How Bulgari, Jaeger-LeCoultre and others are rediscovering the forgotten skills of watchmaking
Skilled artisans are exploring the full range of their horological horizons in crafting visually exquisite timepieces
The current hipster craze for handmade stuff has officially entered horology. Handmade artisanship has always been part of high-end watchmaking, but the Hand Made 1 from Greubel Forsey really deserves its name. Ninety-five per cent of the parts – 272 in the movement and 36 in the case – are produced using only hand-operated tools. Each one takes 6,000 hours to execute, which works out to about three years in terms of man-hours. The goal of the project is to resurrect the forgotten skills of the pre-industrial revolution days of watchmaking.
The tourbillon movement (not used for any other models) may not be the most technical invention from Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey – but the Hand Made 1 still ranks at the top of what is humanly possible.