Independents

foversta
[PuristSPro Moderator]
20814

• Show profile
• Show other posts

The stunning Double Tourbillon 30° from Greubel&Forsey

Thanks to the Greubel & Forsey AD in Paris, I had the opportunity to see and handle the Double Tourbillon 30°.

Let's say it directly: it's a fantastic timepiece.

The Double Tourbillon exists in two versions: vision (with a visible tourbillon through the open dial) or secret (visible only through the display back).
The pictured watch is the Platinum vision with a MOP dial.



Why Double Tourbillon?

The watch wears this name because it features a Tourbillon with 2 cages. The inner Tourbillon is inclined at 30° and rotates once per minute while the outer Tourbillon makes a full rotation every 4 minutes. Thanks to the incline, the rotation of the inner Tourbillon is a true eye-catching.




The big question is of course to know if such complicated Tourbillon is efficient or not. It's obvious that, for example, a low frequency watch, with a large balance wheel, and perfectly adjusted can be very accurate.. if not the most accurate watch. You don't need a Double Tourbillon for that. But finally, I do believe that, thanks to the combined work of the two cages, the technical finishings of the caliber, the efficiency of the complication in the context of the specific goal assigned to the Tourbillon is real.

The next question is to check if the improvement of this efficicency doesn't create other troubles which can be easily avoided with a less complicated watch.

It is the reason why the horology is so fascinating: the quest for the best accuracy doesn't lead to an unique solution. Greubel & Forsey chose a complicated path... and we have to thank them for this because the watch as a whole is fascinating.

Thanks to the open dial, we can enjoy the rotation of the two cages:



The watch is big (43,5mm), thick (16mm) but is still balanced. 3 main informations are displayed on the dial in addtion of the hours, minutes and the Tourbillon: the second hand on the left which is useful here due to the 2 cages and the power reserve indicator on the right. The power reserve is 72 hours thanks to the twin barrels. Just above the Tourbillon, you will find the 4 minutes indicator.


The caliber is the GF 02. This complex caliber has a frequency of 3hz and is composed of 304 parts (39 jewels). The two cages have 128 parts and a cumulated weight of 1,17g.

The caliber layout was designed in order to enhance the beauty of the Tourbillon.



Even if we don't speak about the same type of horology, we can find a similar aesthetical approach with the Fabrication Des Montres Normandes: the Tourbillon fills almost the half part of the caliber.


Hopefully, the decoration of the caliber GF02 is sober and very elegant. A complicated decoration would have led to a "christmas tree effect", something too busy which would have spoiled the show from the Tourbillon. Our eyes are imediately attracted by the Tourbillon and we can spend hours watching it.



The caliber GF02 features one of the most beautiful Tourbillon of the industry:



And... drums are rolling... I put the watch on my wrist.

The watch is heavy and you need to find the right position. Once found, you can wear it without any trouble.

It's when we wear it that we can really appreciate the finishings of the dial. The use of the MOP in this context is an excellent idea. The gold appliques, the blued-stell hands, the visible screws are flawless.



Of course, we feel the fickness of the watch... but it allows us to appreciate the spiral engraved around the case. You will notice the strap color, a very nice grey.



It's almost impossible to remove the Double-Tourbillon when we wear it... the show  on the dial is hypnotizing !



This Double-Tourbillon is maybe one of the most impressive watch I've seen these last years.

But stay tuned ! I will prepare a report about its "small" sister, the Tourbillon 24 seconds incliné... which is also an outstanding watch.



Thanks a lot to the team of the AD in Paris for the warm welcome !



Fr.Xavier