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Watchmaker, Stephen Forsey, joint founder of the brand, Greubel Forsey, shares how endangered techniques from his two most beloved industries can be saved for the benefit of future generations.

By Dr Shamim Quadir (Senior Communications Officer), Published

On Wednesday 27 November, the School of Science & Technology welcomed Stephen Forsey to deliver its annual George Daniels Lecture at City St George’s, University of London.

Greubel Forsey

In 2004, Stephen and his colleague and fellow horologist (watchmaker), Robert Greubel, jointly founded the brand, Greubel Forsey, which specialises in the design and manufacture of complicated, high-end, mechanical watches that are usually, but not exclusively, based on the ‘tourbillon’ mechanism and include other technologies aimed at improving the accuracy of the timepiece.  

In mechanical watches, the 'escapement 'and 'balance wheel' are important elements of the device that play big roles in its accuracy.  The tourbillion mechanism, originally developed by Prussian horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), houses these elements in a rotating cage aimed at reducing errors of poise (of equilibrium) of these elements, making the timepiece more accurate.

Greubel Forsey is also reputed for its high level of hand finishing, with the company making approximately 100 watches per year.

Dr George Daniels CBE

Stephen’s lecture was introduced by Kenneth Grattan (OBE FREng), George Daniels Professor of Scientific Instrumentation at the School.

Professor Grattan first spoke in brief about the extraordinary life of British Master horologist, Dr George Daniels CBE (1926-2011) . Daniels, an alumnus of the Northampton Institute, City St George’s predecessor institution, is in whose honour the George Daniels Lectures have been held since 2013.  

He drew the uncanny parallels between both Stephen’s and George Daniels’ interests in things mechanical, being not solely confined to their expertise and artistry in watchmaking, but also for their love of vintage automobiles.

He also reminded how Stephen, alongside Robert Greubel and others, created the Time Aeon Foundation (in 2005) to safeguard and transmit traditional watchmaking skills, which they had seen endangered by other developments in watchmaking technologies and consumer trends.

Dying industries of the mechanised generation?

In his lecture, ‘Watches and cars: The Perils of Progress’, Stephen shared how endangered craft techniques from his two most beloved industries can be saved for the benefit of future generations, and provided a background to how these techniques under threat.

He took his audience on a journey that began back in the 1950s, when the horology industry (and the world) was in full pursuit of ever higher precision in the measurement of time, and being made available to more and more people.

While historical innovations included miniaturisation of mechanical timepieces down to clock size, it was in 1957 that the world saw the first electric wristwatch, which was battery powered and did away with the need to wind ones wristwatch.  

However, it was not until 1967 that the prototype of the first electric wristwatch with a ‘quartz crystal oscillator’ appeared, and was a technology that as Stephen puts it was:

taking over precision that way, providing perhaps ten times more precision than in a mechanical watch.  So led to the first production quartz watches that led to something of a revolution in how we relied on time on a day to day basis.  The first of these were analogue, so still a certain amount of mechanical elements, but soon were to be digital displays, no moving parts.

With these accurate digital watches, and the automated processes behind production coming along very fast, shockwaves were sent across the world of mechanical horology.

Many traditional watch making factories closed, with a sudden loss of watchmaking companies around the world.

Craft skills at risk

In Switzerland, at the peak of the crisis, of its then 6.5 million people, one percent were out of work because of it, and as often family trades, workers translated their skills to other local industries to survive.

Craft skills put at risk included turning, pivoting, gear cutting, case making, dial making – all heavily impacted due to the sudden loss of mechanisation in the watchmaking industry.

However, Stephen shared how despite this, a few, like Master horologist, Dan Parkes, from his workshop in Clerkenwell, kept the art of mechanical watchmaking alive. He continued that by the mid 1980s there was hope that the industry might be undergoing a tentative revival – with some watchmakers being able to encourage the public to buy whole collections and buy for the design of the timepiece, and a passion for the revival of art, craft and creativity.

An example he shared was from 1985 – the IWC Perpetual Calendar Wristwatch – having a fuller calendar than the world had seen before, and then the year of 1992 seeing the creation of the smallest mechanical watch with a ‘minute repeater’ - a type of watch complication that audibly chimes the time on demand.

In 1999 Stephen and Robert Greubel revisited the tourbillion mechanism and what might be achieved with it, asking whether it was still pertinent to the function of a mechanical wristwatch.  Through their research they developed the tourbillion 30° degree mechanism, with Forsey stating:

It gave us the opportunity to demonstrate that a mechanical watch can deliver a performance independently measured between 0.3 and 0.8 seconds a day over independent testing over 45 days, three different chronometer type tests, heat exposure, magnetic fields and shocks. So we were really coming into the 20th century with research and development.

Soon independent watchmakers began trying to make a mark and come forward with new designs, including ‘steampunk’ interpretations, and by the turn of the millennium and the internet, collectors were able to share their ideas, and passion on internet forums and build a wider, proverbial ‘buzz’ around the art of mechanical watchmaking.

The automative industry seeing a comparable loss of skills

Stephen then drew comparisons between the challenges the horology industry has faced, with changes in manufacturing in the automative industry.

He shared how with the growth of the automative industry since the 20th century, and the introduction of many new materialssuch as plastics, a number of craft skills associated with historic cars have been threatened, and lost from technical education. These include panel beating, coach building with aluminium skills, machining skills. Stephen said:

If we don’t have those foundation skills we won’t have an opportunity take them forward, so its really important to maintain those skills and create platforms to take them further.

One initiative Stephen, and the Time Aeon Foundation, have taken to revive interest in these skills was to take a historic car from 1928 and get it running on synthesized fuel taken with carbon capture – just to show that these older vehicle designs still have merit, and can be developed with the future in mind.

He concluded his lecture by describing how initiatives like the Heritage skills academy in the UK, are taking further steps to protect historic car making skills and must be supported.

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