Watchmaking as it once was: Hand Made 2 by Greubel Forsey is almost 100% handmade.
The concept behind Hand Made 1, released in 2019, was to make a watch using only traditional methods and hand tools. Greubel Forsey wanted to shine the spotlight on the importance of watchmaking tradition and craftsmanship. The latter is a fundamental element in this sector, but it is gradually disappearing, supplanted by the use of machines that cannot in any case recreate the same skill as the human hand.
Hand Made 1 was not only a watch but also an embodiment of ideals. Of the very few prices made, one in particular has risen to the headlines lately. Caught on Mark Zuckerberg's wrist in the January video posted on Facebook in which he announced the end of fact-checking on Meta platforms. Handmade 2 is the evolution of that concept of keeping the most ancestral watchmaking gestures alive.
Hand Made 2's power reserve indicator uses a hand-cut synthetic conical ruby
Being able to achieve tolerances equal to those of watches made with automated equipment is a truly extraordinary achievement for Greubel Forsey.
Compared to the Hand Made 1, a model with a tourbillon device, Greubel Forsey's Hand Made 2 is a solotempo with a power reserve indicator. Of the 270 components, the 96% is made entirely by hand, using only traditional tools (precision lathe, boring machine, pantograph). Even for the spiral, which is made of a special alloy, cutting, bending, and adjusting the end bends are strictly handcrafted.
Only the 4 % of components escapes the rule: sapphire crystals, drive spring, spring bars, case seals and most rubies. Ihe most complex component is a conical ruby, this one handmade, for the power reserve indicator. Each component is machined to tolerances of a few microns, achieving an accuracy comparable to that of modern CNC machines.
Handmade and not just 'hand-finished
Hand Made 2: exclusivity and dedication that go beyond a simple label.
In practice, this translates into 5,000 man-hours needed to produce, finish and assemble the 270 components of this watch by Greubel Forsey with 40.9 mm white gold case. Just think that it takes at least eight hours to make a tiny screw. On the watchmaking scene, Hand Made 2 aesthetically harks back to the great tradition of 18th century models.
The open dial shows most of the finishing details of the movement made of nickel silver (German silver) and finished with a granular surface and polished bevels, where every part, visible or not, is decorated using traditional methods. Given the extreme complexity of the production process, as was already the case with model number 1, the production of Hand Made 2 is very limited: only two or three pieces can be made each year.
