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They can only make about 2 a year of this handmade watch
Nov 9, 2019
Bark and Jack
Hi Guys,
I was able to catch up and interview Stephen Forsey, one half of Greubel Forsey. He talked about the history of Greubel Forsey and showed their new Hand Made 1. A nearly all hand made watch. It takes so long to make these that they can only make about 2 a year.
Specs:
Greubel Forsey - Handmade 1
Movement: Manual Wind
Case: 18k White Gold
Size: 43.5mm wide, 13.5mm thick
Price: Lots and lots
Company Overview
GREUBEL FORSEY – Inventors Inventing Inventions
Greubel Forsey is a very exclusive, ultra high-end watch brand founded by inventor watchmakers Robert Greubel (French) and Stephen Forsey (English) in 2004.
With their comprehensive state-of-the-art research, testing and production atelier in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Greubel Forsey are able to use their EWT® (Experimental Watch Technology) platform to turn fundamental ideas and inventions into sublimely finished and highly original complicated timepieces. These timepieces represent the very pinnacle of fine Swiss watchmaking and they advance horological knowledge and precision.
Greubel Forsey’s first invention, the Double Tourbillon 30° (DT30°), was specifically intended to make the tourbillon, originally developed for use in a pocket watch, more effective in a wristwatch. It features an interior tourbillon carriage, inclined at 30° and revolving every 60 seconds, inside an exterior tourbillon carriage revolving every four minutes – a configuration offering superior timekeeping performance in all wristwatch positions.
The second invention, the Quadruple Tourbillon à Différentiel Sphérique (QDT), was created to both explore and push the very limits of using multiple tourbillons to improve timekeeping. Four asynchronous tourbillons, arranged in two double tourbillon systems linked by a spherical differential, ensure this invention’s extremely high precision.
The Tourbillon 24 Secondes Incliné (T24Si) is Greubel Forsey’s third invention and it features a single ultra-light inclined tourbillon cage which undergoes rapidly changing positions with a high angular velocity. Avional was used for the pillars of the cage and titanium for the carriage bridges to minimize mass and inertia while retaining maximum strength.
Fundamental research in the EWT® pipeline includes a Binomial mono-material balance and spring system and a Différentiel d’Egalité constant force device.
All Greubel Forsey’s timepieces feature: highly original inventions developed to improve timekeeping precision; movement finishing taken to an extreme level of the art and craft; and movement/case architecture that provides maximum visual access to the intricate wonders within.
Founding Date
2004
Created as just two or three timepieces per year, the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 is destined to become a new watchmaking landmark that unites both past and future. This new step towards the summit in the finest of craftsmanship is substantiated on the dial at 6 o'clock, where the inscription HAND MADE replaces the usual SWISS MADE.
Hand Made 1 - All the movement's components are of course then hand finished true to the finest watchmaking tradition, including the bridges with their polished inner and outer vertical flanks, the unique “Gratté” mainplate, and the wheels with hand polished bevels top and bottom (40 sharp internal angles for a five-spoke wheel).
The open dial stands out with its hand-enamelled chapter rings, paired with elegant, finely shaped flame-blued steel hands.
Hand Made 1 - A project of this scale could not be simply incorporated within existing structures or even to just one or two watchmakers. To complete this epic feat, Greubel Forsey had to build a team of the most skilled craftsmen in each field, principally from its workshops, as well as several external talents. This true "family" worked together in complete harmony.
The aim of Hand Made 1 is to take ancient techniques, forgotten gestures and skills to a previously unattained level of excellence and precision, furthering them in the same spirit of constant improvement that has always guided Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey. The goal is to resurrect the ancestral art of hand craftsmanship and reinforce it with standards of workmanship and precision rivalling even modern production equipment. To fulfil this exceptional challenge and reach micron-scale accuracy using ancestral tools, the artisans must obtain a precision that such traditional machines themselves cannot easily offer.
Greubel Forsey unveils the result of this unprecedented watchmaking approach: Hand Made 1 – an hours/minutes/seconds timepiece with a tourbillon. This creation took an uncharted course because simply replicating an existing calibre by hand was out of the question. The Hand Made 1 has been entirely created from scratch. The movement construction, traditional machining and hand-finishing specialists reflected at length on each of the 272 movement components and 36 case parts, understanding and concentrating on what the hand-made approach allows and how to get the very best out of it.
Hand Made 1 - To achieve the 95% handmade level with such a high standard of excellence required an astronomical 6,000 hours of work for one single timepiece – the equivalent of three years man-hours, where this total time only takes into account the pure watchmaking – and not the creation and development time.
