This trio of watches reveals that, even if it takes them more than a decade, there is little that Greubel Forsey is not capable of
Master of the high complication, Greubel Forsey has released a trio of watches at SIHH furthering its aim of advancing and refining the mechanics of watchmaking.
Stephen Forsey and Robert Greubel have even found a home for the fifth of the brand’s seven portentous Fundamental Inventions, the Differentiel d’Egalite, a constant force development that has been in development almost as long as the company has existed.
Greubel Forsey filed first for a patent on the Differentiel d’Egalite back in 2006, only two years after the company’s foundation. Continuing to develop the system it was first revealed to the press a full ten years ago at Baselworld as part of its Experimental Watch Technology Laboratory with a more refined technical demonstrator popping up at SIHH in 2010.
The differential itself uses 24 components including a differential cage than delivers constant torque and ‘rewinds once per second with integrated spring’. We’ll try and prise a more detailed explaination out of Forsey – but it does claim that the watch ‘maintains a constant balance amplitude during the 60 hours of the power reserve’ which is a hugely impressive achievement. Power is supplied by twin, series-coupled mainspring barrels.
Despite the inclusion of a differential that is described as spherical, the eponymous Differentiel d’Egalite watch features none of the trademark protuberances usually seen in Greubel Forsey’s cannon and measures a comparatively slight 44mm in diameter. It is also the first watch from the duo to feature dead-beat seconds, while pulling the crown activates a a balance wheel stop and seconds reset function for precise adjustment. Just 33 pieces are being produced in white gold.
For the new GMT Earth, which is also limited to 33 pieces, Greubel Forsey has focused its technical might to aesthetic ends, offering a near uninterrupted 360° view of a terrestrial globe. The rotating engraved and lacquered titanium globe can be viewed on the dial, through the caseband and is even visible through a domed section of the caseback. Both movement and case have both been designed with that end goal in mind while the watch demonstrates some pretty masterful sculpting of sapphire crystal.
The dial presents a cacophony of information to the wearer with rotating globe, day/night UTC and Greubel Forsey’s third Fundamental Invention, the Tourbillon 24 Secondes, as well as GMT, hours and minutes, small seconds and power reserve all presented on separate raised sapphire crystal sub dials on the dialside alone. Turn the watch over and you’ll be presented with a further sapphire crystal 24-city name disc surrounded by two gold rings representing UTC and summer time as well as the South Pole of the globe.
Combine all of this with the now-familiar engraved manifesto text on the white gold bezel and caseband and a handset containing no fewer than four different styles and the sense of unfettered, unmitigated genius is palpable. A veritable torrent of watchmaking.
The final act in Greubel Forsey’s 2018 SIHH trilogy is a new presentation of the Double Balancier in red gold with a black gold and inky grand feu enamel split-level dial that serves as a dramatic frame for the pair’s sixth Fundamental Invention, the twin 30° inclined balances linked by a ‘Constant Spherical Differential’ known as Double Balancier.
This article was first published on Salon QP
The watch is Baume & Mercier’s first in-house automatic movement in its 187-year history
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