ANNOUNCEMENT: The Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon Has Been Preselected For GPHG's “Tourbillon” Category
If you think back to Baselworld of 2014, you may remember my assessment of this super-cool, avant-garde creation by the Dutch manufacture, Grönefeld. Today, we are only a month away from the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève and the jury has nominated the Grönefeld Parallax Tourbillon as one of six tourbillons to be eligible for the grand prize.
The Parallax Tourbillon features a tourbillon in which the cage's bridge is synchronized with the large central seconds hand. The hacking mechanism ensures that the two are always aligned by resetting them both to their appropriate 12:00 positions while the time is being set. Additionally, the watch features a power reserve of 72 hours. The far bottom right corner of the dial holds a winding-setting mode indicator--something quite possibly unique to this watch. The dial is solid silver with a "frosted finish" and diamond-cut bevels; the crystal is sapphire with an anti-reflective coating.
The steel 43 millimeter case really makes this watch unusual, bearing in mind that tourbillons are almost always cased in precious metals. Something even more unexpected: A steel movement. Yep, it's true. The caliber G-03's movement is, aside from the gold chansons securing the jewels, entirely hand-polished stainless steel, as is the tourbillon cage.
There is also a rose gold version of this watch with the exact specifications as the steel; only, the rose gold is limited to 28 pieces versus the steel's limited edition of eight pieces. The sum of components assembled within the movement is precisely 278--now that's something. In rose gold, the watch will sell for 177,086 USD (137,000 EURO) and for 173,183 USD (134,000 EURO) in steel. For further information, please visit: www.gronefeld.com. For updates regarding GPHG, visit: http://www.gphg.org.