You know you’ve reached a certain level in watch collecting when you create a business just so you can make bespoke versions of the watches you love. That’s precisely where Singaporean collector Benjamin Chee, founder of Benjamin Chee Haute Horlogerie, is at. In 2019, Chee started BCHH with a mission to collaborate with some of his favourite makers — the latest fruit of this creative partnership is the Celestial Voyager “Sunset over Cappadocia”, Version 2, made with Andersen Genève.

The first Celestial Voyager collab dates back to 2021, followed by the Cappadocia-themed take on the model in 2022. Following in the grand tradition of world-timers with rich enamel dials, the theme for this model is, as you might have guessed — the famous balloon flights over Turkey’s Cappadocia region. This historically significant area of Anatolia is dominated by its famous’ fairy chimneys’, a thin spire of rock caused by erosion. The area is well known as one of the most stunning areas for hot-air ballooning, a scene that Andersen Genève has immortalised in cloisonné enamel. The first version offered us a cliff-side scene, with scores of pastel balloons floating above a wide river; this edition shows us a slightly more elevated perspective of the same scene — a sunset over rocky canyons, showing the winding Kizilirmak river in a scene of serene beauty and technical excellence. Outside of the enamel heart of this watch, the city ring is realised in aventurine glass, with Cappadocia picked out in pink gold.

Aside from the new dial perspective, the other major differentiating factor at play is the bezel. Rather than opting for platinum like the rest of the 37.7mm case, the smooth, well-rounded bezel is in pink gold — a nod to the sunset theme of the dial. The open leaf-shaped hands also match in the precious metal.

Stunning though the dial is, one detail on this watch that is simply superb are the lugs. You rarely see lugs of this quality, even amongst top tier watchmakers. The design is called ‘eagle wings’, and offers a dramatically swooped and curved concave design that does, in silhouette, resemble the wings of a bird of prey. On the watch though, they are unspeakably element — each lug is hand-made and soldered to the body of the case.

Keep turning the watch over, and the pink gold caseback ring frames a vintage Schild movement, fitted with a world time module, a 21k Bluegold rotor and a movement ring, proudly declaring the watch as BCHH by Andersen Genève piece.

The watch is limited to 20 pieces, and offers a degree of customisation on dial elements like the design and reference cities. There’s an exceptional artisanal quality about this watch that really exemplifies what makes watch collecting at this level great. Benjamin Chee gets it.

Tech Specs: Andersen Genève Celestial Voyager “Sunset over Cappadocia”, Version 2

Movement: Automatic-winding vintage AS 1876 calibre, with Andersen Genève world time module, Bluegold rotor and hand-made finishings; 40-hour power reserve
Functions: Hours and minutes; world time
Case: Platinum and pink gold; 37.8mm × 10.1mm; water-resistant to 3ATM
Dial: Cloisonné enamel centre section with aventurine city ring
Strap: Dark blue leather
Price: £54,500
Availability: Limited to 20 pieces