Robert Greubel (French) and Stephen Forsey (British) met in the 1990s while working at Renaud & Papi (APRP), the Audemars Piguet complications laboratory. The two watchmakers established CompliTime, a research atelier, in 1999 and launched their own brand, Greubel Forsey SA, from a small workshop in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 2004. From the first watch, the brand positioned itself at the absolute high end of mechanical watchmaking, as peers of F.P. Journe and MB&F rather than a production brand.
The house identity rests on a small number of what Greubel and Forsey call Fundamental Inventions, each one a rethinking of the tourbillon concept. Their first was the 30° Double Tourbillon (2004), an inner tourbillon cage inclined at 30° rotating inside an outer cage at a different speed, intended to average positional error in every possible wrist angle. The Quadruple Tourbillon (2005) linked two double-tourbillons via a differential. Further inventions followed: the Tourbillon 24 Secondes, the Balancier, and the GMT with a rotating three-dimensional globe at 7 o'clock.
The brand finishes every component by hand to a standard widely compared to Philippe Dufour, with interior angles of bridges polished to an optical black sheen, and anglage executed to observatory level. Richemont acquired a minority stake in 2006 but the brand continues to operate independently from a purpose-built workshop completed in 2011. The 2019 Hand Made 1 was a statement reference: almost every component, including wheels and balance spring, produced by hand under the Time Aeon Foundation, a craftsmanship-preservation initiative Greubel and Forsey co-founded with other independents.
