Greubel Forsey finds its soul mate

Micro-sculptor Willard Wigan, whose work commonly sits in the eye of a needle, radiates a passion for art and a zest for life. Right now he is pouring his enthusiasm into working with Greubel Forsey on Art Piece 1, a timepiece – still in progress – that will house Greubel Forsey’s Double Tourbillon 30° and incorporate one of Wigan’s micro-sculptures in its crown. A microscope set into the caseband will correct spherical deformations so that the Lilliputian sculpture can be viewed in ordinary daylight. A feat of technique that took five years to develop.

Pleasure and pain

“At first I wasn’t interested in working with a watch company,” confessed Wigan who was at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in January. “Until, that is, I got my hands on these watches which I’d never seen before. After my first meeting with Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, I was blown away by their approach which makes every one of their timepieces virtually unique. I thought my sculptures would be happy to have one of them as their home. Greubel Forsey and I speak the same language; the language of the infinitely small.”

“My mother always told me that the smallest things make the biggest impact,” he went on. “As far as this project is concerned, there are three of us who definitely share her view. Maybe we’re all mad but at least it’s brought us together to work on something that gives us a huge amount of pleasure.” Pleasure but also pain, although Willard Wigan still manages to laugh as he describes the tribulations of preparing the watch to go on display in Hong Kong. It was five o’clock in the morning, and the three men were gathered round trying, and failing, to position Wigan’s micro-sculpture in the watch. After three hours bent double over the microscope, using eyelashes as a lever, Wigan finally succeeded in hoisting the miniature artwork into place. “It’s just amazing that so much intense concentration can go into something so small,” he concludes. Needless to say, Art Piece 1 had the impact Willard Wigan’s mother had predicted on all those who saw it at the SIHH.

An alternative to the tourbillon

In addition to this extraordinary creation, Greubel Forsey came to the SIHH with new interpretations of its Double Tourbillon 30° Technique, winner of the Concours International de Chronométrie (international timekeeping competition) in 2011, its GMT, and its Tourbillon 24 Secondes Contemporain. The star of the show, however, was the Double Balancier 35° whose unique regulating system features two inclined fixed-oscillators coupled by a spherical differential. “Contrary to appearances, Robert Greubel and I have never intended to confine ourselves to research into the tourbillon,” says Stephen Forsey. “In 2009 we made a prototype with two oscillators inclined at 20°. In this prototype, the two oscillators were superimposed. This early research showed huge potential and gave rise to a limited series of six timepieces which doesn’t feature in our collections. We continued to develop the idea, and this year we’re presenting a further six watches. This time each of the two regulating organs is positioned in its own three-dimensional plane. Adjusting such a construction is a complicated business but ultimately its performance is comparable to that of a tourbillon.” At Greubel Forsey, the ideas keep on coming.