Greubel Forsey is celebrating its 20th anniversary with the new Nano Foudroyante EWT! The first chronograph that the company has ever made, Greubel Forsey has – as usual – spared no expense on timekeeping superiority.
When watchmakers Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey came together for the first time in 1992, little did the watch world know that they were soon in for the ride of their lives. Founded in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2004, the titular brand is the epitome of horological superiority. Just two decades into the game has seen the independent brand ascend to the very top of haute horlogerie, effectively landing them in 50th place in Morgan Stanley’s highest-grossing watch brands of 2023.
That might not sound like a high spot at first, but their creativity and engineering prowess saw them sell just 255 watches, totalling CHF 50 million for the entire year. That’s an average transaction value of CHF 196,078! By contrast, Bell & Ross in 49th sold 13,600 watches to get to the same point, averaging CHF 3,676 per watch. Never content to rest on their laurels, however, Greubel Forsey has opted to celebrate this momentous 20th birthday with the introduction of their 10th ‘Fundamental Invention,’ by way of the new Nano Foudroyante EWT. This is the first chronograph watch – and the first flying tourbillon – ever made by the brand, but by no means is it easy to comprehend at first glance, even if you have read our article on Chronograph watches.
That won’t stop me from trying, though! The Greubel Forsey Nano Foudroyante EWT contains a highly complex and rare complication in the watchmaking industry: a seconde foudroyante, or ‘lightning seconds.’ For most mechanical watches, the second hand appears to move smoothly, but it actually jumps in fractional increments, commonly called ‘beats,’ to enhance overall time-telling precision. In this case, the Nano Foudroyante EWT runs at 6 beats per second, which is around 21,600VpH (Vibrations per Hour/Beats per Hour) or 3Hz. This means that it can tell time accurately to one-sixth of a second.
The seconde foudroyante is a visual representation of such, mounted atop the Nano Foudroyante EWT’s flying tourbillon. Simply explained, a seconde foudroyante complication displays each sixth of a second as it occurs, allowing for an incredibly precise reading of time. With the chronograph being the Nano Foudroyante EWT’s primary complication, the seconde foudroyante in theory permits the most accurate reading of elapsed time.
Related Reading: The Art Of Complications – The Tourbillon
The downside to a seconde foudroyante is that it consumes a ton of juice to operate. Even traditional chronographs with monstrous power reserves like TAG Heuer’s TH20-00 movement falter at the sight of one. If you’re Jaeger-LeCoultre, then the most practical solution would be to use a completely separate barrel to operate the complication, as per the Duometre system present in, for example, this JLC Duometre Heliotourbillon Perpetual released at Watches and Wonders 2024. However, Greubel Forsey’s MO isn’t in maximisation, but in minimisation. Ever the specialists in nanomechanics, their engineers discovered a method of reducing the seconde foudroyante’s impact on the power reserve.
Where a traditional seconde foudroyante consumes 30μJ (microjoules) per beat, the Nano Foudroyante EWT’s mechanism has reduced it to a mere 16 nJ (nanojoules) per beat – requiring 1,800 times less energy than the original. In layman’s terms, imagine if a Dodge Hellcat SRT, which averages 3–4 miles per gallon at full acceleration (199mph/320kph), was modified to maintain 3,600mpg whilst sacrificing absolutely nothing. That’s 38 times more than the Toyota Prius’ world record-breaking 95mpg!
It’s for this reason that, instead of keeping it synced with the monopusher flyback chronograph, Greubel Forsey has elected to keep the Nano Foudroyante EWT running perpetually with the tourbillon. Yes, it still eats into the power reserve – only lasting 24 hours on a full wind – but it serves more as a proof of concept than anything. It just goes to show that, despite how anachronistic mechanical watchmaking may be, there are still rules to be made, and many more yet to be broken!
As always, though, the mechanics are only half of the story, and Greubel Forsey’s design chops shine through despite the Nano Foudroyante EWT’s simplistic layout. Standing at a scant 37.9mm with a 10.49mm thickness, this timepiece comprises a centre case of 18k white gold sandwiched between a tantalum bezel and case back. The dial is textured white gold, with the seconde foudroyante affixed to the flying tourbillon at 5:30. The watch also consists of a small seconds counter at 7:30 and a 60-minute register at 9 o’clock. Finally, the chronograph function is operated by the 2 o’clock monopusher, with the flyback system built into the crown itself.
Initial Thoughts
I knew that unpacking this watch would mean that I would go onto some serious technobabble, but the Greubel Forsey Nano Foudroyante EWT deserves it. In fact, all watches from Greubel Forsey deserve this treatment, as they are all examples of micro (and in this case, nano) mechanical engineering done to the highest degree.
I have said ad nauseam that we still have plenty more to learn in the realms of mechanical watchmaking, and the Nano Foudroyante EWT is absolutely no exception. To integrate such a rare and complex mechanism into a wristwatch is a challenge in of itself; To make a dramatically improved version, whilst maintaining a modest set of dimensions, seems damn near impossible. But of course, if you’re either Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey, or any of the incredible engineers and craftsmen under their employ, the impossible is accomplished on a daily basis. That’s how it’s been at Greubel Forsey over the last 20 years, and that’s surely how it will remain for the next 20.
Reference: Nano Foudroyante EWT
Specifications:
- Dimensions: 37.9mm case diameter x 10.49mm thickness
- Case Material: Tantalum & 18k white gold
- Dial: Textured white gold
- Movement: Manual wind Greubel Forsey 10th Fundamental Invention with flyback chronograph, tourbillon, & seconde foudroyante
- Power Reserve: 24h
- Water Resistance: 30m (3bar)
- Strap: Non-animal material strap with white gold pin buckle
