It is difficult not to be impressed by the movement inside of the Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Balance Spring. The more I type that name the more I prefer the softer sounding “Double Spiral Tourbillon.” Anyhow, using a traditional style with a lot of hand-decoration and finishing, the manually wound mechanical movement is a thing of purist beauty. It is called the caliber LF619.01, and it displays only the time with subsidiary seconds dial. As I’ve mentioned, in addition to this tourbillon movement, Laurent Ferrier has a few others, namely the micro-rotor automatic, the Galet Secret (with an opening and closing section of the dial akin to a Chinese fan), and the newest model that is the Galet Traveller with a GMT function (that I featured on Centurion here).
Visible through the back of the case, the movement emphasizes a design that feels like a modern interpretation of traditional pocket watch cases. The movement is 5.57mm thick and operates at 21,600 bph (3Hz). The tourbillon case is wide, and has to be designed in a slightly unique manner because of the double balance springs. Honestly, you could own this watch and not even know it had two balance springs unless you paid careful enough attention. Power reserve for this manually wound movement is 80 hours, and my only complaint is that it lacks a power reserve indicator – that Laurent Ferrier could have easily found room for on the back of the movement.
It appears that until further notice despite the name change on the website, “Tourbillon Double Spiral” will remain on the dials of the watches. This was always an interesting design element because it was lightly printed on the dial, like a gentle reminder. Though I have a feeling that the newest versions of the Galet Classic Tourbillon will do away with this text as Laurent Ferrier hasn’t implemented it in their newer watch models.
While some versions of the Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Balance Spring are clearly design winners over others, it is an amazing collection with an appealing concept and almost flawless execution. Those looking to invest in a watch from a smaller or independent high-end watch maker should certainly take a look at Laurent Ferrier, especially if you gravitate toward more traditional or dressy designs. Price for the Laurent Ferrier Galet Classic Tourbillon Double Balance Spring is about $193,000. laurentferrier.ch