When Greubel Forsey earlier this year debuted its Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision, with its single dial-side aperture and a slimmer profile than any of its previous models, I saw it as the most subdued design yet from this maker of contemporary, technically astute timepieces. At 13.65mm thick, the watch is still 2.5mm thinner than any previous Greubel Forsey model.
But while it may be the company’s most traditionally designed piece, a look at and into the caseback will remind any observer that inside, and in spirit, the watch fits admirably into Greubel Forsey’s decade-long collection of avant-garde haute horology timepieces.
Turning the 43.5mm watch over reveals a sapphire dome. There’s nothing traditional about a 2.5mm thick protuberance on the back of a watch.
“With the 24 Secondes we thought it would be interesting to make a thinner case,” the company’s co-founder Stephen Forsey explained recently while visiting New York. “But we cheated here by adding a dome on the back.”
Forsey wanted to utilize the existing Greubel Forsey 24-second tourbillon, retain its 25-degree incline, and still place it within a thinner, more traditionally elegant case. These self-directed demands presented the watchmaker and his staff with a set of challenges not previously tackled within previous, large cases. He managed to fit the tourbillon into the thinner case and dome in part by slightly altering the location of the tourbillon cage’s pinion and by placing the barrels side by side, rather than stacking them.
“By using the dome we can have the full incline for the 24-second tourbillon but not overload the case volume.”
Even with the back dome, the case only measures 16mm thick. More critically, one doesn’t notice the dome at all when the watch is on the wrist. The back dome highlights the perfectly polished Romanesque tourbillon bridge. This combination of dome and bridge (not to mention the beautifully finished rear plate with power reserve) will likely ensure that this watch will spend a lot of time with its dial side down.
“This has a tang buckle because we have collectors who want to be able to lay the watch flat and view the back,” explains Forsey.
Varnish-free dial
But it would be a mistake to overlook the un-domed dial side.
“The dial is interesting,” says Forsey. “We could have made just a flat dial with a nice little spray of silver, but that’s not Greubel Forsey. Instead we use a three-part gold dial. The two outer dials are hard-fired oven enamel. It takes between seven and ten firings to get these dials final. To finish, we use a fine abrasive and palladium treatment and no varnish or lacquer, it’s completely authentic. The three dial parts are there because we needed the separation do use the champlevé enamel dial indexes, which give it superior level construction.” The small seconds hand is one piece with a black polish countersink in the center, he adds.
Also on the dial, via the large aperture, a delicate arched tourbillon bridge offers a suggestion to see the more pronounced back arch, and both designs are inspired from Romanesque vaulted architecture, he adds. Furthermore, the wide opening for the dome on the back allows extra light to flow through to the front than might be expected. The aperture itself is positioned not simply at 9 o’clock, but slightly lower on the dial to better balance the small seconds display, he explained.
Showing the new piece today in New York, Forsey adds that the Tourbillon 24-Secondes Vision is a piece one might be completely comfortable wearing anytime as it’s less exotic than many other of his company’s pieces. But requests to make such a thinner or dressier piece are not what stirred him to make this new model.
“We listen to the market,” quips Forsey, “but we don’t hear anything. Otherwise we would be changing every five minutes. The champlevé enamel to the dial is something we have always wanted to do, and to do that as a minute track is extraordinarily hard without distortions.” These subtle details might not have fit as well with bolder pieces like the GMT, he adds.
Greubel Forsey will make only twenty-two examples of the white gold 43.5mm model. Price: $325,000.