When people are looking at a Greubel Forsey, the conversations quite quickly focus on its complications or its price tag, but there is a third element which is also worthy to be mentioned: the beauty of the invisible. The brand invests a disproportional amount of time and effort in the finishing of components that will only be visible to the watchmaker when he or she services the watch.
For Greubel Forsey, this is an important and integrated part of their philosophy and their aim for perfection. They are for example one of the few manufactures that have mastered the technique of ‘black polish’ in all its refinement. This means that they can polish a part at such degree of perfection that it looks black.
While the brand doesn’t shy away from using cutting-edge technology, the vast majority of the finishing techniques that they use is manual labor and comes down to the craftsmanship of the man or woman who is decorating the part. As a result of this, Greubel Forsey plays an intricate role in keeping old techniques and crafts alive, because they train people in applying them on a daily basis, thus preserving the beauty of the invisible for future generations.