Hand Made 1 - The hand making of the tourbillon carriage – with its 69 components weighing a total of 0.521 g – represented another sizeable challenge, as it is not possible to replicate the same geometry of a CNC machine on a traditional jig borer. An increased number of parts are consequently required to form this exquisite, almost airborne mechanism.
The Hand Made 1 demanded a total overhaul of the creative process, involving the people who would make and decorate each component from the very beginning. This project's daring was only matched by the creativity and inventiveness required to find new technical solutions. Some parts of the movement were redesigned in order to simplify them. Meanwhile for other mechanisms such as the tourbillon, the number of components had to be increased to allow each part to be made by hand.
In this unique endeavour of Greubel Forsey’s handmade craftsmanship, each component tells a tale. It has its own development process and journey that makes it unique, undergoing long hours of cutting from the raw material guided only by the eye and the human hand. The technical and aesthetic perfection of this Hand Made 1 timepiece is immediately visible and in true Greubel Forsey style, it attributes equal importance to the invisible beauty of all the parts concealed inside the case.
Greubel Forsey is well known for pushing back boundaries in its research and creations to accomplish what had never even been thought of before. Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have already demonstrated this by inventing and perfecting a completely new generation of tourbillons that have since become references in mechanical watchmaking. This quest for excellence and the conviction to explore each new venture’s full potential has been a key driving force for the Hand Made 1 project for several years.
We are very excited to unveil a significant new creation: the Hand Made 1, the summit of true hand-watchmaking.
Hand Made 1
White gold
Millésimé
All the movement's components are of course then hand finished true to the finest watchmaking tradition, including the bridges with their polished inner and outer vertical flanks, the unique “Gratté” mainplate, and the wheels with hand polished bevels top and bottom (40 sharp internal angles for a five-spoke wheel). The open dial stands out with its hand-enamelled chapter rings, paired with elegant, finely shaped flame-blued steel hands.
Naturally, the 18k white gold case is also, handmade, thanks to a pantograph mechanical lathe fitted with turning tools, before being patiently satin-finished on the sides and polished on the upper surfaces. Created as just two or three timepieces per year, the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 is destined to become a new watchmaking landmark that unites both past and future. This new step towards the summit in the finest of craftsmanship is substantiated on the dial at 6 o'clock, where the inscription HAND MADE replaces the usual SWISS MADE.
Nov 9, 2019
Bark and Jack
Hi Guys,
I was able to catch up and interview Stephen Forsey, one half of Greubel Forsey. He talked about the history of Greubel Forsey and showed their new Hand Made 1. A nearly all hand made watch. It takes so long to make these that they can only make about 2 a year.
Specs:
Greubel Forsey - Handmade 1
Movement: Manual Wind
Case: 18k White Gold
Size: 43.5mm wide, 13.5mm thick
Price: Lots and lots
Company Overview
GREUBEL FORSEY – Inventors Inventing Inventions
Greubel Forsey is a very exclusive, ultra high-end watch brand founded by inventor watchmakers Robert Greubel (French) and Stephen Forsey (English) in 2004.
With their comprehensive state-of-the-art research, testing and production atelier in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Greubel Forsey are able to use their EWT® (Experimental Watch Technology) platform to turn fundamental ideas and inventions into sublimely finished and highly original complicated timepieces. These timepieces represent the very pinnacle of fine Swiss watchmaking and they advance horological knowledge and precision.
Greubel Forsey’s first invention, the Double Tourbillon 30° (DT30°), was specifically intended to make the tourbillon, originally developed for use in a pocket watch, more effective in a wristwatch. It features an interior tourbillon carriage, inclined at 30° and revolving every 60 seconds, inside an exterior tourbillon carriage revolving every four minutes – a configuration offering superior timekeeping performance in all wristwatch positions.
The second invention, the Quadruple Tourbillon à Différentiel Sphérique (QDT), was created to both explore and push the very limits of using multiple tourbillons to improve timekeeping. Four asynchronous tourbillons, arranged in two double tourbillon systems linked by a spherical differential, ensure this invention’s extremely high precision.
The Tourbillon 24 Secondes Incliné (T24Si) is Greubel Forsey’s third invention and it features a single ultra-light inclined tourbillon cage which undergoes rapidly changing positions with a high angular velocity. Avional was used for the pillars of the cage and titanium for the carriage bridges to minimize mass and inertia while retaining maximum strength.
Fundamental research in the EWT® pipeline includes a Binomial mono-material balance and spring system and a Différentiel d’Egalité constant force device.
All Greubel Forsey’s timepieces feature: highly original inventions developed to improve timekeeping precision; movement finishing taken to an extreme level of the art and craft; and movement/case architecture that provides maximum visual access to the intricate wonders within.
