Posts Tagged ‘Wednesday’
Weird Watch Wednesday: The Greubel Forsey Effect (Live From SIHH 2010)
Tourbillon 24 Secondes in platinum with gold dial – Image courtesy of Greubel Forsey
Perhaps the hottest ticket in town this year at SIHH 2010 is an interview with Stephen Forsey. The co-founder of Greubel Forsey is a busy man and its not hard to see why when you look at the mind blowing pieces his company has created. But early on Tuesday morning I was able to spend a short time with him to talk about the latest products and look back over the last few hectic years.
While it has been my pleasure to interview only a relatively small number of independent watchmakers, they appear to have a number of common traits and Stephen does certainly seem to fit the mould. Without exception they are driven individuals, which is not surprising when you think about the amount of work and dedication it takes to make and launch your own watch.
This drive is allied to a passion for doing what they do, which understandably to some may appear almost like an obsession, however, manufacturers such as this one cannot be dismissed merely as a business. It involves so much more than just that.
Built On A Solid Foundation
Stephen has an engineering background and following a stint at the Hackney School of Horology in the late 1980s, he started out with the modest ambition of creating a few clocks that people might buy to order and make him a little bit of money. But this was the 1980s: the industry was in crises and quartz movements heralded the prospect of the demise of the mechanical watch-making business, so like many graduate watchmakers he hunkered down in someone else’s company. For Stephen this was Asprey’s in London.
The 1990s saw the return of interest in the mechanical watch, and the layoffs of the 1980s had left the Swiss watch industry with a problem – a lack of talented watchmakers. These companies scored the globe looking for talent to fill their ateliers; when Stephen landed at Renaud et Papi there were 15 different nationalities working there, and watch making was no longer a preserve of the Swiss.
In retrospect the remarkable thing about the members of this group at Renaud et Papi was what they did next. At the end of the 1990s the group began to disperse; with a common purpose, Stephen Forsey and Robert Greubel decided their future lay in creating the watches they wanted to make together. They believed that contrary to the thoughts of some other makers, not everything had been done and that innovation should be their focus.
Tourbillon 24 Secondes in platinum with black dial – Image © Ian Skellern 2010
Talking Shop
Gruebel Forsey is attending SIHH for the first time thanks in part to a 20 per cent investment by Richemont, which has also enabled Greubel Forsey to expand its workforce to nearly 100 spread over Greubel Forsey and its sister company CompliTime.
Stephen was kind enough to spend some time showing me his latest watches and, as I said yesterday, the quality is stunning and photos don’t do them justice, no matter how good they are.
Our discussions turned to how this quality is achieved and by way of an example Stephen explained how all of the screws used in his watches are made in-house. This means that the screws are made by a dedicated artisan, who is able to ensure that they are completely clean, all swarf is removed and there are no chemical residues to spoil the blueing process.
If the company is willing to go to these lengths for the screws, just imagine what it will do for the rest of the watch.
The Final Word
With the company continuing to grow and some excellent people coming on board, it looks like Stephen will be able to step back a bit from the endless rounds of PR and focus on the development of new technologies.
In my humble I think we have a lot more to look forward to from Greubel Forsey over the coming years. Now isn’t that an exciting thought!
Tourbillon 24 Secondes in platinum with black dial – Image © Ian Skellern 2010
Spec Sheet:
And just to really get your motors running, here are the specifications of the amazing Tourbillon 24 Secondes shown above:
Platinum case with lateral window, available in either a black or gold dial
Tourbillon 24 Secondes
Mechanical hand-wound movement, Calibre GF 01
Tourbillon 24 Secondes, 24-second Tourbillon rotation indicator, seconds indicator and power-reserve indicator.
