The rare Patek Philippe tourbillon movement found its way to Grieb & Benzinger thanks to a hardcore watch collector and a happy coincidence. It took more than fifteen months from first touching Caliber RTO 27 PS for it to take on its final form – without knowing the kind of hype that this movement would create in 2011: this very same movement caused a giant sensation as it sold within a one-of-a-kind Patek Philippe Tourbillon Minute Repeater in stainless steel, which was donated to the ONLY WATCH charity auction in Monaco 2011. The result was literally sensational: the hammer fell at 1.4 million Euros.

This sensational auction result inspired the masters at Grieb & Benzinger to create a breathtaking new wristwatch. This intense horological work took the artisans’ full attention since the fine guilloché on the plates and bridges necessitated moving original drillings by less than one-twentieth of a millimeter, and the movement needed to be carefully reassembled, adjusted, disassembled, and reassembled in order to guarantee full harmonious functioning of the great number of levers. This movement with 336 individual components not only includes a tourbillon, but additionally a minute repeater mechanism – making it one of the most complicated movements in the world.

This movement was completely modified in the style characteristic of Grieb & Benzinger: fully skeletonized, guilloché and engraved by hand. Even gear wheels were embellished with guilloché and the 12 finely guilloché bridges and cocks coated with rhodium and rose gold. As if that were not enough, an additional mysterious wheel, visible on the back side, replaces the original gold drive wheel for the tourbillon.

The skeletonized Sterling silver dial in striking regulator style was embellished with a rare Breguet frosted finish created using the classic method, which is only presently practiced in this manner at Grieb & Benzinger.

With its solid 43 mm platinum case created in typical Grieb & Benzinger style, Blue Whirlwind is not only a design statement on the wrist, but more an objet d’art for only one single lucky collector worldwide...

Source: Grieb & Benzinger