Hand Made 1

• Limited Edition: production limited to 2-3 pieces annually
• Case: 18-karat white gold
• Size: 43.5mm
• Movement: hand-wound manufacture caliber
• Function: tourbillon
• Dial: enamel chapter rings for the hours and minutes, gratté finish on the exposed mainplate
• Caseback: sapphire crystal
• Hands: hand-polished, flame-blued steel
• Strap/Bracelet: hand-stitched leather
• Factory Warranty: three years

With 95% of this timepiece – including the hairspring – made using only hand-operated tools, one single timepiece requiring an extraordinary 6,000 hours work (equal to three years man-hours), Hand Made 1 by Greubel Forsey takes traditional watchmaking to a new unprecedented summit. Never before has a hand-made timepiece exhibited such a high level of workmanship and precision. This timepiece, unique in the history of watchmaking, is the fruit of a technical and human endeavor of epic proportions, enlisting extraordinary talents and setting the course for the future.

Before the Industrial Revolution and the advent of mass production, watch components had to be made one by one requiring very specific skills, tools and completely hand-operated machines. Today, with industrialization, excellence in hand craftsmanship has virtually disappeared and these skills are not even taught in schools. Throughout their training and careers, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have amassed extensive experience of hand craftsmanship, both in prototypes or replacement parts for restoration.

Deeply attached to these ancestral skills at the core of such a rich irreplaceable watchmaking heritage, the Naissance d’une Montre 1 adventure with Time Æon Foundation and their determination to pass on their know-how to future generations, Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have now gone to unprecedented lengths by creating Hand Made 1, the first incarnation of this out-and-out approach.

Created as just two or three timepieces per year, the Greubel Forsey Hand Made 1 is destined to become a new watchmaking landmark that unites both past and future. This new step towards the summit in the finest of craftsmanship is substantiated on the dial at 6 o’clock, where the inscription Hand Made replaces the usual Swiss Made.