With just a few days to go until the GPHG 2014 awards ceremony, I thought I’d share my take on one of the contestants for the Tourbillon category, the Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon by independent Dutch watchmakers Bart and Tim Grönefeld.
At first sight, the Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon may appear as just another tourbillon watch with an offset hours and minutes dial and an opening on the dial revealing the escapement. But there’s so much more here than meets the eye.
The Grönefeld Parallax tourbillon features a “flying” tourbillon with a large central seconds hand, stop seconds, power reserve indicator and a winding/setting function indicator. But really, it’s all in the little details.
The gorgeous multi-layer dial is made from solid 925 sterling silver, with a beautiful frosted surface texture that has a subdued sparkle to it; changing from silvery white to light grey depending on the lighting. There’s something about the dial’s recesses, applied metal indexes and rings and floating seconds track that gives it tremendous depth; much more so than you’d expect from a seemingly classical watch. The hands are done in vibrant flame-blued steel.
The one-armed balance-wheel bridge runs smoothly in parallel to the ticking central seconds hand, so you basically have a small seconds hand and large dead-beat seconds hand running. Seeing it working in person is nothing short of spectacular.
Wondering what the hand below the dial with “S” and “W” indicates? Well, the Parallax Tourbillon features a pretty clever winding system, where the crown doesn’t have to be pulled out to set the time. Instead, one simply pushed the crown to toggle between setting and winding functions. So typically when worn, you’d leave the crown at the “W” winding position. When the crown is pushed to the time setting position, the central seconds hand and tourbillon cage-bridge continue to the 12 o’clock position then stop or “hack” until the crown is pushed back to the winding position.
One of the trademarks of the Grönefeld brothers is their use of steel bridges on pretty much all their watches. Compared to more pedestrian brass components, steel takes up to four times longer to polish and finish, and of course produces a more balances heft to the entire watch. The bridges are absolutely breathtaking, with perfectly beveled and polished edges. The recessed and grained texture of these bridges lends the movement a very opulent look that the majority of mainstream brands just can’t duplicate.
Overall the Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon is a piece that’s relatively restrained for all that’s going on. From design to execution, the Dutch Grönefeld brothers have really outdone themselves here.
The Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon will be produced in 28 examples in rose gold and 12 pieces in steel, with a price tag of 137’450 EUR for the rose gold version and 134’250 EUR for the steel version.
More information on www.gronefeld.com
Don’t forget to cast your vote for the GPHG 2014 “Public Prize” HERE and enter the draw to win a Girard Perregaux watch!
