A bold statement, we know, but Greubel Forsey’s Quadruple Tourbillon is definitely up there with one of the coolest watches we have ever come across.
A true chronological masterpiece, it is an insanely complex piece of horology featuring four Tourbillions’, visible through two skeleton cages on the dial, which ensures it has precision timing from every angle, even when the watch is resting.
A very cool watch indeed and the world’s first Quadruple Tourbillon wristwatch; so from the sheer complexity of the engineering inside, including 534 components, it is surely worth the $1 million price. But let’s get down to the micro-mechanics, what is it about the watch that commands such a hefty value? It really comes down to two key factors: engineering and manufacturing.
ENGINEERING
Greubel Forsey founder Stephen Forsey explains: “It took five years to develop this idea. The idea might seem crazy, to put four Tourbillon cages in the space of two, but the result is a performance gain that may seem infinitesimal to an outsider (the watch’s accuracy is designed to vary by less than 2.5 seconds over the course of the day), but is a landmark achievement in mechanical watches. The Quadruple Tourbillon is about refusing to accept that everything had been achieved in terms of the mechanical watch.” Pretty impressive stuff!
MANUFACTURING
The watch comprises 534 components and most of these parts are finished by hand, with one timepiece taking a whole year to create. The barrel bridge alone (visible through the skeleton cage) requires 15 hours of hand beveling to finish. The precision, care, time and sheer man hours to produce one watch is what you’re paying for. The craftsmanship, hand finishing and level of workmanship all goes into explaining why this watch pushes the $1 million mark. It’s the couture of the watch world.