End of August Greubel Forsey launched an exceptionally intuitive perpetual calendar, the QP Balancier. The timepiece unites 12 functions and indications managed by a single crown, with no additional pushers.
Calendars are fairly common in watches. For most of them, manual adjustment is required at the end of the month or annually. Perpetual calendars on the other hand, can track day of the week, date of the month while taking month lengths into account (months with 28, 29, 30 or 31 days), leap years, and moon phases without human intervention – they only require correction in 2100, 2200 and 2300. Interestingly, these are not leap years according to our Gregorian calendar, given that they cannot be divided by 400 – 2400 is a leap year.
Please see more about this complication here.
As you can guess, this prestigious complication is one of the most complex, therefore it can result in fragile mechanisms. In 2015, Greubel Forsey released the Quantième Perpétuel à Équation, which combines this complex function with elegant simplicity. It has the Mechanical Computer the seventh Fundamental Invention of Greubel Forsey, a system of 25 parts that ‘knows’ the Gregorian calendar rules, ensuring perfect synchronisation of every display. A bit more details about it here.
The novelty of this year, the QP Balancier unites 12 indications (hours, minutes, seconds, power reserve, day, date, month, leap year, day/night, 24-hour display, calendar year, and the patented function selector) and operates them by a single crown for effortless time and calendar setting. It turns freely in both directions at any time of day, corrects instantly even after months unwound, and locks safely during the vulnerable midnight changeover, with a visible red zone for extra security. Programmed correctly until February 28, 2100.
The timepiece has a multi-level gold dial in anthracite colour and a 45.1 mm white gold case, just 14.75 mm high – which is outstanding if we consider the 612 components’ movement. It houses the 12.6 mm balance wheel inclined at 30°.
Greubel Forsey QP Balancier is limited to 22 timepieces in white gold.
Photo credits: Loupiosity.com
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