2011: The Double Tourbillon 30° Technique wins the International Chronometry Competition
Another evolution of the Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon garnered another coveted watch-industry honor in 2011. The Greubel Forsey Double Tourbillon 30° Technique took first prize in the International Chronometry Competition, held at the Museum of Horology in Le Locle, Switzerland, which judges timepieces on their timekeeping precision. Scoring 915 points out of a possible 1,000, the watch triumphed in both the tourbillon category and the overall category, besting 17 other timepieces entered in the competition. You can read WatchTime’s report on the 2011 Chronometry Competition here.
2012: Greubel Forsey launches the “Birth of a Watch” project with Philippe Dufour
Independent watchmaker Philippe Dufour, a name well known to watch connoisseurs, is participating in Greubel Forsey’s ambitious “Le Garde Temps, la Naissance d’une Montre,” project — a mission to preserve the knowledge and practice of traditional watchmaking practices that are in danger of being lost to industrialization. The project involves the creation of a new watch, from sketches to finished piece, using a blend of traditional and ancestral horological techniques, and recording it for posterity so the techniques may be preserved and passed on to a new generation of watchmakers. interested watch aficionados will be able to follow the creation of the watch, headed up by watchmaker Michel Boulanger, via a blog (at www.legardetemps-nm.org) with project updates and 3D films.
2013: The Greubel Forsey Art Piece 1 debuts at SIHH
To create its first “Art Piece,” Greubel Forsey secured the talents of miniaturist sculptor Willard Wigan, who in the past has created sculptural works embedded in the eye of a needle and perched on the head of a pin. For Greubel Forsey’s Art Piece 1, which is also equipped with the 30° inclined double tourbillon, Wigan crafted an incredible micro-sculpture of a ship, positioned within the watch’s interior and visible through a magnifying-glass crown at 9 o’clock. Very few editions of the Art Piece will be made, each with its own unique micro-sculpture and, as you’d expect, priced for maximum exclusivity, at over $1 million each.
This article was originally published on June 16, 2015, and has been updated.
Pure genius. What a delight it is to know that artists like this exist in this age.
OMG!!! I see Philippe Dufour in this article. This guy is a genius! A true craftsman who can build a masterpiece from ground up. This true gentleman handcrafts almost every single component himself in every watch he builds. He is an extremely inspiring horologist. If I ever had the vision to be a watchmaker, this is the guy I would want by my side.
Very nice and impressing but not very affordable…
Greubel Forsey timepieces are truly outstanding, yet I cannot even dream of buying these watches as all these timepieces are ultra-expensive!
“Excelente”
Watch making at its best. Although its a brand I can only dream of owning its nice to be able to see these wonderful time pieces.