GREUBEL FORSEY. A VERY FINE AND RARE 18K PINK GOLD SEMI-SKELETONISED 30° INCLINED DOUBLE TOURBILLON WRISTWATCH WITH 120 HOUR POWER RESERVE SIGNED GREUBEL FORSEY, DOUBLE TOURBILLON 30° TECHNIQUE MODEL, NO. 23, MOVEMENT NO. 23, CASE NO. 01 849, CIRCA 2010 Movement: Cal. GF02S, manual, 43 jewels, signed Dial: Inner tourbillon inclined at 30° rotating once every 60 seconds, outer tourbillon rotating once every 4 minutes, signed Case: Glazed back secured by 6 screws, 47.5 mm. diam., signed With: 18k pink gold Greubel Forsey deployant clasp, undated Certificate of Authenticity, Greubel Forsey Extrait du Grand Livre and Certificat de Grand Service. This certificate is valid during six months following the date of acquisition of the watch at Christie’s, offering the new owner a free servicing (but not exceeding 10,000 CHF of the retail service price) of the present watch in Greubel Forsey’s workshops, subject to conditions published on the back of the Certificate.
Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have become legends in the world of modern independent watchmaking, and the piece offered here is the perfect encapsulation of their success.
Working together since 1992, when they were developing complicated movements for Renaud & Papi, Greubel and Forsey decided to branch out on their own in 1999, setting up as the independents, CompliTime Greubel, la Neuveville and Bureau d’Etude et Prototypy, le Locle, respectively. From this moment forward, they focused on designing a new generation of tourbillon specifically developed to improve the timekeeping of the mechanical watch.
Patented by Abraham Louis Breguet in 1801, the tourbillon is a device created to compensate the effects of gravity on the movement. This is achieved by averaging out the variations of rates for a calibre in different positions by rotating the entire escapement, balance, spring, lever and escape wheel, through 360 degrees over a fixed period of time.
Named the Double Tourbillon 30° due to the angle that links the two mobile cages, the patented double tourbillon system is a decisive technical advance and milestone in watchmaking history which undertook more than four years of research and development. Inside an exterior tourbillon with a diameter of around 15 mm which turning once every four-minutes, an interior tourbillon, smaller in size and inclined at 30 degrees in relation to the first cage, revolves once every 60 seconds. To guarantee even more perfect time-keeping, this revolutionary complication permanently compensates the rate of gravity-related errors in all positions.
A question which has always been asked by connoisseurs of fine watchmaking is, does a tourbillon, for all its beauty and animation, genuinely increase the accuracy of a watch? The Double Tourbillon 30° Technique successfully answered this question in 2011 when it won the Concours International de Chronométrie with an incredible score of 915 points out of 1000, the highest in the competition to date.
Offering an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire one of the most exotic and exciting examples of contemporary haute horologerie, this watch is the most impressive trophy for those who hold the endless pursuit of excellence in the highest regard.