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Greubel Forey introduces the epic new Balancier QM

• It debuts the Qualité Musée standard, the brand's categorisation and name for its hand-finishing. • A hand-wound watch, it displays the hours, minutes, small seconds, and power-reserve. • It is housed in a 39.6 mm white gold case. • It is limited to 33 pieces.
Kunaal Khemka
June 29, 2026
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Greubel Forsey Balancier QM.
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What is the new Greubel Forsey Balancier QM?

The Balancier QM is a hand-wound watch that displays hours and minutes, small seconds and a mysterious power-reserve indication. It is housed in a 39.6 mm white gold case. It debuts its namesake QM or Qualité Musée standard, Greubel Forsey’s formal name for its exemplary hand-finishing.

Also Read: Greubel Forsey unveils new versions of the Balancier Convexe S²

What is the Qualité Musée standard?

The brand has been renowned for its exemplary hand-finishing since its founding by Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey in 2004. Now for the first time, the brand has given it a formal name, the Qualité Musée standard or QM for short. It will be “driven forward by a dedicated re­search wing within our EWT (Experimental Watch Technology) Laboratory.”

Greubel Forsey Balancier QM.
Top left and right: Hand-finishing has always been critical to the brand. The Qualité Musée standard categorises the brand’s hand-finishing, and within their Experimental Watch Technology (EWT) Laboratory, will further elevate and push it. Top middle: The hair-spring is made in-house. “The pursuit began in 2012, when we set out to produce hairsprings we could not buy – our own alloy, drawn into wire the thickness of a hair through a succession of natural-diamond dies, then rolled flat to a tolerance measured in microns, coiled by hand, and fixed to shape in a precision vacuum furnace.” Bottom left and middle: The bridge that holds the balance wheel features seven hand-finishing techniques. “The arm is barrel polished, rocked to a flawless mirror over its domed profile. The flat at the jewel end is flat black polished. One surface carries spotting, the recess circular graining. The flanks are hand-polished along the visible contour, straight-grained elsewhere. Every chamfer and bevel is polished by hand – the bevels extra-large at 0.40 mm. Seven operations, one bridge. Now multiply by 298 parts.” Bottom right: A secret plate engraved with Qualité Musée is placed inside the movement, and not on the dial.

“It is also a reaffirmation of the values we have always stood for: the pursuit of perfection in ex­ecution, in everything we do. That pursuit comes at a cost, and we accept it – work this ambitious may well mean we produce fewer timepieces overall in 2027. We don’t want to measure our­selves by how much we make, but by how well we make it. The aim is to do the best, not the most. Naming the standard has set us looking further still: Qualité Musée has opened a range of pro­jects within our EWT programme, the next a movement with its entire gear train in gold. Each component a work of art; the whole, an experi­ence built to engage the eye on the wrist and off it. The same logic will carry across the collec­tion. The standard is named.”

What are its dial and case features?

Greubel Forsey Balancier QM.
Image: Semi-open dials are typical of the brand. Notice the 12.6 mm balance wheel at 6 o’clock (the watch gets the name “Balancier” from this) and the large barrel (top left). The brand’s name is relief engraved on the barrel. The brand’s name at 3 o’clock is engraved and lacquered. The crown is crafted from white gold and is hand-engraved with the brand’s GF logo.

Multi-level rhodium-coloured dial crafted from gold. The off-centered hours and minutes display features an engraved and lacquered hour and minute circle. The off-centered small seconds subdial is crafted from gold, is engraved, and lacquered. The power-reserve sector is crafted from gold, is engraved, and lacquered. The 4 hands are made from flame-blued polished steel and feature hand-polished countersinks and a flat black polished head.

Greubel Forsey Balancier QM.
Image: The raised “Greubel Forsey” and “Balancier QM” are engraved and polished. The screws, on both the dial and caseback side are crafted from gold. The lugs are described as three-dimensional and variable-geometry shaped.

