The idealised image of watchmaker is one of a slightly eccentric mad scientist who, loupe in hand, carefully pores over the inner workings of a watch with precision tool in hand. Who, with the utmost care and attention, uses antique machines to finish and refine each individual component. The reality of modern watchmaking is that a lot of these jobs have been supplanted by machines, but Greubel Forsey is determined not to let the old ways die. That’s why they’re proud to introduce the new Greubel Forsey Hand Made 2.
This is the second watch in their Hand Made series, the first of which was a tourbillon. The new piece does away with the spinning cage in favour of a more refined and, frankly, more practical complication instead: a power reserve indicator. Before we get to that though, when looking at this watch, whether the case, dial or visible portions of the movement, the first thing you have to understand is that 96% of it was crafted by hand by a single watchmaker. Only elements such as the sapphire crystal, jewels, gaskets, spring bars and mainspring were machined (and most of those because they’re physically impossible to achieve by hand).
Looking at the case, it’s beautifully crafted in white gold with brushed flanks and polished lugs. While Greubel Forsey have intentionally kept the specs of the case obscured so that we focus on the watch as a piece of artistry rather than a mechanical object, Hodinkee’s keen investigation reveals it measures 40.9mm in diameter by 12.8mm thickness. That feels about right for this watch, large enough to match the bold, almost industrial design of the dial without straying too far in the other direction to become cumbersome or chunky.
My description of the Hand Made 2’s dial as quasi-industrial comes from the fact that it’s partially openworked without being skeletonised. There are simply large windows in the frosted German silver plate that reveal elements of the inner workings. Plus, there’s the fact it features a dial-side balance spring at 7 o’clock, whose constant motion can’t fail to draw the eye. In the aperture above the power reserve indicator at 10 you can see a large conical jewel. The jewel itself rotates and depending on its positioning, that’s what translates the stored energy of the barrel into the indicator hand to give a numerical output.
Elsewhere on the dial we have thermally blued hands and Grand Feu enamel scale for the hours, minutes, seconds and reserve indicator. Because you know, all the hand-crafted mechanical elements weren’t enough, so they had to throw enamel into the mix as well. One benefit of the power reserve indicator is that we can be certain the watch has a 72-hour reserve, which is supplied via manual winding.
It feels like a lot of existing Greubel Forsey designs but the attention to detail and finishing has been taken to the next level again. Although you’d certainly hope that’s the case given each watch takes 5,000 hours to complete and Greubel Forsey are only capable of making two to three pieces each year. The Hand Made 2 really is the Rolls Royce Coachbuild of the watch world.
Price and Specs:
More details at Greubel Forsey.
I don’t think that anyone could honestly question the excellence and artistry of the horologists that created this absolute masterpiece. No doubt this level of workmanship will be reflected in the actual price.
If we assume that this is really a “museum piece” rather than a watch that will actually be worn, or indeed be within the realms of the few that can afford it, then we can can now look at the actual fact that it is a timepiece, but to me it looks like something that has been discovered is some dusty collection that has been waiting for someone to fall in love with it despite its missing dial, and someone who is happy to look at it for a couple of minutes before actually being able to determine the one thing that a watch is supposed to do, show to the current time.
As you can probably determine from my comments, I am not a fan of overly complicated watches, for me, the “less is more” principal dictates, and the simplicity of watches from the bygone era of the 1950’s still resonates with me.