Author’s Notes: Inside the Upcoming Greubel Forsey: The Art of Invention Book

Although the 308-page book Greubel Forsey: The Art of Invention (published by Thames & Hudson) won’t hit stores until February 2025, it promises to be unlike most other timepiece books. That is because Greubel Forsey is unlike most timepiece makers.

Over the course of his research, author Michael Clerizo was granted unparalleled access to the company principals and team and was even able to handle and examine every single model that Greubel Forsey has ever produced since its official launch in 2004.
 

In just a few years, Greubel Forsey, with its over-arching focus on the intersection of invention with adventure, artfulness, and architecture (instead of being forced into a market-driven box), has been able to enter the upper pantheon of collector obsession with beautiful, mechanically sophisticated timepieces that honor the best of 18th and 19th-century watchmaking but with an unmistakable focus on the future and emerging technologies.
 

Watchonista: What did you learn about the unique (and somewhat mysterious) partnership between Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey during your research for the book?

Michael Clerizo: Well, that partnership forms the core of the brand’s success, frankly. You know, when people think about partnerships like this, they tend to assume a simple explanation: One person has this skill set, the other has another, and those skills mesh. That isn’t strictly the case here; it is more about what the pair have in common.

The partnership’s essence, first and foremost, is based on an abiding mutual respect and affection between the two.

When they first met (at the legendary Renaud et Papi movement “laboratory” in Le Locle) and decided to work together, they faced what most would consider a fairly insurmountable obstacle: Robert spoke very little English, Stephen spoke very little French. Yet they were able to communicate using the “language” of watchmaking.

There is a popular concept that genius lives entirely in the brain. Another thing James and Stephen share is a kind of “genius of the hands.”
 

W: The book tells the story of the brand as if it were an adventure novel about two upstarts battling an industry ruled by tradition to follow their uncompromising vision. More recently, however, we have seen Greubel Forsey creations that lean into more “commercial” appeal. How does that dovetail into the adventure?

MC: The adventure never ends! You have to remember that models you see coming online now have been in a developmental-experimental-getting everything exactly right phase for a number of years.

Yes, there is more awareness of the role the brand could play in the marketplace, and new directions are always inevitable as a timepiece brand grows, but the process is still organic: turning extraordinary creations into collections.

My sense is the attitude is: “Adventure has gotten us this far; let’s continue it moving forward.” This is bolstered by the very inclusive working environment in the atelier.

The brand is not constrained by a marketing department per se. The entire team contributes, and, in fact, many are listed as patent-holders for their many innovations.
 

W: Let’s end with the most unfair question of all: If you had to choose one Greubel Forsey to have for your very own, which one and why?

MC: I had access to every single Greubel Forsey timepiece during my research. But, I have to say I remain most impressed with the Greubel Forsey Tourbillion 24-Seconds Architecture from 2022.
 

It just really embodies the makers’ architectural vision. I am an urban person, and if I wore this timepiece, I could walk around my city with a miniature “working” cityscape on my wrist. I love the idea of “walking your way” through a movement.

I have always been a big fan of Superman comics, and in one, the Man of Steel recovered the miniaturized City of Kandor, which was saved before the destruction of his home planet, Krypton.
 

He kept it safely under glass in his Fortress of Solitude. The Tourbillon 24-Seconds Architecture would be my version of that, but, oh, I would definitely take it out and wear it!

By the time you read this, you should be able to pre-order the book from the publisher, Thames & Hudson, but Amazon is already taking pre-order requests for $134.50.