Greubel Forsey will sell a 95% handmade watch

In a workshop, a worker is working on a platinum, the plate supporting the components of a watch. Nothing abnormal a priori. Except that Dimitri, prototypist mechanic, works with a machine used at the beginning of the XXth century which one does not find anymore: numerical control machines (CNC) have replaced the devices directed by the hand.

We are in the workshops of the Swiss high-end watch company Greubel Forsey, in La Chaux-de-Fonds. And if such machines have been recovered, it is to achieve a new goal of the watchmaker: make a watch that bears the name of Hand Made 1, is handmade … 95%. The remaining 5%? The sapphires, the bars to attach the bracelet and, among the less known parts of the uninitiated, the joints and the spring barrel. "The 100% handmade would be hard to reach," says Stephen Forsey, co-founder of the Greubel Forsey brand, which is a minority shareholder in Richemont Group.

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Six thousand hours of work

But the "handmade" does not indicate a completely manual manufacturing, says the director. "There is no official definition of this name. For us, this means partly by hand as it is already the case for decorations for example, and partly with machines but which do not have numerical assistance. "Some steps are therefore carried out using old machines, guided by the human. Much more dangerous work and longer: it takes six thousand hours for such a watch, when it takes about 1000 for a traditional Greubel Forsey. But the brand sees an interest: "It's about saving a know-how," defends Stephen Forsey. In this case, why not do it with all the watches of the brand? "It takes a lot of time and it's not easy to grow the team that works in this way."

To the question of whether it is not primarily a marketing strategy in these times when the name "handmade" is in vogue, the co-founder responds: "We do not do so much marketing around our watches." And the collectors, who are Greubel Forsey's main clients, would be "ready to be patrons to safeguard this old know-how," says Stephen Forsey. This last particular creation will be produced at the rate of two or three pieces per year. His price? Still to be defined, but it will be between 600 and 900 000 francs.

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The result is a hand-stitched leather bracelet, a gray gold case and a dial with complex mechanisms and transparency. Not to mention the indication "hand made" written at the bottom of the dial. It's not easy to see the difference with a watch made without a craft process. "The knowledge of collectors is increasing, they will see the difference. Some have WhatsApp groups where they trade models, "says Stephen Forsey.