Patented Movement
• Complete movement: 280 parts
• Tourbillon cage: 88 parts
• Weight of the cage: 0.39 g
Number of jewels 36
Olive-domed jewels in gold chatons
Power reserve 72 hours
Barrels Rapid rotating twin barrels (1 Turn in 3.2 hours) one of which equipped with a slipping spring so as to avoid excess tension
Balance wheel Free sprung balance with white gold mean-time screws (10 mm diameter)
Frequency 21’600 vibrations/hour
Balance spring
• Phillips terminal curve
• Geneva-style stud
Main Plates Spotted and snailed palladium-finished nickel silver
Bridges
• Hand bevelled, frosted and spotted palladium-finished nickel silver “Greubel Forsey” gold nameplate,
relief-engraved gold plate with the number of the timepiece
• Steel black mirror-polished and beveled Tourbillon bridge
• Black PVD-coated titanium platform under the Tourbillon and mirror-polished backdrop Gearing
• Involute circle profile
• Tangential inclined gear with profiled teeth, on fixed wheel and escape wheel pinion Tourbillon cage
• Inclined at a 25° angle, 24-second rotation
• Cage pillars in Avional
• Titanium cage bridges
• Gold counterweight
Displays
• Hours and minutes
• Small second sector
• 72-hour power reserve on a sector
• 24-second Tourbillon rotation indicator at 8 o’clock
Case
• Platinum with asymmetrical convex sapphire crystal
• Transparent back with asymmetrical convex sapphire crystal
• Lateral window with shaped sapphire crystal
• Raised engraving of the name of the Invention on a hand-punched background
• Gold security screws
• Polished bezel and centre band with hand-finished straight graining
• Hand-engraved individual number
Case dimensions
• Diameter: 43.5 mm
• Thickness: 16.11 mm
Water resistance of the case 3 atm – 30 m – 100 ft
Crown Platinum with engraved and black lacquered GF logo
Dial
• Gold dials
• Gold appliques
• Gold display sectors
• Applied gold logo
Hands
• Hours and minutes with Superluminova, small seconds and power-reserve in gold
• 24-second double-tipped hand, black anodised aluminium
Strap Hand-sewn black, brown and dark blue, alligator leather with gold folding clasp, hand-embossed with the Greubel Forsey initials
What do you think? Leave a comment. | Filed under New This Week, SIHH 2010, Weird Watch Wednesday
Weird Watch Wednesday: Corum Golden Tourbillon Panoramique Grey Sapphire
Undeniably 2009 has been a very innovative and successful year over at Corum. The brand launched their second in-house movement and a number of novelties, including the very unique Ti-Bridge series. So it is fitting then that one of their latest creations is the focal point for our last Weird Watch Wednesday entry for 2009, a category that celebrates the unusual, the innovative and the downright crazy!
A Clear Work Of Genius
Since 2007 a key characteristic of Corum novelties has been the reinterpretation of transparency. The Ti-Bridge series is an excellent example of this as it has no dial to speak of. Thanks to its clever design when you look through the front of the watch, all you see is the movement, the hour and minutes hands, the bottom plates and the triangle casing clamps.
Well now the brand has stepped up this creativity and craftsmanship to another level again, with the creation of the Golden Tourbillon Panoramique with grey PVD coated sapphire crystals.
First introduced in 2007 this latest incarnation of the Golden Tourbillon Panoramique is deceptively complex. Even at first glance the level of difficulty involved in constructing a piece of this caliber is immediately obvious. However, what makes this timepiece truly special is the fact that the mainplate and the three bridges are made of sapphire crystal, a very delicate and brittle material.
The level of expertise and precision required in the fabrication and shaping of synthetic sapphire crystal is immense and the high probability of breakage during the manufacturing stage makes this an extremely time consuming process. Thus it is important to take this into consideration in order to appreciate the exceptional level of craftsmanship involved in the creation of this watch.
As a result a truly unique visual effect is created by the slightly grey color of the sapphire crystal, which partly reveals the mystery of the conception and accentuates the strength of the timepiece. This stunning piece of aesthetic trickery is almost overpowered, however, by the 309 diamonds set in the white gold Tonneau-shaped case that surrounds the movement.
