Normally "Swiss Made" implies the quality of a watch. Greubel Forsey replaced the inscription with "Hand Made" to signify superlative craftsmanship executed on its exclusive creations.
The artisanal and technical virtuosity in materialising Hand Made 1 with a tourbillon earned Greubel Forsey the Men's Complication Watch Prize at the GPHG 2020.
The new Hand Made 2 reinforces the preservation of ancestral watchmaking at the atelier in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
Before the Industrial Revolution and the advent of mass production, components had to be made one by one requiring very specific skills, tools and manually-operated machines.
Because the know-how has virtually disappeared, the Hand Made project aims to revive traditional methods and elevate the standards and precision to rival modern production.
The mission requires building a team of skilled craftsmen, principally from the Greubel Forsey workshops as well as several external talents.
Except sapphire crystals, case gaskets, spring bars, mainspring and most jewels, the majority of watch parts are crafted by hand using a precision lathe, a jig-borer, a pantograph or other conventional tools.
Hand Made 2 with a handcrafted conical jewel for the power reserve indicator.
The independent watchmaker particularly noted its expertise in producing balance springs from an alloy with unique properties, through a complex process, involving coiling, cutting and manually-adjusting terminal curves.
Other artisanal criteria include manually-machining each element with tolerances of just a few microns, achieving a precision comparable to CNC machines. In addition, every component, whether visible or hidden, is meticulously finished by hand; and each timepiece is assembled entirely by a single watchmaker.
The movement of the exceptional Hand Made 1 boasts bridges with polished inner and outer vertical flanks, and a unique "Gratté" mainplate, while the open dial features hand-enamelled chapter rings.
Challenges included constructing the 43.5mm white gold case and tourbillon carriage with respectively 36 and 69 parts and rendering the escape wheel with 20 individually-cut teeth.
All together, over 800 parts are required to obtain 308 components of the award-winning model, whose hand-made percentage is 95.
This slightly increased to 96% in the time-only Hand Made 2 with 270 components, housed in a white gold case with a diameter of 40.9mm.
Hand Made 1 with a tourbillon and small seconds.
Greubel Forsey also advanced its artisanal ability by crafting a conical jewel for the power reserve display. Like the chapter ring and small seconds subdial, this indicator showing the level from 0 to 72 hours is adorned with Grand Feu enamel that contrasts with the hand-frosted German silver.
The barrel and balance bridges of the elegant Hand Made 2 are enhanced by five artisanal finishes: frosted, black-polished, straight-grained, polished flanks and bevels, and polished chamfers accented by olive-domed jewels set in gold chatons.
The painstaking and time-consuming creation of an artisanal timepiece means that Greubel Forsey can fashion only two to three of the Hand Made 1 and its sequel.
The new Hand Made 2 with 270 components.
Caseback of Hand Made 2.
