Greubel Forsey impresses with bold creations such as the Grande Sonnerie at SIHH 2017

If you had to describe Greubel Forsey’s presentation this year in one word, it would have to be “daring”.

The young brand, known for its cutting-edge approach to creating and designing highly complicated watches, may just have outdone itself this year.

The most headline-grabbing timepiece is its Grande Sonnerie,which took 11 years of research and development to create, and led to two patents being filed. No wonder then, the brand is hailing it as its “most complex creation to date”.

“It wasn’t enough to build a traditional grande sonnerie for Greubel Forsey,” says Stephen Forsey, co-founder of Greubel Forsey. “We had to bring something different. It has to fulfil our certain criteria.”

The Grande Sonnerie features a silent striking regulator, striking hammers, power reserve and mode indicators, beautifully rich and powerful cathedral gongs, 11 security functions, and the brand’s signature Tourbillon 24 Secondes. A transparent sapphire crystal case back allows horlogerie fans to admire the movement.

Three striking modes are available: Grande Sonnerie, striking of the hours and quarters in passing; Petite Sonnerie, striking of the hours in passing; and Silence, with no striking.

The watch is powered by a manual-winding movement and comes with a 72-hour chronometric power reserve. A dedicated striking mechanism features a self-winding system that comes with a 20-hour power reserve when the watch is put in the Grande Sonnerie mode. It is also an incredibly compact watch that, despite housing 935 parts, measures just 43.50mm in diameter and 16.13mm
in thickness.

The brand also decided to make the timepiece water resistant to 30 metres, an unusual move that raised its own set of challenges.

“You lose a huge amount of sound,” Forsey says. “If [the case] is open, you can let the sound escape. Once you close that case, then you’ll [lose] like 20 decibels of sound – it’s really huge.”