Kate Lawler
Web Editor
Already a horological legend, the Greubel Forsey GMT was reintroduced last year in a limited titanium and amorphous diamond-like carbon (ADLC) case. Its new sporty aesthetic left me with visions of future auctions and long bidding wars reaching new records before the smack of final hammer.
Greubel Forsey has only utilized titanium once before in the Double Tourbillon 30º model. The ADLC coated case on the GMT has a surface hardness vastly greater than traditional titanium. Not only did the material completely change the aesthetic of the timepiece, enabling a more contemporary look, it catapulted the watch into the ever-desirable, relatively new, haute horology-sport watch hybrid category.
Greubel Forsey is renowned for its ability to incorporate modern technology and materials with traditional Swiss watchmaking techniques. Since its founding a little over 10 years ago, the manufacture has received multiple high honors and awards. Thus, it came as no surprise to the watch industry when Greubel Forsey timepieces started fetching high prices at auction around the world.
It’s rare to see any Greubel Forsey watch come off the auction block for less than $200,000. Interesting is the GMT’s demand in the auction circuit. For instance, in 2013 at Christie’s Important Watches Replica auction in Hong Kong, a white gold 2012 Greubel Forsey GMT sold for $392,154. Just a year later, at the very same auction, the very same model reached just under half a million dollars, $440,445, at final hammer.
The ADLC’s dark appeal is found throughout the timepiece, with the movement’s main plate and bridges finished in black. Within the confines of the 43.5 millimeter case, lies a rotating silver and blue globe indicating an approximation of world time. As if the globe wasn’t enough, directly across lies a tourbillon offset at 25 degrees for an ultimate glimpse at one of the watch world’s most treasured complications.
Now let’s fast forward 20 years. What does the watch world look like? Sure, the same techniques may stand. Someone may have come up with a new tool to finish or machine. Maybe a new material has made an introduction. Perhaps 2015’s year of ‘thin’ gave way to an all new appreciation for robust watches replica. But only pioneers change the watchmaking industry, as evidenced throughout history from Louis-Abraham Breguet to the late Gerald Genta.
If Greubel Forsey continues its dedication to innovation, 20 years may see the titanium GMT model, with its asymmetrical shape and unusually placed mechanics, become the new kind of classic.
Tim Mosso
Editorial Director
Predicting a future classic in the watch space is joy distinct from the grim business of struggling to foresee “investment” watches replica. The former is a pure pleasure; spot watches replica with charisma and elemental appeal; the latter is a miserable routine of tortured tea leaves and makeshift math. As enthusiast collectors, our mission is clear; buy what’s memorable and fun.
Chopard’s rarely seen L.U.C. Pro One sports watches replica – built from roughly 2004 to 2009 – deserve attention as classics in the making. The original Pro One and Pro One GMT hit all the high notes as instant cult watch candidates. From a pure watch enthusiast’s standpoint, the Pro One line was technically fascinating and visually compelling.
Two models were offered in 42mm stainless steel cases; the metal-bezel Pro One was a pure diver, and the Pro One GMT diver was genre-bending function-blending dual time. The caliber 4.96 (Pro One) and 4.96H24 (Pro One GMT) were unique entries in a segment dominated by ETA and Rolex calibers. LUC caliber 4.96 launched with the Pro One as a (tungsten) micro-rotor automatic with COSC Swiss Chronometer certification and a robust 65-hour power reserve courtesy of Chopard’s distinctive stacked mainspring barrels.
Tech notwithstanding, the Pro Ones would be notable by style alone. The GMT featured a rich sapphire-capped 24-hour bezel with protected lume paint years before IWC and Blancpain made the “crystalline bezel” look famous in the mid-2000s. Even in 2016, a lume-shot of a charged Pro One GMT remains one of the most pleasing spectacles in the collector’s hobby.
Thoughtful details include a double-deployant with a unique clamshell locking device, a beautifully finished multi-link bracelet on certain models, and tank-tough screws (rather than spring bars) to keep that bracelet or strap secure at the lugs. On the Pro One GMT, the date magnifier is located beneath – not above – the crystal in order to maintain a sleeker profile. And on the subject of slim profiles, the Pro One’s micro-rotor movement ensures a 13mm case thickness that makes 15mm+ category norms look downright sloppy by comparison.
And then there’s the novel notion of a Chopard aquatic sports watch to pique collector interest. While the Mille Miglia driver’s series carries the banner for Chopard’s modern sports watch lineup, there’s little in the current catalog that serves the dive category. In contrast, the Pro One and its 300-meter (~1,000-foot) dive rating locked horns with the saltiest champions from Blancpain, Rolex, Omega, and Breitling in the SCUBA stakes.
Moreover, in a watch class often submerged by design orthodoxy, Chopard used the Pro One divers as platforms for playful gestures. Day-glow colors like yellow and orange, whimsical embossed nautical dial motifs, and nod-wink touches like the “L.U.C.” seconds hand counterweight kept the Chopard Pro Ones cheerful despite “tool watch” segment conventions.
Finally, the Pro One models are rare watches replica. Chopard doesn’t exactly churn out watches replica by mass-market standards, but the manufacture-movement L.U.C. series is yet another rung removed from volume sales. Add the unconventional wrinkle of the Pro One’s nautical focus, and the result is a rare gem for tomorrow’s horology-happy treasure divers.
Mike Thompson
Editor-in-Chief
When I first saw MB&F’s Legacy Machine N°1, with its suspended, large-diameter balance slowly oscillating and seemingly disconnected from the dual dials below, I knew immediately that the watch was something extra special. While Maximilian Büsser and his Friends had been quite successful making enjoyable sci-fi-tinged horological art for six years, the LM1’s design was an MB&F piece that was instead firmly rooted in traditional horology, primarily because of its round case.
With that 44mm round case Büsser and Friends catapulted their hot niche brand onto another level of collector demand and acceptance. Suddenly anyone who had previously enjoyed, but didn’t buy, one of the earlier MB&F horological machines because their cases were too sculptural had no excuse to put off the purchase.
Here was a traditionally shaped MB&F watch, yet it was a piece with Busser’s retro-futuristic fingerprints all over it. He merged Jules Verne and the Eiffel Tower with the best of vintage pocket watch movement design and did so while maintaining his distinctive three-dimensional perspective. To me, the LM1’s first-ever vertical power reserve indicator was creative genius of the forehead-slapping variety. Enlisting Friends such as Jean-François Mojon and Kari Voutilainen sealed the deal for many collectors. And it seemed a foregone conclusion that the MB&F LM1 would win big at the 2012 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Geneva. Indeed, the watch earned two prizes, one for Best Men’s Watch and the other, the Jury Prize, by public vote.
All this convinces me that in ten years or so the MB&F Legacy Machine N°1 will be in great demand among collectors. By then, Büsser’s place as perhaps the most influential force in modern independent watchmaking will be made all the more evident. That only thirty-three examples were made of the platinum model with a stunning blue dial underscores my conviction, though I suspect the gold-cased LM1s will be equally precious in the vintage market circa 2026.