The case is made from white gold, measuring 39.6 mm (diameter) * 9.45 mm (case height) / 12.25 mm (with sapphire crystals). Dial side and caseback feature a high domed synthetic sapphire crystal. The bezel is hand-polished and the caseband features hand-finished straight graining. Water resistant up to 3 ATM / 30 metres / 100 feet. The watch comes with a dark-blue hand-sewn textured rubber strap fitted with a pin buckle made from white gold, the latter hand-engraved with the brand’s GF logo.

“Turn the timepiece over and the caseback puts the winding system itself on stage: wheels with concave hand-polished sinks, bevelled and pol­ished teeth, hand matt lapped; clicks and springs flat black polished, the bevel running unbroken around each part; gold plates flat black polished.”

Does the movement feature a large variable-inertia balance wheel?

Greubel Forsey Balancier QM.
Image: “The escapement is finished where almost no one bothers to look. The bi-level escape wheel is bevelled and polished on both sides – the hidden face as carefully as the one on view. The pal­let-jewels are convex rather than flat, so light travels along the ruby instead of flashing off a single edge. At the heart: an in-house varia­ble-inertia balance, 12.60mm, with six gold mean-time screws – the regulating organ that gives the timepiece its name. None of this is con­fined to a single edition: the new escape-wheel geometry and the convex pallet-jewels will be carried progressively across the collection, as will the large bevels and polished flanks wherever they make aesthetic sense.”

Yes. The Balancier QM is powered by a sophisticated and complex hand-wound movement that drives the hours and minutes, small seconds, power reserve indication and stop balance (activated when the crown is pulled out). It measures 33 mm (diameter) * 9.4 mm (thickness), comprises of 298 parts and 34 jewels, beats at a luxurious frequency of 3 Hz of 21,600 vph and delivers a chronometric power reserve of 72 hours, the latter a result of “two coaxial series-coupled fast rotating barrels,” with 1 turn every 3.2 hours.

One barrel is equipped “with a slipping spring to avoid excess tension.” The barrels’ 5-arm motor wheel features hand-polished bevelling and is circular grained with a polished sink. 12.6 mm (diameter) variable-inertia or free-sprung balance wheel with “6 gold mean-time screws.” Bi-level escapement wheel is bevelled and polished on both sides. Phillips terminal curve balance spring with a Geneva-style stud.

What do we think?

Greubel Forsey watches have redefined and reinterpreted haute horology since their founding in 2004. Audacious designs, extremely complex movements, inclined tourbillons, and exemplary hand-finishing (to name a few) have been the brand’s contribution to horology. In recent years, they have gone through a transition, both ownership and management related and a new design direction, where their watches will feature slightly reduced case diameters.

Greubel Forsey Balancier QM.
Image: Greubel Forsey watches are rare, and one seldom has the opportunity to handle them. Very few are fortunate to own them. Yet, their very existence creates aspirational value across the industry and can get more people hooked onto horology and watch collecting.

I was fortunate to handle the Balancier QM during Geneva watch week held in April (the brand exhibited at the La Reserva Geneva Hotel & Spa). A beautiful watch with perfect proportions, one could get lost in its hand-finished details. There is nothing “simple” about this four-hand (counting the power-reserve indicator) watch. It is horology elevated to an art form.

The Balancier QM opens a new chapter for the brand, where every subsequent watch will adhere to the (evolving) Qualité Musée standard. They have already teased a few upcoming models: a new edition of the Nano Foud­royante (37.9 mm case size) and a new movement inside a convex case model (39.5 mm case size) both before this year is over, and a new invention (39.5 mm case size) and a new movement (38.5 mm case size) both by 2027. Exciting times ahead for the brand, one which is truly at the pinnacle of haute horology and independent watchmaking.

Also Read: The Latest GPHG Awards Ceremony showcased fantastic watchmaking

Additional Details

Name: Balancier QM

Reference: GF09CM

Price: Swiss Franc (CHF) 265,000 (excluding taxes)

Limited edition of 33 pieces.

Please visit greubelforsey.com to learn more.

Media Permit No: 0953878
© 2026 The Cornea Impression
Media Permit No: 0953878
© 2026 The Cornea Impression