Founding Date
2004
Created as just two or three timepieces per year, the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 is destined to become a new watchmaking landmark that unites both past and future. This new step towards the summit in the finest of craftsmanship is substantiated on the dial at 6 o'clock, where the inscription HAND MADE replaces the usual SWISS MADE.
Hand Made 1 - All the movement's components are of course then hand finished true to the finest watchmaking tradition, including the bridges with their polished inner and outer vertical flanks, the unique “Gratté” mainplate, and the wheels with hand polished bevels top and bottom (40 sharp internal angles for a five-spoke wheel).
The open dial stands out with its hand-enamelled chapter rings, paired with elegant, finely shaped flame-blued steel hands.
Hand Made 1 - A project of this scale could not be simply incorporated within existing structures or even to just one or two watchmakers. To complete this epic feat, Greubel Forsey had to build a team of the most skilled craftsmen in each field, principally from its workshops, as well as several external talents. This true "family" worked together in complete harmony.
The aim of Hand Made 1 is to take ancient techniques, forgotten gestures and skills to a previously unattained level of excellence and precision, furthering them in the same spirit of constant improvement that has always guided Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey. The goal is to resurrect the ancestral art of hand craftsmanship and reinforce it with standards of workmanship and precision rivalling even modern production equipment. To fulfil this exceptional challenge and reach micron-scale accuracy using ancestral tools, the artisans must obtain a precision that such traditional machines themselves cannot easily offer.
Greubel Forsey unveils the result of this unprecedented watchmaking approach: Hand Made 1 – an hours/minutes/seconds timepiece with a tourbillon. This creation took an uncharted course because simply replicating an existing calibre by hand was out of the question. The Hand Made 1 has been entirely created from scratch. The movement construction, traditional machining and hand-finishing specialists reflected at length on each of the 272 movement components and 36 case parts, understanding and concentrating on what the hand-made approach allows and how to get the very best out of it.
Hand Made 1 - To achieve the 95% handmade level with such a high standard of excellence required an astronomical 6,000 hours of work for one single timepiece – the equivalent of three years man-hours, where this total time only takes into account the pure watchmaking – and not the creation and development time.
Hand Made 1 - The hand making of the tourbillon carriage – with its 69 components weighing a total of 0.521 g – represented another sizeable challenge, as it is not possible to replicate the same geometry of a CNC machine on a traditional jig borer. An increased number of parts are consequently required to form this exquisite, almost airborne mechanism.
The Hand Made 1 demanded a total overhaul of the creative process, involving the people who would make and decorate each component from the very beginning. This project's daring was only matched by the creativity and inventiveness required to find new technical solutions. Some parts of the movement were redesigned in order to simplify them. Meanwhile for other mechanisms such as the tourbillon, the number of components had to be increased to allow each part to be made by hand.
In this unique endeavour of Greubel Forsey’s handmade craftsmanship, each component tells a tale. It has its own development process and journey that makes it unique, undergoing long hours of cutting from the raw material guided only by the eye and the human hand. The technical and aesthetic perfection of this Hand Made 1 timepiece is immediately visible and in true Greubel Forsey style, it attributes equal importance to the invisible beauty of all the parts concealed inside the case.
Greubel Forsey is well known for pushing back boundaries in its research and creations to accomplish what had never even been thought of before. Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have already demonstrated this by inventing and perfecting a completely new generation of tourbillons that have since become references in mechanical watchmaking. This quest for excellence and the conviction to explore each new venture’s full potential has been a key driving force for the Hand Made 1 project for several years.
We are very excited to unveil a significant new creation: the Hand Made 1, the summit of true hand-watchmaking.
Hand Made 1
White gold
Millésimé
- The journey begins with the regulating organ, entirely produced by hand in Greubel Forsey's workshops, including the balance spring, fashioned from an alloy in the Atelier. The balance spring is then rolled in a hand operated rolling mill (without computer assistance), a process that is certainly an endangered know how – only a few balance springs can be made at a time – whereas in contemporary industrial production, hundreds or thousands are automatically produced at once.
All the movement's components are of course then hand finished true to the finest watchmaking tradition, including the bridges with their polished inner and outer vertical flanks, the unique “Gratté” mainplate, and the wheels with hand polished bevels top and bottom (40 sharp internal angles for a five-spoke wheel). The open dial stands out with its hand-enamelled chapter rings, paired with elegant, finely shaped flame-blued steel hands.
Naturally, the 18k white gold case is also, handmade, thanks to a pantograph mechanical lathe fitted with turning tools, before being patiently satin-finished on the sides and polished on the upper surfaces. Created as just two or three timepieces per year, the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 is destined to become a new watchmaking landmark that unites both past and future. This new step towards the summit in the finest of craftsmanship is substantiated on the dial at 6 o'clock, where the inscription HAND MADE replaces the usual SWISS MADE.