Greubel Forsey has introduced the Balancier Contemporain in Stainless Steel Final Edition. It marks the retirement of this model and its iconic manually wound calibre. This model is the third time a Greubel Forsey watch has been presented in a stainless steel case.
“More than a final edition, this stainless steel interpretation is a statement of purpose – it is the rarest and most exclusive case material in the Atelier’s repertoire. Its presence here is deliberate: to honour the legacy of the Balancier Contemporain with purity, restraint, and resolve.”
Key Features
Image: The last edition of this iconic model and calibre. I could keep staring at the balance wheel bridge and the free-sprung balance wheel all day.
Functions
Hours and minutes. Small seconds. Power reserve. Stop seconds function.
Dial
Multi-level dial made from gold.
The hour-ring features a sunburst blue finish and an opening – enabling a view of “the in-house 12.6 mm balance wheel, suspended above a flat, black-polished gold plate that provides visual depth and dramatic reflection.”
A minute scale with a deep blue finish, engraved and filled with white lacquer markings, and a polished bevel encircles the hour ring. The small seconds subdial is engraved and filled with white lacquer markings and features a polished bevel. The power reserve scale is engraved, lacquered, and “hand matt lapped.”
Hands are made from polished steel and feature hand polished countersinks.
Movement
Image: Notice the 12.60 mm balance wheel (through the opening in the hour-ring), the balance wheel bridge, and relief engraving of the brand’s name on the barrel.
Powered by an in-house manually wound calibre that drives the hours, minutes, small second, power reserve indicator, and stop seconds function. Diameter: 32.40 mm. Thickness: 9.20 mm. Parts: 256. Jewels 33. Frequency: 21,600 vph or 3 Hz. Chronometric power reserve: 72 hours.
Movement features include:
“Two series-coupled fast rotating barrels.” Each barrel completes 1 turn every 3.2 hours, “one of which is equipped with a slipping spring to avoid excess tension.”
In-house variable inertia or free-sprung balance wheel with “6 gold mean-time screws.” Diameter: 12.60 mm. Phillips terminal curve balance spring with a Geneva-style stud.
“The movement is composed of 256 parts, each hand-finished to the highest standard. The bridges are in nickel silver, frosted and spotted by hand, with perfectly polished bevels and countersinks, straight-grained flanks, and a subtle blue treatment unique to this edition. The balance wheel bridge is flat black polished steel – one of the most demanding finishes in haute horlogerie – with hand-polished bevels that reflect light beautifully. The balance wheel itself is mounted above a flat, black-polished gold plate, a surface so refined it becomes both technical and architectural.”
“On the movement side, a black-polished gold plate is engraved in relief with the fundamental values of Greubel Forsey – invisible to the wearer yet finished with the same uncompromising care. Olive-domed jewels are set in gold chatons, with hand-polished countersinks that catch the light at just the right angle. Every component, visible or not, is treated with the same reverence – as if each part could stand on its own as a miniature work of art.”
Case
Image: Not your typical caseback view. Notice the olive-domed jewels set in gold chatons with hand-polished countersinks, central gold plate with engraved “GF” and limited edition number, and raised polished engraving of “Greubel Forsey” and “Balancier.”
Case is made from stainless steel. Diameter: 39.60 mm. Thickness: 12.25 mm.
Bezel is hand polished. Caseband features “hand-finished straight-graining.” Dial side and caseback feature a “high domed synthetic sapphire crystal.” The brand’s logo on the stainless steel crown is engraved and black lacquered. Water resistant up to 3 ATM / 30 metres / 100 feet.
The watch comes with a hand-sewn textured rubber strap fitted to a stainless steel pin buckle engraved with the brand’s logo.
Our Thoughts
While this is my first time writing about a Greubel Forsey watch (our earlier coverage focused on Michael Clerizo’s new book and a leadership transition), I have been fortunate to handle their complex tourbillons (housed in large diameter cases) in the past. Though not “conventionally beautiful,” you know you are experiencing an object of sheer magnificence.
Writing about the Balancier Contemporain in Stainless Steel Final Edition feels exactly the same. The sheer level and attention to detail – movement features and finishing, dial details and finishing, and case details and finishing – is second to none. There is no compromise anywhere. This is elite watchmaking.
Image: So simple, yet so complex. Those are “three-dimensional, variable geometry-shaped lugs.”
Its price of CHF 220,000 (excluding taxes) gets you one of the finest interpretations of a “simple” hours-minutes-small seconds watch (with power reserve indicator and stop seconds) that could eat many grand complications from other brands for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The Balancier Contemporain in Stainless Steel Final Edition hints at a new future for the brand – one where they will focus on watches with smaller diameters – yet unabashedly every bit a Greubel Forsey. Exciting times ahead.
Additional Details
Name: Balancier Contemporain in Stainless Steel Final Edition
Price: Swiss Franc (CHF) 220,000 (excluding taxes)
Limited edition of 33 pieces.
Please visit the brand’s website and Instagram page for more information.
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