Yes, Rolex is set to release their 2023 models, and everyone’s talking about it, placing frenzied wagers on what exactly the world’s largest and best known watch brand will add to their lineup. But I’ve blathered about Rolex quite a bit of late (when I’ve had time to sit down and pontificate about watches, at any rate), and I don’t want to talk about that….yet, at least. Today, my mind is on the concept of the Stealth Heavy Hitter luxury watch. When I say “heavy hitter watch”, I mean the sort of sybaritic leviathan that could cover the mortgage of at least a modest home, or maybe a not so modest one, depending on the zip code. Often, the heavy hitter is also a super-hyped timepiece, often chosen by A-list celebrities and the like, so often when collectors talk about high echelon watches like this, they mean a limited edition ceramic AP Royal Oak perpetual calendar, maybe a baguette diamond-set Patek Philippe complication, or, since we’re skirting around the crown for today, a platinum Day-Date with Arabic language calendar and time indications, or the always approval-lapping “Platona” Daytona Cosmograph, resplendent in its platinum garb with glittering baguettes marking the time in sinfully lush style upon the “You know what THIS is” glacier blue background. And let’s not even get into Richard Mille, which in just about any model, to say the most extravagant ones, defines a Mike Tyson level of wealth punch that will leave any viewer reeling with envy or scorn, depending on their inclinations. The Stealth Heavy Hitter, on the other hand, avoids all of this, and indeed, would seldom–if ever–be recognized by anyone, despite being exceedingly special and very, very costly.
Laurent Ferrier is a practitioner of this welcome philosophy, and I’ve noted my love for this independent brand before. With his background as a complication specialist at Patek Philippe, Monsieur Ferrier understands better than most what exceptional Genevan watchmaking is all about, just like another former Patek Philippe superstar watchmaker did when he introduced his first models back in the early 2000s, and was free from the constraints of his financial backer Carlos Diaz, or later, the mighty Richemont Group. I’m of course referring to the late, lamented Roger Dubuis. Those first generation Dubuis pieces were uniquely inspired, beautifully detailed, and have become highly sought after because of that. In the modern time, Laurent Ferrier now carries a similarly visionary haute horlogerie banner highly, albeit with his own, entirely different blend of daring and classicism. Each Laurent Ferrier piece in the current range has its own charm, but as with many of the top horologists, the sports watch segment can’t be ignored. With that, we enter the Laurent Ferrier Grand Sport Tourbillon Pursuit, a salmon-dialed sporty beauty with 100 meters of water resistance, and an exquisitely adjusted marvel of an escapement beating within it, showing off the genius of Abraham-Louis Breguet’s most famous invention. We’ve seen the model before, but this is its first debut in titanium, a material well known and appreciated across all sectors of the luxury watch landscape, but particularly the sports genre, where its strength and feathery light weight is most beneficial.
The first thing that strikes me about the Laurent Ferrier Tourbillon Grand Sport in any of its iterations, is how you can’t see the tourbillon when the watch is face up. Madness you say. Isn’t that the point, to show off this intricate little piece of famous early-19th century micromechanical mastery? Well, not really. Breguet pocket watches never did. Nor did the original Girard-Perregaux masterpieces, their modern wristwatch iterations of the breed notwithstanding. And neither did–or does to this day—Patek Philippe, who apparently schooled Laurent Ferrier well in the concept of supreme discretion. Some might say this concealment is embraced so that the finely lubricated and adjusted tourbillon escapement is not exposed to heat and light that might cause oils to evaporate sooner than would be the case were it not hidden away, but I think it’s more so because it’s just an incredibly classy way to protect the image of this highly refined heart, which before the prestige it granted to buyers, originally served a chronometric purpose. Looking at the dial of the Grand Sport Tourbillon Pursuit, it just appears as a simple three-handed watch with a beautiful yet restrained dial color and Laurent Ferrier signature spear-shaped luminous hands in polished gold. To any passerby on the street, it’s just an attractive but very non-bling, matte silver colored wristwatch. But then, in a moment of privacy and quiet, you take the Grand Sport’s light mass into your hand–courtesy of the large, yet deliciously smooth 44mm titanium case and strongly purposeful integrated bracelet–and turn it over. Now, at last, you can finally perceive and rejoice in what the fuss, and lofty 175,000 (CHF) price tag, is all about.
It is the sort of creation that demarcates the highest level of watchmaking from anything lesser. Caliber LF619.01 is an invitation to appreciate uncompromising mechanical and craft excellence, purely and simply so. Note the delicate yet perfect hand applied bevels on every bridge, which incidentally, are nicely separated in a classic yet unusual pattern to show off the gear train, joined to their pivot jewels which sit securely in deeply angled and polished countersinks. Appreciate the mirror polished screws and equally specular-polished, highly refined click spring that moves with exacting precision as you turn the winding crown to charge the manually-wound caliber’s large spring barrel with 80 hours of autonomy. Not to leave anything extraordinary undone, sharp interior angles abound and await discovery with a jewelers loupe. And, of course, there is the animated star of the show, the magnificent tourbillon with its intricately detailed black-polished steel bridge, large jewel with golden chaton and intricate balance assembly, pulsing at a satisfyingly slow 21,600 beats per hour, the cage spinning the entire assembly steadily around at a rate of one revolution per minute, the classic and most commonly encountered one. Less traditional, but a well-considered boost to real performance, is a special system of two balance springs designed to improve rate stability in day-to-day use. Getting back to the delightful aesthetics of the LF619.01, bridges are given a dark ruthenium finish, which, while less immediately showy than Cotes de Geneve, brilliantly highlight the immaculate specular polish of the various steel components, and leave the visual virtuosity to the ravishing tourbillon assembly. On that aspect in particular, this movement greatly reminds me of the understated, yet sublimely lovely Patek Philippe observatory tourbillon movements of the 1930s through 1950s, which under the adjustment of master regleurs de precision like Bornand and Zibach, earned Patek Philippe numerous awards for exceptional precision at Observatory competitions. As with the one in this watch, these very special movements–despite their superlative beauty, to say nothing of constructive quality and painstaking adjustment–were purpose built, and only destined to be seen by the eyes of a few. Those eyes, however, belonged to the world’s most discerning judges, and these movements reflected the knowledge these elites were expected to possess.
And that’s much like how the aesthetic concept of this one is, so it’s decidedly appropriate that Laurent Ferrier has taken the extra step to ensure that each of these movements aren’t just pretty, but certified as precision chronometers by the Observatory in Besançon. The finest tourbillons, after all, shouldn’t just be a crass, high horology fidget spinner, but an object of timekeeping excellence, if not so much because such a thing is needed in a mechanical wristwatch, but rather because something so painstaking to assemble and adjust should in fact, reflect the pride of the watchmaker(s) who created and assembled it. And that, my friends, is the definition of a Stealth Heavy Hitter Luxury Watch. No need to show anything off, this is a creation for the buyer, to be enjoyed solely by the buyer…and maybe, just maybe a few close friends with a shared delightful madness for the eccentric (and expensive!) world of highest horology.
