Last month, Laurent Ferrier and his team welcomed friends, collectors and journalists to the Montres Prestige boutique for a special evening on the theme of Geneva, the cradle of Swiss watchmaking. For the occasion, Monsieur Ferrier invited noted winemaker and oenologist Nicolas Bonnet to present a selection of wines from the Cave de Genève, the canton’s biggest wine producer. Both men share a passion for their chosen field, and are enthusiastic promoters of Geneva both within Switzerland and abroad. As a contribution to the cause, Laurent Ferrier has created two pieces with exceptional dials representing typical Geneva scenes. Today we will be looking at one of them, the mysteriously named Galet Secret Genève.
The Galet Secret is highly customisable, lending itself admirably to the decorative arts, and as such is prized by discerning collectors. At first glance the Galet Secret looks just like a classic watch. But it includes an ingenious mechanism that, at specific times of the day, opens and closes two opaque sapphire crystals like a fan. The mechanism can also be triggered on demand: by pressing a button on the crown, the two sections pivot away instantly, revealing the stunning scene behind.
The Galet Secret Genève is enclosed in a solid white gold case. The upper opaque black dial opens onto a second “secret” dial, featuring a painted mother-of-pearl scene depicting the paddle steamer “La Suisse”, which is well known to residents of Geneva, with the iconic Water Jet in the background. The white gold boat is applied to the painted mother-of-pearl lake scene, set amid waves engraved in sapphire. The case band is also engraved with a wave design on both sides, at 3 and 9 o’clock. The streamlined, minimalist 42 mm case has the typical “pebble” shape of 19th century pocket watches, which is where Laurent Ferrier drew his inspiration.
The Galet Secret Genève is fitted with the famous double balance spring tourbillon developed and made in the Laurent Ferrier workshops. The double balance spring, combined with the tourbillon, compensates for the effects of gravity, ensuring a high level of accuracy. The discreetly elegant tourbillon cage is visible through the sapphire case back. The manually wound movement is decorated in accordance with the finest watchmaking traditions, with meticulously finished mainplate and bridges, and no fewer than 30 hand-chamfered internal angles.
