Interview with Stephen Forsey, Co Founder of Greubel Forsey
fiogf49gjkf0d How far has Greubel Forsey come since its spectacular launch 10 years ago?
Since the beginning Robert and I really wanted to focus our energy on the very difficult elements of hand finishing, and generally bringing back a level of excellence to each of our creations, which we couldn’t find at the time in other pieces.
There was some fundamental research that took us several years to perfect including a lot of new techniques. We are also trying to rediscover and revive traditional techniques and finish everything by hand.
We always keep our line without any compromise on our hand finishing quality level. Some of our creations have taken years before we show it to the public because we want details to be perfect. 10 years later we developed 17 calibres, 6 patents and still have a lot of projects on their way.
How do you plan to celebrate the occasion?
Celebrating our 10 years with fireworks, big events or by creating an anniversary edition wouldn’t really match our philosophy. Greubel Forsey is not a purely commercial brand, after 10 years, we are creating around 100 timekeepers a year. We rather go through a retrospective of our Inventions, without nostalgia in order to retrace our history and as a self-reflection as well.
Your time pieces prices are really high, that makes nearly most of your clients collectors and those who have great appreciation for watch making, can you give us insight into who your typical buyer might be?
The Greubel Forsey customer is quite atypical. To imagine investing in a timepiece, which requires many months of work to make, is not accessible to very many people. So they are people who have certain resources.
But beyond that they tend to be people with a high level of cultural interest, quite often in art. They are people who are extremely busy, who work very hard, who are often running very large businesses and financing and supporting a lot of people. So it’s a very interesting exchange to be able to meet them and to see that they are from very diverse areas of business all around the world.
Are you going to stay focused on tourbillon complications for the foreseeable future?
We have done a lot of fundamental researches and developments on the Tourbillon in fact but we also push our curiosity and know-how on our Double Balancier and our latest novelty presented at the SIHH 2014, our QP à Equation.
What is the bestselling watch?
The 24s Tourbillon GMT and the double Tourbillon 30 technique are very much appreciated in the Middle East.
How encouraging is the Middle East for GF?
This part of the world is very important and we are working on reinforcing our presence. There is a growing demand from watch collectors.
Do the Middle East markets meet your expectations?
Yes it does and we are convinced it will continue to grow smoothly.
How did the number of pieces you make per year grow? What is the number today? Do you have any plans to increase your production?
Sometimes we would like to have a bigger team so we could do more things, but I speak from the invention or innovation side of Greubel Forsey. We are not seeking to double our quantities or to grow exponentially, simply because of the challenges of mastering and maintaining what we are doing in terms of quality, hand finishing and the excellence in craftsmanship.
Are there any plans to open any boutique?
We have around 35 retail partners to date, in about 30 countries. So quite often there is only one representative who is working with Greubel Forsey in a particular country.
On the other hand, we have a concept that is called “Time Art Gallery” that is a travelling exhibition. Our Time Art Gallery is the result of a reflextion on points of convergence between the art of watchmaking and modern art. We will have a next exhibition in Paris in October at “Vitrine am.”
What are the main challenges Greubel Forsey faces today?
We have many projects and ideas we want to do that we are working on. And inside these ambitions the challenges are expertise, our team, finding the right people to help us complete and do what we need to.
Generally it is these sorts of things, maintaining and preserving these skills, being able to share the finished result with the public. These remain challenges which are very much part of our panorama for the next few years.
That is something that has to be built and constructed and that takes time, and time is the watchmaker’s worst enemy.
Where do you see Greubel Forsey in 10 years?
We will always favour the qualitative and very exclusive approach. If we find the necessary skills and are able to develop them to our level of expectation and if the market continues to be in demand we can consider a qualitative and moderate growth.
The research for excellence of our timepieces and thus their rarity remain fundamental to our future development. We are only at the beginning of the adventure and there is still so much to do. Our strategy will not change: Exceed the limits of the possible!
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