An Exclusive with Mr. Stephen Forsey

Jul 10, 2014,21:23 PM
 

In celebrating their tenth year as a forerunner in complicated timepieces, I had the opportunity to sit down with Mr. Stephen Forsey of Greubel Forsey. Some envy the youth for their ignorant bliss and for the simplicity in enjoyment. As we grow, mature, and become more educated, more and more factors become relevant. Is it a limited edition? Will my significant other appreciate this? Will this make me look like a more serious collector?

 

For those collectors who want to leave a legacy or for those new collectors who are too embarrassed to ask the most basic questions, I am here for you. Let’s start with a popular movement: the tourbillon. What better way than to ask the guru himself?

 

Meeting Mr. Forsey at the Greubel Forsey New York office, I knew the only way I would get to know the tourbillon better was to pick one apart myself. Steven Forsey and Robert Greubel birthed Greubel Forsey in 2004, when they launched the brand at Baselworld. Their persistence in finding the most accurate and precise measure of time gained public attention when the 30 degree double tourbillon won the 2011 International Chronometry Competition in Switzerland. So of course, the first question I had to ask was…

 

AM: What is a tourbillon?

 

GF: At the heart of every mechanical watch, we have the balance wheel, which is like the heart itself. On a microscopic scale, the balance wheel is subject to tiny outer balances. For a standard mechanical watch, when the watch is flat, there is no effect of gravity, but when you turn the watch (places the watch on its side), the heavy spot is here (the side on the table) and gravity is so strong that it will cause the watch to advance by a few seconds. If you turn it 180 degrees (the watch now resting on the crown), then it will cause the watch to slow down by a few seconds a day. The tourbillon takes this balance wheel system and mounts it in a rotating cage. The idea is that we have a position that is fast and one that is slow and they will average out to make an overall better performance.

 

     The tourbillon in a pocket watch goes around on one axis. 70-80 years ago, watchmakers miniaturized that and put it in a wristwatch to make the first wristwatch tourbillon. They hoped that they would get the same performance they had in the pocket watch. Of course in reality, we found over the years that the wristwatch is rarely in one particular position. So you’ve got the tourbillon system as it was for the pocket watch, but it’s been made smaller for the wristwatch. Not only is it hard to create, but it also preps the criticism that in terms of the purest time-keeping approach, you wouldn’t be as precise as you could be. That was really the catalyst behind Robert Grebuel and myself starting to work together. We wanted to find a new solution for the tourbillon in the wristwatch where it keeps the same performance when it’s laying down as when it’s vertically on the wrist. That is why we have our crazy incline tourbillons. We are seeking to cheat gravity by using gravity as much as possible to average out these little errors.

 

AM: When you are creating your new timepieces, are you looking at other brands to see what they’re doing or are you looking at your own brand history for the next step?

 

GF: We have a succession of ideas we want to develop. Of course we see what other companies are doing, but ultimately that doesn’t really influence us because what we set out to do is very different every single time. We also have our own way of looking at things. It’s a question of taking that initial idea and pursuing it while trying to transpose and develop that idea into an actual piece. I really think that’s why each of our pieces is rather individual because we don’t do too much looking at what else is going on. Throughout our collection we have a certain coherence. They all belong to the same team - the same families, and that’s all thanks to a number of different details and codes and elements in each timepiece that help to grow that idea. We’re not swinging from one side to the other and seeking our way. At the beginning, Robert and myself spent a long time considering which sort of details and elements would always give that rather special identity we wanted.

 

AM: Is there a model you are particularly attached to?

 

GF: This is a tricky question because there are two possible answers that don’t answer it at all [chuckles]. One is, the next one, which we can’t share with you because we haven’t released it yet. The other answer would be, it’s not really fair because I can’t really tell you which of my children is my favorite. But joking aside, I think our very first invention, our double tourbillon 30 degrees, was important. The technique and the precision sums up what we seek to do at Greubel Forsey. In a quirky way, however, this Invention Piece 1 [Image: 1] has a very special place because it was a piece in which we had so much pleasure to create. This piece has so much volume, so much depth, so much texture and relief to it and so many details.

 

AM: Some draw a comparison between the love for cars and watches. You can feel a curve and the acceleration, but when you experience a car that you truly love, you can feel if it’s happy or sick. Some say it is the same with watches. Do you believe there is a feeling or connection when your wear one watch over the other?

 

GF: Oh that is super super important. For us, beyond the creation and craftsmanship of the design and the sort of altruistic pursuit of precision, its the collector that chooses to put us on his wrist. If we meet a collector and he’s wearing one of our pieces, this is a fantastic compliment to us, but in doing so, it means we’ve succeeded because we’ve been able to make something that he loves so much that he is going to choose it to put on his wrist for whatever experience or adventure it is.

 

AM: What advice would you give to someone who is trying to become more serious about his or her collection?

 

GF: In terms of detail for Greubel Forsey, all of our pieces are finished at the same level whereas if you make thousands of watches a year, you can’t spend hundreds of hours finishing each one… it’s not possible. So we offer something where every one of our timepieces is finished with the same hand finishing and craftsmanship as another one. I also think it’s very much something that can be complimentary to an existing collection. For the collector who loves the technical complications, we have the GMT [Image: 2]. What we want to do is to allow the collector to continue their curiosity and their passion and help them to really develop and explore that further with each successive piece.

 

      I think collections are a mixture of things. There’s a collection of all the same type. There’s a collection to have one of each different type. There’s a collection that can be accidental where you start with something and you realize that you suddenly have a collection, but there’s an unconscious process and I think there are different facets of it.

