Greubel Forsey Partner With Micro-Sculptor on Exquisitely Intricate Art Piece 1 Watch

By Adrienne Faurote October 19, 2012

Swiss luxury watchmakers Greubel Forsey have partnered with world renowned micro-sculptor Willard Wigan on an elaborate timepiece that has been four years in the making. Art Piece 1, the stunning watch which resulted from the collaboration, features exquisite details like tiny, hand-carved nano-sculptures in the crown of the watch.

The watch world got their first glimpse of the Art Piece 1 in September when Greubel Forsey’s founders Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey showed it at the 2012 Shanghai Art Fair. However, the timepiece is still a work in progress, and its completed version will only be unveiled at the 2013 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH). The finished Art Piece 1 will feature a micro-sculpture that the wearer will be able to appreciate through specially created optics. The finished watch will be a wearable combination of art, innovation, architecture and technical complexity.

Wigan, whose works are famous for being small enough to fit on the eye of a needle and are only visible through a microscopic lens, is reportedly set to collaborate on 1-2 watches a year with Greubel Forsey. According to WWD, these intricate luxury timepieces will cost in the neighborhood of $5 million Swiss Francs each. If that price tag seems a bit hefty, one must consider the highly detailed process behind Wigan’s work; the artist uses a scalpel and a microscope to make these incredible carvings.

Get a look into the creation of this timepiece and the incredible collaboration between Greubel, Forsey and Wigan in this exclusive video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3TgTDCHSac