This is truly a dedication to decadence.
In Full View
The movement is a mechanical hand-wound Corum 382 based upon LaJoux Perret 7951 and features a tourbillion complication. Beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour the timepiece offers an impressive 90 hour power reserve when fully wound. Each movement is assembled and adjusted over a period of three weeks, before being cased up and comprised of 168 individual parts. To ensure the wearer can fully appreciate the mechanical complexity of this piece four sapphire crystal glasses offer the maximum view of this stunning movement.
Given the high-level of complexity involved in the creation of these pieces they are only available in a Limited Edition of 5 pieces.
The Final Word
The Golden Tourbillon Panoramique with grey PVD coated sapphire crystals is indicative of what can be achieved when money is no barrier. Yes it is unusual for a manufacturer to produce a limited run of only 5 watches but at the same time it is very exciting to see that even the bigger brands have not lost sight of the true watchmaking spirit of innovation and creativity. Sure this piece is not practical and the price tag is likely to rival that of a Super Car but that’s not the point. It’s an expression of artistic vision and craftsmanship to the highest degree possible and for that, I say thank you.
Weird Watch Wednesday: BR 01-92 Radar
Bell & Ross is starting to become a bit of a favorite when it comes to Weird Watch Wednesdays. A couple of weeks ago we told you about the BR01-94 Carbon Fiber Chronograph, made from a single block of carbon fibre. This week we’re going even more stealth, if that’s possible! Designed for the hardcore naval and military enthusiasts out there, the aptly named BR 01-92 Radar looks like exactly that. A Radar.
Breaking With Convention
I really have to hand it to the creative guys over at Bell & Ross, they never seem to run out of ideas when it comes to ‘re-imagining’ their classic lines. First shown at Basel World 2009, the Radar model uses the standard black BR01 case and a very clever dial design to create a very cool and distinctive looking watch.
The unique circular radar display uses colored radial lines, thus giving the illusion that the rotating hour and minute hands are scanning for blips. Based on the above picture I am guessing that the inner ring is the seconds indicator, the middle ring is minutes and the outer ring is the hours, however, I am not 100% sure.
I have to say I really like the selection of bright colors which provide a stunning contrast against the darkness of the dial and case, although it is not overbearing in any way.
The BR01-92 Radar is limited to a production of only 500 pieces worldwide.
The Final Word
I have to say this is probably one of the coolest variations of the classic BR01-92 model I’ve seen so far. Admittedly the watch is quite unconventional and it will probably take a little time to get used to reading the time but it is definitely eye-catching and I imagine mesmerizing to watch in action.
Maybe not an every day watch but definitely worth a second look!
Weird Watch Wednesday: The Perpetual Flying Tourbillon
I’ve selected this week’s watch to demonstrate the value of equipping yourself with the right knowledge before you go out and make that all important purchase. In the course of my daily travels across the internet I chanced across this rather innocuous company that purports to offer what is renowned as highly complex, and therefore expensive, complication for a seemingly impossible price.
As near as I can tell the company is called Perpetual and they produce watches complete with an exhibition flying tourbillon complication. I almost forgot to mention, these watches retail for less than US$1,000.
If this doesn’t even sound slightly ridiculous to you than you owe it to yourself to read on!
The Flying Tourbillon
You may recall that last week’s “Weird Watch Wednesday” feature watch was also equipped with a variation of the humble tourbillon created by Louis Breguet. As such, I won’t go into too much detail about the history of the tourbillon again. Essentially what you need to know is that rather than being supported by a bridge, or cock, at both the top and bottom, it is cantilevered, being only supported from one side. Whilst there is no real technical advantage to this, the visual appeal of the flying tourbillon in motion is simply stunning.