 

     There are so many identities and different ways that you can involve your collection. You can go with the more traditional watch brands in terms of history and traditional approach or you can go towards the more independent watch brands because they are more exotic or more contemporary because an independent watchmaker might dare to do things that a traditional watchmaker might not. There’s a lot of choice, but that is also more of a challenge because how do you find your way when there’s tens or even hundreds of different brands that are offering different things? Collecting is all about having a subject and passion about something. What we hope to offer for a collector of Greubel Forsey is something that is a technical creation in terms of technique and is very original in terms of having its own story.

 

---------------------------------------------

 

At the conclusion of our walkthrough of their ten years of history, Mr. Forsey revealed the first fully functional Art Piece 1 in North America. This piece was truly breath taking. In a successful hybrid of the visual fine arts and the fine art of watchmaking, Greubel Forsey has teamed up with Willard Wigan, an artist who specializes in creating tiny sculptures small enough to fit on a head of a nail or tip of a needle. At 9 o’clock, there is what looks like a secondary crown, but in reality, it is a magnifying glass. Looking into it, there is a sculpture of a hummingbird on a flower in front of a grassy background.

 

Along with the intricate detail, Greubel Forsey has also given the same attention to the face of the watch. The numbers usually seen on the dial has been hidden behind a retractable panel controlled by buttons on the side of the case. To draw the attention directly to the art within the watch, the owner can hide the time to transform this timepiece into a portable museum.

 

With ten years of history behind them, I look forward to seeing what the next century will bring for Greubel Forsey.


See below for pictures of the selection of watches brought in celebration of their milestone.




Above: Double Tourbillon 30 Technique BiColor in Platinum: Platinum Case, 120 Hour Power Reserve, 47.5mm diameter

Below: Double Tourbillon 30 Degrees: Titanium Case, Hours and Minutes filled with White Gold Super-LumiNova
                  *This is a first for Greubel Forsey. Having never used titanium before, the material is used to add layers in which there is engraving on the side. 










[Image: 1]










Invention Piece 1: Red Gold Case. This piece pays homage to the classic Greubel Forsey 30 Degrees Tourbillon. The two triangular indicators are seen with the red signaling the hours and the blue for the minutes. There is a sub second dial and power reserve on the top left. 

[Image: 2]





GMT: Platinum Case. 72 hour power reserve, 24 second tourbillon, 25 degree incline, 43.5mmX16.14mm. The globe turns counterclockwise and rotates in real time to reflect the rotation of the Earth. 




Tourbillon 24 Secondes Aysmetrique: Red gold case with Anthracite dial. 25 degree incline, 72 hour power reserve, 43.5mmX16.11mm case.






Above: Quadruple Tourbillon: Platinum case and Silvered Gold dial. Small seconds and power reserve are protruding to create a new and unique shape. 

Below: Quadruple Tourbillon Secret: Red Gold with Black dial. 








Tourbillon 24 Secondes Contemporain: Red Gold with Mvt Blue Oxidized Titanium. This watch adheres to the Greubel Forsey interest in layers and intricate detail. The 12 index is raised in relief to add a sense of architectural influence. 

--ampurist
 
 
 
 
 
   This message has been edited by AnthonyTsai on 2014-07-14 09:44:54 This message has been edited by ampurist on 2014-07-14 17:52:02 This message has been edited by amanico on 2014-08-05 21:59:17


More posts: Greubel Forsey

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Comments: view entire thread

 

My fav brand!

 
 By: tom2517 : July 11th, 2014-10:38
I love independents!

Thanks Tom!

 
 By: ampurist : July 27th, 2014-16:15
It was amazing to see what the brand had accomplished in 10 years!

No more Pateks for me

 
 By: tom2517 : July 28th, 2014-22:13
I am saving up for the GMT, may not be the most technically accomplished GFs, but I just love that blue globe.

Thanks TM!

 
 By: ampurist : July 27th, 2014-16:16
He was such a pleasure to interview.

What an amazing brand and group of watches.

 
 By: doubleup : July 14th, 2014-11:47
You had a delightful conversation with a genius. Thanks for sharing

It was truly a once in a lifetime experience.

 
 By: ampurist : July 27th, 2014-15:38
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for this very informative post !

 
 By: DonCorson : July 14th, 2014-13:27
" We are seeking to cheat gravity by using gravity as much as possible to average out these little errors" Don

Thank you for reading Don!

 
 By: ampurist : July 27th, 2014-15:43
It was an unbelievable experience.

ampurist, thanks a lot for that interview ...

 
 By: small-luxury-world : July 21st, 2014-10:46
which was a real pleasure to read. So called "simple questiones" are quite often the most difficult ones to reply. I enjoyed the answers as much as the questiones. Oliver

Thanks Oliver!

 
 By: ampurist : July 27th, 2014-16:14
I'm glad you enjoyed the interview!

Great interview with Mr. Forsey

 
 By: ED209 : August 2nd, 2014-23:58
Good job with the interview, and very good questions posed to Mr. Forsey. Regards, ED-209

Thank you for the support Ed!

 
 By: ampurist : August 27th, 2014-19:37
nt

Finally, after 38 years, a brand that 100% is at the top

 
 By: bernard cheong : August 6th, 2014-18:31
I dare not say more. I was not allowed to see the early GF in 2004...politics. Also..I could not afford. But...these 2 guys are more humble than I...and for all who have met me, you will understand. Only in 2013, could I afford. BUT...I first saw with Ste...