reveal the logic of its movement through architectural honesty, through lines and volumes that let the mechanics speak.
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Aesthetics arise not from decoration, but from the equilibrium of forces, the clarity of purpose, the elegance of a mechanism that has nothing to hide, only truth to reveal.
Knowledge must be transmitted, not protected.
A movement should teach. A watchmaker should lift the craft rather than guard it. Lederer believes the next generation deserves a horology that is readable, learnable, and enriched by those who came before. Transmission is the soul of the métier.
“A mechanism must solve a real problem. If it doesn’t, it remains an idea, not watchmaking. For centuries, the detent escapement had potential locked inside it. I wanted to give it a voice.” BERNHARD LEDERER
Where mecanics become a language, an understanding becomes the beauty
The CIC 39 mm is constructed like an open manuscript. Each wheel, bridge, and lever is placed with intent so that the movement reads clearly, teaching the eye how energy travels and how precision is earned.
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At the center of the CIC lies the metronome, a discreet organ that transforms the escapement’s destiny. An element small in size yet immense in consequence. It regulates the flow of energy where the detent escapement has always been most vulnerable: in low amplitudes. Creating it required years of analysis and re-engineering. Today, it stands as the quiet force that allows the CIC to breathe with coherence and confidence. It is a subtle form of innovation, one that changes everything.
The movement’s pulse, experienced
The CIC 39 mm does not demand attention; it invites a quieter form of fascination.
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The domed sapphire crystal acts not just as a window but as a lens, softening the contours of the movement and drawing the gaze toward the heartbeat of the escapement. Its proportions offer balance without excess, creating a piece that lives with the wearer.
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Whether in serene silver or in deep racing green, the CIC expresses precision with a calm, almost meditative authority. Each glance uncovers a new detail, a brushed edge catching the light, a gear revealing its geometry, a finishing gesture hinting at the hours spent at the bench. It reminds the wearer that time is not only measured, it is felt.
Racing Green, Bernhard’s own way interpretation
The racing green dial draws from a personal memory: Bernhard’s vintage Sunbeam. For him, this color carries the spirit of technical elegance, endurance, and understated strength. In the CIC 39 mm, that same spirit is brought to life through a sandblasted matte finish that softens reflections and enriches legibility, encouraging the eye to settle into the depth of the hue rather than the shine of the surface.
The dial is framed by a 39 mm 5N rose gold case whose polished bezel and flanks warm the green with subtle radiance, while the domed sapphire crystal opens an immersive view into the sculptural movement beneath. Through the aperture at 10 o’clock, the remontoir d’égalité reveals its quiet choreography, a reminder that every aesthetic choice in the CIC exists to serve the mechanics.
On the wrist, a handcrafted calfskin strap in harmonized green anchors the composition with natural elegance. A refined 5N rose gold pin buckle mirrors the case geometry, completing a design guided not by ornament, but by intention.
In this configuration, racing green becomes more than a color. It becomes Bernhard Lederer’s signature, a fusion of memory, engineering, and a philosophy shaped by purpose.
Building the horology of tomorrow
For Bernhard Lederer, independence is not solitude, it is responsibility. It is the duty to honor the past while opening pathways for the future, to explore territories where others hesitate, and to elevate the craft through sincerity rather than spectacle. The CIC 39 mm embodies this commitment: a watch that does not imitate tradition, but extends it; a creation that proves innovation is meaningful only when it deepens understanding.
“Time reveals its truth only to those who dare to question it.”
BERNHARD LEDERER
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Collection: Tribute to the Masters of Escapments
Name: Lederer CIC 39 mm Racing Green LVMH Watch Prize
Material: 5N rose gold or 904L steel
Diameter: 39 mm
Polished bezel, brushed flanks
Domed sapphire crystal for immersive visibility
Curved sapphire caseback
Water-resistant to 30 meters
Dial
In-house crafted
Silver or deep racing green
Sandblasted matte texture
Aperture at 10 o’clock revealing remontoir
Movement
Exclusive to Lederer, the Double Detent Escapement with double remontoirs is entirely crafted in-house and patented. Caliber: 9016
Movement height: 4.95 mm
Double detent escapement
Two independent gear trains
Twin constant-force
remontoirs d’égalité
Number of parts: 212
Number of jewels: 36
Frequency: 3 Hz, 21'600 vph
Power reserve: 38 hours
Movement decorations
Fine satin-finishing, top and bottom surface graining, bead blasting, hand- polished and beveled edges, inner and outer angles, as well as bridges and the main plate, straight-grained and beveled by hand. Completing this masterpiece, mirror-polished steel components reflect the ultimate pursuit of horological perfection
Functions
Hours, minutes, central seconds
Strap and buckle
Handcrafted natural calfskin
Tone matched to dial
Curved lugs for ergonomic comfort
5N rose gold pin buckle
Sculpted to mirror case geometry
🔴 Retail Price: CHF 155’000 (excluding VAT) 💰
#LedererLongitude #Lederer #CraftedForCollectors #MarineChronometry #IndependentWatchmaking
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Press releases - 2025
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For press enquiries or further information:
EWA LEDERER
International Sales & Customer Relations
el@lederertimepieces.com
Mobile +41 79 811 56 71
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BEGOÑA MALLENCO
Head of marketing & communication
bm@lederertimepieces.com
Mobile +41 79 846 88 22
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BERNHARD LEDERER WATCHES
Contact us
Ewa Lederer, Sales International
Office time : 8.00 – 17.00
Tel. +41 32 552 17 10
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