Blue Note: Greubel Forsey’s New Balancier Convexe GMT

Greubel Forsey is for very good reasons, famous for its multi-axis tourbillons, as well as its uncompromising approach to movement finishing. One of its most instantly recognizable complications, however, is one which, while fairly simple technically, is done at Greubel Forsey in a way that provides at least as much visual punch.

The GMT complication from Greubel Forsey was first launched, accompanied by a 24º inclined tourbillon, in 2011, and featured a miniature hemispherical representation of planet Earth, rotating once every 24 hours, for the world time indication. Since then, it’s been released in a number of different versions, including one with a quadruple tourbillon, but in 2022, the complication appeared in a Convexe case, with an inclined balance. The latest version of the Balancier Convexe GMT offers a new colorway in which deep blue, once found only in the oceans of the 3D Earth, is used across the dial side, and it’s joined by a power reserve indication as well.

The basic configuration of the complication itself remains unchanged. The Earth hemisphere is used to allow you to see the progress of the hours across the globe as it rotates. Hours and minutes are shown via two triangular perhipheral hands. There’s a running small seconds subdial at 5:00 on the 12 hour chapter ring, and the second time zone indication’s in the subdial at 9:00.

One of the most interesting features of Greubel Forsey’s GMT complication, is the display on the back of the watch.

The problem of how to cope with the difference between summer time, or Daylight Saving Time, and standard time in those cities which observe it, has been a sort of minor Achilles’ heel for the worldtime indication ever since Cottier developed the first modern version of the complication in the 1930s. MING has recently produced a solution which is a unique one to the problem, and it’s a remarkably simple and logical one. The Greubel Forsey GMT’s solution, which preceded it, uses a different but equally elegant and mechanically straightforward system. On the back of the watch is a rotating disk with the names of 24 reference cities. There’s a 24 hour ring on the outside of the city disk, and a smaller one on the inside, which is an hour ahead of the outer one. The cities for which DST is used are shown in white, and when DST is in effect you simply read the time off the inner 24 hour ring rather than the outer one.

This version of the Balancier Convexe GMT retains the inclined balance wheel, whose offset from a flat position gives some of the same advantages as the tourbillon: since the balance is unlikely to ever be in a perfectly flat or perfectly vertical position, variations in rate between positions are minimalized. Finishing in general still adheres to the same high standards which Greubel Forsey has always set for itself, and although the watch is still quite large, the titanium case, case curvature, and ergonomic strap go a long way towards making the Balancier Convexe GMT a practical, if obviously extroverted, traveler’s watch as well.

The Greubel Forsey Balancier Convexe GMT: Case, titanium with curved sapphire crystal and variable geometry bezel; curved sapphire crystals front and back with engraved GMT pusher, 42.90mm at the caseband, 44.90mm at the bezel; 17.60mm maximum thickness at the sapphire crystals; water resistance, 50 meters. Terrestrial globe in titanium with relief engraved continents. Movement, 37.80mm x 13.80mm with two series coupled fast rotating bezels; GMT via rotating 3D globe; power reserve indication with 72 hour power reserve. Balance inclined at 30º with black polished balance bridge; Phillips overcoil with Geneva style outer balance spring stud; rate, 21,600 vph in 72 olive domed chaton set jewels.

The 1916 Company is proud to be an authorized retailer for Greubel Forsey. Please contact us for pricing and availability.