Robert Greubel, Stephen Forsey Consolidate Control of Greubel Forsey

[Ichiran]

https://watchesbysjx.com/2025/02/rob...el-forsey.html



Greubel Forsey has just announced that ownership of the company has once again reverted to Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey, confirming rumours that have been circulating since Michel Nydegger replaced Antonio Calce as chief executive.

With Mr Calce’s departure, the brand was pivoted back to more traditional complicated watches, as exemplified by the recent Hand Made 2 and Nano Foudroyante EWT.

The shares owned by Mr Calce, was acquired by either the two cofounders or the company itself. The statement issued by Greubel Forsey states “Mr. Calce no longer holding any shares in the company or being affiliated with it.”

Mr Calce came on board in 2020, and redirected the brand towards high-end sports watches. Industry talk at the time was that he was not only pivoting the company’s products, but also engaged in a search for a buyer for the brand.

With a majority stake, Mr Greubel continues as the board’s chairman. Though his exact role is unspecified, Mr Forsey will presumably take off where he left off, as both a brand ambassador and watch constructor.

The return of the two founders as the company’s only shareholders is the latest twist in the story of the company. Besides Mr Calce, Richemont once owned a stake in the brand. The Swiss luxury group, which also owns Cartier and Lange, acquired 20% of the brand in 2006 but the hoped-for synergies or acquisition never came to pass. Richemont sold the stake back to Greubel Forsey in 2022 , just after Mr Calce came on board.

[Ichiran]

Right move in my view. I very much prefer their classic watches over their sports watches.

[enjoythemusic]

Congrats, independents gotta be independent

[Ichiran]

Calce once said he targeted an annual production volume of 500 watches. That is achievable if he go big on sport watches with no interior angles. Now that he is gone, not too sure what's the direction of the manufacture and their revised target production, if any. If they go back to complicated classic watches with hand-finishing, surely they have to compromise on the production number.

[ChetBaker]

Originally Posted by enjoythemusic

Congrats, independents gotta be independent

I agree but there’s very few that are 100% independent in the sense of small production and owned by a single person or family. Of the established brands Berthoud, Moser, Ferrier, Grönefeld - who else? And there’s of course the micro-independents that make <50 watches but I think all of them really are too small to be considered viable acquisition targets or, like Simon Brette, are a combination of skilled artisans without a legal structure that binds them together.

[Ichiran]

More of this please. 38mm with beautiful carvings. This over the Balancier series all day everyday.

[subtona]

Originally Posted by Ichiran

More of this please. 38mm with beautiful carvings. This over the Balancier series all day everyday.

Persuasive argument.

[Ichiran]

There was a recent 1916 video with the new GF CEO Michel Nydegger on the company's watchmaking, vision, and future:


A few salient points which I noted from the video:
- GF is going to produce only 200 watches going forward, because if increase beyond 200, the finishing will not be of the same quality. The original intent to increase production to 500 has been scrapped;
- The increase in manfacture space to cater to the increase of production to 500 has been shelved accordingly;
- Of the present 135 staff, 20 are hand-finishers, 20 are in R&D, 9 are in Handmade department;
- GF has done a lot of tourbillon in the past 2 decades and the intent is to focus on "other inventions" GF has not explored before;
- Handmade 2 will be capped at 3 per year;
- GF will have new initiatives for "GF Family" (existing collectors) like bringing watch-making bench to travel to their locations for servicing and strap change, and to have priority allocation for GF Family;
- the focus in the future is to reduce the diameter of their watches significantly.

[enjoythemusic]

Sounds like great news! Focus on quality and creative.

[FrugalGreubel]

Originally Posted by Ichiran

There was a recent 1916 video with the new GF CEO Michel Nydegger on the company's watchmaking, vision, and future:


A few salient points which I noted from the video:
- GF is going to produce only 200 watches going forward, because if increase beyond 200, the finishing will not be of the same quality. The original intent to increase production to 500 has been scrapped;
- The increase in manfacture space to cater to the increase of production to 500 has been shelved accordingly;
- Of the present 135 staff, 20 are hand-finishers, 20 are in R&D, 9 are in Handmade department;
- GF has done a lot of tourbillon in the past 2 decades and the intent is to focus on "other inventions" GF has not explored before;
- Handmade 2 will be capped at 3 per year;
- GF will have new initiatives for "GF Family" (existing collectors) like bringing watch-making bench to travel to their locations for servicing and strap change, and to have priority allocation for GF Family;
- the focus in the future is to reduce the diameter of their watches significantly.

This all seems like positives to me, especially reduction in watch size.

[Ichiran]

Originally Posted by FrugalGreubel

This all seems like positives to me, especially reduction in watch size.

Absolutely
The recent 38mm Nano Foudroyante EWT is excellent. I need to save up for this one