On Friday the 13th September 1963, Svend Andersen arrived in Switzerland from his native Denmark. A very skilled watchmaker, he was immediately engaged by Gübelin in Luzern and Geneva. After 6 years with Gübelin he moved to the Patek Philippe "Atelier des complications" where he worked until the end of 1979, when he started as an independent watchmaker. In 1979, at a time when interest in mechanical watches had begun to grow again after the "quartz crisis", and there was an increased demand for restoration and recasing of old complicated pocket watch movements, Svend Andersen launched his career as an independent watch maker. His know-how and interest in history, as well as in style and design, allowed him to recreate complicated gold cases and restore some of the most complicated movements. In 1985 he and Vincent Calabrese founded the AHCI, ?Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants?, now an important institution in the horological world. Svend Andersen always amazes the connoisseurs and collectors world-wide with his exceptional horological creations and technical constructions, such as the ?World?s Smallest Calendar Watch? (in the Guinness Book of Records) and the "Secular Perpetual Calendar" wristwatch, as well as his calendar or time indicator constructions, like the world time watches "Communication", "Christophorus Columbus", and the "1884" which tells history. Not to forget the amazing ?Most Animated Automaton Wristwatch? (erotic) ever made, with up to 15 parts that move in three different rythms. Since the Eros was launched in 1997, it has not been equalled in complexity by any other automaton wristwatch. With a series of worlds firsts, it is no wonder Svend Andersen has earned the nickname ?Watchmaker of the Impossible?.