GRAFF Luxury Watches: the manufacture card

The name Graff is not yet spontaneously cited when talking about complicated watchmaking and in-house movements. It is usually brands that work with more traditional watchmaking or those with niche products for new collectors that come to mind. Perceptions will therefore most likely evolve when we start discovering the amazing performances that punctuate the watchmaking path of this British maison. Despite its origins, the brand has chosen to establish itself in Switzerland to produce its timepieces. This goes well beyond the criteria of the “Swiss Made” label.

A handpicked body of the best suppliers in Switzerland produces more than 1,000 typical and easily recognizable watches annually.

This incredible development was possibleafter a meeting between two men: Laurence Graff, a diamond jeweler and founding father of the brand and Michel Pitteloud, a respectable name in watchmaking. The latter has more than thirty years of experience at the service of the greatest Swiss watches. The key was their shared passion mixed with an international distribution network. Their boundless creativity did the rest.

GRAFF Diamond Gyrograff Tourbillon 48mm Pink Gold

The Diamond GyroGraff Tourbillon

This watch is this year’s addition to the MasterGraff collection, limited to 20 pieces in white gold and 20 pieces in pink gold. The excellence of the pieces in this collection equals that of the mythical two-axis Tourbillon complication. They also brilliantly interpret the score of subtle aesthetics composed of facets and symmetries. The facets, which have been the identity signs of the brand since they were introduced to watchmaking, have been completely set with a total of seventy-two 8.03-carat diamonds. They circle a masculine 48-mm case middle that contrasts with the deep black of the rather classic guilloché dial without refraining from adding contemporary touches and reliefs.

Guarantee of a perfect balance in the lower part of the timepiece, the aperture at 5 o’clock dedicated to the tourbillon is arranged symmetrically to the one at 8 o’clock, near the moon phases. A small hand set at 11 o’clock indicates the power reserve of a manual-winding caliber.

GRAFF Gyrograff Diamond Tourbillon 48mm White Gold

Proof that the 60-hour power reserve caliber was specifically developed for Graff Luxury Watches are the hour and minute functions. These have been creatively situated off-center on the top of the dial while the diamond-set crown has been placed at 2 o’clock. The iconic triangular emerald – the unchanging signature of the diamond dealer – has been placed at the zenith.

MasterGraff Grand Date Dual Time Tourbillon

This timepiece granted the brand permanence in the rank of great Swiss manufacturing brands. The mechanical concentrate of scientific watchmaking houses the in-house Graff caliber 5 movement and is an ode to the minutiae genius of talented watchmakers whilst not abandoning its Graff identity. This user-friendly 43-mm solid pink gold complicated watch is the conjunction of a great number of high-level watchmaking complications: a flying tourbillon, the indication of a second time zone, and a large date, elegantly placed right above the iconic Graff triangle.

GRAFF Mastergraff Grand Date Dual Time Tourbillon

The Diamond Paved MasterGraff Ultra Flat Tourbillon

In 2013, the model was launched in a limited edition of 50 models. The 2014 version of that same model has been completely set with diamonds up to the lugs which measure 4mm in diameter and 6.95 mm thick. It is available in either pink gold or platinum 1000.

Only the tourbillon’s frame aperture allows a glimpse of the complex wealth of its movement, the Graff 4 caliber. This is a rare 3.5 mm hand-wound tourbillon mechanism specifically developed by the brand’s watchmaking craftsmen.

GRAFF Full Mastergraff Ultra Flat Tourbillon white