Laurent Ferrier Galet Secret Tourbillon Double Spiral

Laurent Ferrier has become a well-known name in watchmaking and this happened very fast. His first watch, the Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spiral, won a prestigious price and now he already presents his second timepiece.

Laurent Ferrier’s first timepiece, the Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spiral, looks like an instant classic. The jury of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie Genève probably thought the same and awarded it best men’s watch. Shortly after this impressive start Laurent Ferrier presents another beautiful timepiece, the Galet Secret Tourbillon Double Spiral.

I had the pleasure of meeting Laurent Ferrier and Olivier Müller during the Geneva Time Exhibition (GTE), which took place during the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. They showed me the award winning Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spiral and the new Galet Secret Tourbillon Double Spiral.

Inside ticks caliber Tourbillon Double Spiral FBN 916.02 manual winding mechanical movement with a 80 hours power reserve. This caliber is, like caliber FBN 916.01 of the Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spiral, fitted with an escapement featuring two inversed balance springs to average out the negative influence of earth gravity by keeping the balance center on its axis.

With the dial closed it looks like a ‘normal’ watch (of course I mean: a normal but very, very beautiful watch).

The Galet Secret has a dial that can open to reveal its secret… a personal miniature paining. The 240° dial opening is made possible by by two opaque color sapphire crystals that swivel on a pivot. Simply pressing the push-button on the crown immediately transforms the dial into a unique piece of art.

Besides this ‘on demand’ opening of the dial, the Galet Secret has another possibility to reveal its secret dial. The owner can personally define a precise time to open and close the dial. The programmed opening of the dial is put in motion by a minuscule cam, with a unique individual profile. It enables the movement to switch over the display within one hour.

A miniature painting like this is incredibly difficult and a seemingly insignificant error in heating or cooling (of the enamel dial) may cause discoloration, cracking, or bubbling and the entire art piece is ruined. In a second, countless hours of minutely detailed work can be destroyed.

Not more than 2 or 3 of the Galet Secret Tourbillon will be made every year and in total it will be limited to only 20 pieces. Price will be around 270,000 CHF (excl. taxes) but the actual price depends on the conception of the hand painted enamel dial.

The movement is hand wound and offers 80 hours of power reserve, which is around 3 days running time without winding. Laurent Ferrier’s choice of being subtle and discreet, is illustrated by the secret enamel dial and the beautiful movement with tourbillon which is only visible through the sapphire case back.

Information about the Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spiral and Galet Secret Tourbillon Double Spiral can be obtain through the Laurent Ferrier website.