The Berneron Quantième Annuel, The Second Act of the Young Indie Brand

Berneron has been one of the new sensations of the past two years, making quite some noise when launching its first and rather unusual watch, the Mirage 38. Oddly shaped, with a proprietary movement following the curves of the case and an undeniable sense of elegance, Sylvain Berneron did not compromise when it came to his unconventional watchmaking vision. But the man who believes in derestricted horology didn’t want to be affiliated exclusively with this Crash-like dress watch. The brand, apparently, had more to deliver than the Mirage models. Well, we now know that Berneron is capable of more things, with the launch of the Quantième Annuel, a radically different watch with a few tricks up its sleeve. 

We’re not going to explain all about Berneron as a brand and where its founder, Sylvain Berneron, comes from. For that, you can have a look at our coverage of the brand’s inaugural release, the Mirage 38. And most likely, we will come back to the topic of the Quantième Annuel in a follow-up hands-on article, as we’re somehow looking forward to seeing this watch in the metal. But here’s what we know so far about this new watch, a model that has been largely teased on social media in the past months.

The philosophy of the brand is, I quote, “to bring a meaningful and creative contribution to the watch world.” This is materialised by a low-scale production of watches, using suppliers located within a 50km radius, entirely Swiss-made, with a self-funded business plan and an independent spirit, the brand being family-owned. The brand, for now, remains at a human scale, with each piece individually numbered and produced at the rate of 24 pieces per year, for 10 years, in order to build a stable portfolio.

The new The Berneron Quantième Annuel

The Quantième Annuel is the first watch in a collection simply named Quantième, which will cover highly technical and complicated watches – and considering the name, all of them should feature a calendar complication. This Quantième Annuel, French for annual calendar, is a complete departure, both design-wise and technically, from the inaugural Mirage. First of all, it’s back to a more traditional case design, yet with some interesting features. The case, compact in its dimensions, is 38mm in diameter, 10mm in thickness and 45mm in length. It is equipped with stepped, curved lugs and an angled bezel. Somehow, a modern and sharp interpretation of a classic dress watch.

One of the key features of the case is its construction, named Steel Layer. Most of the case, for 85% of its total weight, is made of 950 platinum. But to overcome the weaknesses of platinum, being easily scratched but tedious to repair, the case comes with a protective layer of 904L steel on the most sensitive parts to increase its longevity. This layer is composed of six distinct components (over the bezel, lugs and on the crown), all removable and replaceable throughout the life of the piece. The watch is also equipped with a classic crown and two pushers located at 4 and 8 o’clock, acting as correctors for the day and month jumping indications.

Two editions of the Berneron Quantième Annuel will be produced, one with a black dial and silver-grey accents, one with a silver dial and blue accents. The dial itself is made of solid gold, with gold hands. But what strikes most is the display, with legibility in mind. It’s actually designed as a cross architecture, with vertical timekeeping indications and horizontal calendar elements. As for the time, the regulator-style layout of the Quantième Annuel relies on a large jumping hour at 12 o’clock, a central minute hand and a small seconds at 6 o’clock.

Then, the calendar indications are positioned horizontally and placed in a way that makes them natural to read – day, date, month (at least, in Europe…). The calendar relies on a large jumping disc for the day, a centrally-mounted retrograde date and another large jumping disc for the month. An additional AM-PM indication sits inside the small seconds. In addition, the calendar function comes with a quick-set procedure, as the time and date are set with the crown (back and forth), just like on any conventional watch. The day and month are using pushers located near the windows for quick corrections. Also, calendar watches have a well-earned reputation for being temperamental if you set them incorrectly. In the event of accidental tampering during the setting process, the calibre 595 is equipped with a safety device that resets the date to the first day of the following month.

Under the hunter caseback lies a new proprietary hand-wound movement – no word given regarding its origin, but we’ll try to know more during the Geneva Watch Days. The movement, again made of solid gold, seems to be yet another impressive development with a pleasant sense of symmetry. It features two barrels, as the main issue with this movement was managing energy storage. It indeed drives 4 instantaneous jumping apertures, 2 swiping hands and 1 retrograde date, and in some cases, all five jumps occur simultaneously. As an annual calendar, it only requires one correction per year, on February 28th.

Availability & Price

As mentioned above, the Berneron Quantième Annuel will be produced in 24 pieces per colour and per year, for a period of 10 years (making the Series A). The first deliveries will begin in October 2026. And for the price, the watch has an… evolutive pricing strategy (justified by the wish to thank early collectors who ordered the first pieces… I don’t know yet what to think of that…) In 2026, it will be CHF 120,000, then CHF 130,000 in 2027 and CHF 140,000 in 2028.

For more details, please visit www.berneron.ch.