Hands On The Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision

It’s back to basics for Greubel Forsey! The independent watch brand, who celebrated 10 years of creation in 2014, specializes in the making of highly-complicated watches, including double and quadruple tourbillons. Unexpectedly, Greubel Forsey went the other way this year, and released the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision, its most classical looking timepiece to date, featuring hours, minutes, seconds and a tourbillon in a traditional round case. Nothing wrong with that, and here’s why.

Simplicity can be misleading. Creating a simple design is one of the hardest things to achieve in an industry where the slightest change at the millimetre level has dramatic effects on the rest of the watch. With the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision, Greubel Forsey presents an extremely refined timepiece that houses several technically superb elements. The hour indications may seem innocuous but were first engraved before enamel was poured into them and then “oven-fired” to add an artistic touch to the minimalist dial.

The overall aesthetic pays homage to the finesse of each component, and therefore the Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision has been designed to be the thinnest watch in the Greubel Forsey collection. In order to achieve that record without compromising the size of the tourbillon, a transparent dome has been added to the back of the case to lower the 24-second tourbillon. Does it look awkward? Undeniably. But it does not feel so. As soon as the watch is on, the design makes complete sense as the bubble at the back perfectly marries the shape of the wrist bone. In fact, it just might be the most comfortable watch in the brand’s collection.

If it feels different, it definitely looks quite different from the rest. But in terms of size, it is in line with the previous watches presented by Greubel Forsey. And that’s mainly because inside, the watch has all the hallmarks of the brand’s DNA.

The watch houses caliber GF01r, a manually wound movement first seen in the original Tourbillon 24 Secondes, and a pillar of the brand ever since. The movement is superbly decorated and focuses the attention of the wearer on the discreet 72-hour power-reserve indicator.

Limited to 22 models available exclusively in 18k white gold, the Greubel Forsey Tourbillon 24 Secondes Vision is priced at €290,000 or around $325,000.

Photo Credit: Haute Time. For more information, please visit the official Greubel Forsey website. Follow Haute Time on Instagram to catch all of the new releases as they happen.