The Tourbillon Masters, Greubel Forsey. My visits with Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey have always been memorable experiences. In 2007, Greubel Forsey they showed me a concept watch featuring the quad tourbillon with differential. This year, in 2008, they have brought the "Quadruple Tourbillon A Differential" (QTD) to the table in grand attire.
The philosophy at Greubel Forsey is to bring the highest degree of watchmaking precision to their watches via advanced research and magnitudes of testing. There is no rush at Greubel Forsey for the sake of a new novelty. Since the QTD was shown in '07 as a concept there have been significant changes. The most striking change is the lack of a metal tourbillon bridge on the dial side, replaced by a sapphire (almost invisible) bridge that allows a much cleaner view of the tourbillon cages.
The QTD comprises two double tourbillon mechanisms. Each double tourbillon incorporates a single balance wheel that is inclined at 30 degrees to the frontal plane of the watch and is carried by an inner tourbillon cage that rotates every 60 seconds. Two outer tourbillon cages, rotating every four minutes, carry the inner cages. Given that there are two tourbillon cages for each of the two balance wheels, the end result is a Quad tourbillon. A differential at the center of the watch supplies power from two series coupled barrels (acting as one power source) to each double tourbillon in a totally independent manner. It is also via the differential that the time shown by the hands is an exact average of the two double tourbillons.
The QTD is cased in platinum and is 43.5 mm in diameter. The dial is gold, showing 50 hours of power reserve, and continuous seconds via a double integrated sector, 0-30 seconds and 30-60 seconds using a single hand.
Patek Philippe
For 2008, Patek Philippe introduces the Ref 5450P Annual Calendar that incorporates their new high technology escapement, the Pulsomax®. In 2002, Patek Philippe began research – in collaboration with two other watch manufactures – into the world of high technology materials (silicon based), and deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) manufacturing methods. This research spawned the Patek Philippe Advanced Research department that brought forth their first innovation in 2005, the Silinvar® escape wheel. One year later, 2006, and the Spiromax® hairspring (also a Silinvar® based material) with patented outer-coil was released. At this point the Silinvar® escape wheel and Spiromax® hairspring were connected via a typical Swiss lever (pallet fork) made of conventional materials, steel with ruby pallet stones.
Completing the Patek Philippe escapement connection is a newly developed pallet fork (lever) made of Silinvar®. This new and radically shaped pallet fork completes the Patek Philippe trilogy of escapement components, shown below. Given the radical reshaping of the traditional Swiss lever, a new escape wheel formulation using 16 teeth, as compared with the more conventional/commonly used 20 teeth, was also developed to complete the techno-duo well-known as the Pulsomax®. This new escapement, including the Spiromax® hairspring, will start to make its way into the broader range of Patek Philippe watches in due time.