Some of the more famous brands to incoporate flying tourbillons are Cartier with their Ballon Bleu Flying Tourbillon, Ulysse Nardin with their “Royal Blue” Mystery Tourbillon and more recently Glashütte with the Original Senator Meissen Tourbillon. The point I am trying to illustrate here is that such is the complexity of the Flying Tourbillon complication that generally speaking it is only ever attempted by and limited to master watchmakers. And this is adequately reflected in the prices, which generally start from six figures and up.
The Perpetual “Flying Tourbillon”
Thus this brings us to the supposed “Flying Tourbillon” models from Perpetual. I think it should be fairly clear by this stage based on what we’ve just learnt above, that these watches should not be taken at face value. Just looking at the finishing on the dial above it seems abundantly obvious to me that this manufacturer certainly does not have the skills required to produce a complication as technically advanced as the flying tourbillon.
The website tries to compensate for this by saying that watch movements are purchased directly from a “first class specialist movement maker”, although no indication is actually given to the location or merit of this particular producer. Confusingly though, the site then goes on to say that design, assembly and most importantly, fine-tuning of the movements and other parts is carried out by their own experienced watchmakers.
But didn’t they just say they buy their watch movements from a third party?
The list of discrepancies goes on and on and this is yet another excellent example of the type of “genuine fakes” we discussed in our two-part special on counterfeit watches. Its not a replica as such, as it is not a cheap re-production of another watch, rather it is holding itself out to be a genuine, stand-alone brand. The site even features a nice video to show the movement in action!
The Final Word
I am certainly no expert on high-end watch complications and there are plenty of people out there who are far more qualified than I to pass judgment on these timepieces (perhaps they would care to comment?) but this seems like a very clear cut case to me. Quite simply put, you get what you pay for. The above is not a genuine flying tourbillon complication and quite frankly, to purchase and wear this watch would be a crime against good taste.
Hopefully you have learnt something from reading this article and perhaps will think twice the next time you see that “luxury timepiece” on the internet for next to nix!
Weird Watch Wednesday: Bell & Ross BR01-94 Carbon Fiber Chronograph
This week’s watch is unique for a rather obvious reason: the case is manufactured entirely from a single block of carbon fiber. In fact, pretty much the whole thing is carbon fiber, which certainly makes for an interesting look, to say the least. Who would do such a thing you ask? The enterprising fellows over at Bell & Ross of course, with yet another variation of the now notorious BR01 Instrument. Still, this one does stay far truer to the heritage of B&R than other models the brand has released.
Lightweight and Practical
As you would expect from a watch made almost entirely from carbon fiber the BR01-94 Carbon Fiber Chronograph is exceptionally lightweight as well as remarkably strong. As such it is excellent candidate for military personnel and other highly active outdoors people who require a good tool watch. The 46mm diameter and chronograph function further add to its credentials as a watch designed for action.
Keeping the theme consistent the dial and strap are also made of carbon fiber, with the indices, numbers and hands covered in a lume to ensure high visibility even in the darkest corners of the planet. Don’t despair though if you spend all your time out in the sun as the flat sapphire crystal has also been given the anti-reflective treatment, making it easy to read in all conditions.
Although the watch has a screw-in crown, the main detractor in my mind is the limited water resistance of only 100m, which could really limit the usability of this piece.
Stable Power
Powering the watch is an uninspired but nonetheless reliable ETA 2894 mechanical self-winding chronograph movement. It features hours, minutes, seconds, date and chronograph counters that display 12 hours, 30 minutes and 60 seconds. No doubt if this model does well, we may see other variations with functions like dual time zone, etc.
The watch is limited to 500 pieces worldwide and pricing is yet to be announced.
The Final Word
My views on Bell & Ross’s continued variations on the same theme are pretty well documented, however, I think the new BR01-94 Carbon Fiber Chronograph will be well received by hardcore B&R enthusiasts. Namely because it is a practical tool watch which will actually offer the wearer some benefits, other than just expensive wrist candy.
Although I would like to see the guys over at B&R introduce something new for a change, as variations go this one is not too bad at all.
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