Laurent Ferrier's amazing Galet Micro Rotor

Laurent Ferrier is a very small firm based in Geneva. They practically burst into the scene with a ultra classical watch featuring a tourbillon and immaculate finishing in 2010. That was the Galet Tourbillon. They added a peek-a-boo style dial to the Galet in 2011. And this year, they introduced the Micro Rotor - a completely new caliber automatic movement in a classical case and dial. Impressive for a young company.

I have covered Laurent Ferrier several times before in this blog. I believe their immense success is due to Laurent himself seeing a nice niche within the independent manufacturers for a beautifully finished, classical watch. Philippe Dufour was perhaps the sole occupant in this class, but one is not able to order a watch from Philippe.

But with Laurent Ferrier, that niche is filled. The fit and finish of the watches and movements are exceptional. They retain the services of a full time anglage technician watchmaker, whose job is just to do the beautiful anglage found within the movements. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me introduce what's new for 2012: And of course, the new Micro Rotor. Click on the image below for a wall paper sized image measuring 1920 pixels across.

Perfect proportions. Measuring 40mm case diameter with a height of 10.7mm, the watch looks beautiful, elegant and discrete. Almost like the original Galet Tourbillon, except that the hour markers are totally roman, instead of a mix of roman and bar markers for the more expensive tourbillon equipped model.

The movement is pure Laurent Ferrier:

The bridge layout is beautiful and very classical. I particularly like the steel cock holding the balance wheel and the bridge holding the micro-rotor. With a height of 10.7mm, there is sufficient volume within the movement to create a sense of 3D of the movement which is such a joy to view.

I also note the success of having a specialized anglage person doing the anglage work, which is radiant and magnificent. The bridges are finished with Côtes de Genève, mainplate with perlage, and all the sides of the bridges and wheel spokes are anglaged, including the interior angles of the balance cock and the micro-rotor itself. Even the screw heads are polished. The movement is not only good to look at but the balance features a detent style chronometer escapement. Laurent Ferrier calls this their Double Direct Impulse system. Another look at the movement...it says it all:

Truth be told, this is one of the few watches this SIHH which made me want to pull the trigger and order the watch for myself. I do like some of the other pieces being shown at the show, but those I liked were those I cannot afford (Lange 1 Tourbillon Perpetual Calendar, JLC Spherotourbillon, Parmigiani Pershing Open Work Tourbillon and the Toric Westminister and Debethune DB25T are examples), or which I already own (Lange Datograph Auf/Ab). The Galet Micro Rotor comes in an interesting price (read affordable) and looks and finish which tug at my heart strings.

Finally, to complete the collection, this year being the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese calendar, so a new dial, featuring enamel work and a peek dial to show the dragon was introduced.


I can see how some people would like this style of watch, but certainly not my cup of tea. The Micro Rotor...well, certainly is!

SIHH 2012: Jaeger LeCoultre's offerings

2012 might be the year of the re-issue. For JLC, the strategy is not different. They reissued and revised the Master Control series with aplomb. And reissued some Reversos...but do note that JLC might perhaps be seen as leading this trend, having started the 1931 Reverso re-edition in SIHH 2011.

However, in addition to the reissues, JLC has a trick up their sleeve...the Speherotourbillon - a beauty and a masterpiece.

But let's start the with the beautiful, and proceed to the great.

The re-editions to the Master Control line are the Master control in larger 39mm case, the Ultra Thin Reserve de Marche, and the Ultra Thin Tourbillon. The new Master Control is shown amongst the roses above and the Ultra Thin RDM below, now in a case only 8.89mm high.

Also, some newly re-worked Reversos.

I have always been interested and fascinated with the Reversos. Last year's 1931 reissue was marvellous. The return to elegance. Clean, nice art deco style. JLC resisted the temptation to make larger and larger watches, and the Reverso, now sporting the word "Reverso" on the dial, remains the petite beauty it once was. Inspired me to create this stylized, sepia toned image below, reminiscent of the heyday of style:

A new rose gold Master Grande Tradition Minute Repeater is now also available. I was fascinated with this watch, originally released in 2011 in platinum when Jerome Lambert, CEO of JLC introduced during a lunch in Singapore.

In a restaurant, he joked that many makers lend on volume by placing their repeaters on a piece of paper or glass. But not JLC. He held the watch in the air, and released the repeater. Crystal clear strikes almost filled the room...remember this was in a restaurant, albeit in a private room, but it was far from quiet. Amazing.

Finish is quite good, with almost the entire striking mechanism viewable through the skeletonized glass dial.

But this year, available in rose gold. For me, this makes it more visually romantic...which I think is coherent with the complication of a repeater.

A new Duometer Quantieme Lunaire is also released. .

The C 381 movement sports a dual gear train movement (like the other Duometers). One train is now equipped with a calendar moonphase, and the other gear train to power the foudroyante seconds hand. I liked the juxtaposition of a calendar movement which the day of the month hand moving one revolution in one month, and a foudroyante hand which whizzs around one revolution every second.

On my wrist the 40.5mm rose gold case looks perfect:


And finally the piece de resistance...the Spherotourbillon:

JLC was one of the early pioneers of the multi axis tourbillon. Eric Coudray, then working for JLC created the Gyrotourbillon way back in 2004. And JLC has kept improving the Gyrotourbillon ever since. I wrote and photographed the last of the series...the Rose Gold Gyrotourbillon a while ago.

The Spherotourbillon is a little less complicated than the original Gyrotourbillon as it does not have a perpetual calendar and equation of time complication, but has a special zero reset function for the seconds hand, like the flyback function on some chronographs. This allows the user to reset the seconds hand to zero and wait for the time signal to release to allow for precise time-setting. This is perhaps the first tourbillon to do so. Lange tourbillons after the Cabaret Tourbillon feature the hack mechanism, where the tourbillon cage and as a result the balance is stopped for time setting. The Spherotourbillon zero reset, activated by a button at 10 o'clock does not stop the tourbillon(s), but merely reset the seconds hand which is driven by the second gear train...this being a Duometer the C.382 movement is equipped with dual gear trains.

Also, the tourbillon is now not a gyro, which will inscribe the entire sphere over time, but a conical one. One tourbillon, spinning at a rate of 30s per revolution is inclined at 20 degrees. Within this outer cage is another tourbillon.

I find the tourbillon, now equipped with a cylindrical hairspring (like the Gyro2) made by Lange in Glashutte, to be mesmerising. Reminds me of what Greubel Forsey is doing with their Incline 24 Double Tourbillon, except the outer tourbillon in the JLC is flying and sans bridge to support the upper, dial side.

The dial is very beautiful, and a much more accomplished design and finish than the rather garage look and feel of the original Gyrotourbillon.

The movement finish is also gorgeous. Click on the 2 images below to bring up the 1920 wide wallpaper.

I particularly like the bridge layout...magnificent, and aestetically pleasing. The treatment of the bridges like a sunburst is also visually arresting. And I love the wolf's teeth used in the double barrels. Old world artisanal charm.

Here are some closeups of the spherotourbillon, going through its throngs...much like a wobbling top, but precise, and mesmerising.

A video of this amazing spherotourbillon is in the works...and will be released soon.