The Galet Micro-Rotor is pure roundness, like a pebble polished smooth by the river’s flow.
Laurent Ferrier. Laurent Ferrier. Laurent Ferrier. Laurent Ferrier. Laurent Ferrier. Laurent Ferrier
Classic Micro‑Rotor. Classic Micro‑Rotor. Classic Micro‑Rotor. Classic Micro‑Rotor. Classic Micro‑Rotor
Launch Year
2012
Functions
hours, minutes, small seconds
Movement
FNB 229.01
Distinctive features
: pure design, complex movement
Laurent Ferrier is a rare beast among independents, having succeeded in capturing collectors’ attention and accolades with his very first watch. Hardly surprising, one could say, knowing that he spent 37 years with Patek Philippe, rising to the head of the product development department. These decades of experience would go on to inform the watches he makes under the Laurent Ferrier brand, which he created in 2009 at the age of 63. Refined, almost minimalist, their deceptively simple appearance conceals complex movements that are replete with ingenious technical solutions, including for time-only models. Designs are subtle, with the discreet elegance that comes only when every detail has been carefully weighed and nuanced. Movements bear the stamp of Laurent’s son Christian Ferrier, formerly at Roger Dubuis, and Michel Navas (La Fabrique du Temps). Released in 2010, the Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Spiral was immediately crowned with the Men’s Watch prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. An auspicious beginning.
Laurent Ferrier and his son Christian ©Laurent Ferrier
This first taste was followed in 2012 by the Galet Micro-Rotor, renamed the Classic in later collections. Like a pebble polished smooth by the river’s flow, it is pure roundness, from the “boule” crown to the short lugs, from the convex case to the domed bezel, harking back to nineteenth-century pocket watches. The restrained dial carries long baton markers, a subtle minute track, assegai hands (Laurent Ferrier is one of the few who still makes them) and an elegant subsidiary seconds at 6 o’clock. Turning the watch over reveals an equally finely executed but infinitely more complex picture. Calibre FNB 229.01 is wound by a micro-rotor, which has the advantage of reducing thickness to 4.35mm but implies less winding efficiency. The brand’s movement developers overcame this by using a double direct-impulse escapement. Based on Breguet’s natural escapement, its two escape wheels are in a nickel phosphorus alloy while the lever is in silicon. This optimised escapement is completed by unidirectional pawl winding. The micro-rotor, which is held in place by two pivot jewels, is mounted on a silent block shock-absorbing system. Together, these innovations provide Calibre FNB 229.01 with 80 hours of power reserve from a single barrel and precision certified by Besançon Observatory.
As for finishing, there are no shortcuts, no easy options. Anglage is by hand, creating broad, rounded chamfers; screw heads are black polished; bridges are textured with Côtes de Genève; plates receive a perlage decoration; the micro-rotor bridge is polished… everything about the Galet Micro-Rotor is steeped in the grand watchmaking tradition but with the benefit of contemporary technique. In different dial colours, cased in platinum, steel or gold, it has never departed from its air of age-old modernity.
Key Characteristics
- Laurent Ferrier’s second watch, presented in 2012
- An elegant, smooth design
- Technically complex, hours-minutes-small seconds movement
