This is 1 of just 12 Galet Classic Micro-Rotors made in a 2018 collaboration with Hodinkee for employees and close friends of the brand only, never marketed to the wider audience. The result of years of development, the changes for this Micro-Rotor are significant: the case is in Grade 5 titanium. Drawing inspiration from the classics, it sports a sector dial with a brushed track. Petite seconds are gone. And the movement has been treated with galvanic ruthenium. It is a Galet with a decidedly modern identity, one which leans into the existing strengths of Laurent Ferrier's aesthetic with a minimal dial and maximal watchmaking.
Laurent Ferrier is a master of the sector dial, and this may be his best simply because it is uninterrupted. The sector track is brushed silver, contrasted against an opaline base and outer chemin de fer. The sector quarters are marked by dark ruthenium tone indices, exactly matched in the Assegai spear-shaped hands. The slate tone is a deliberately evolutionary choice over the blued steel one might expect. The same may be said of the removal of petite seconds, which gives the dial an austerity and imposing quality. This is all cased in the pebble-like 40mm Galet case, but executed in featherweight titanium. This is a similarly 'same, but different' approach. This Galet is obviously vintage-inspired, but updated with a contemporary edge in all elements.
The dark ruthenium calibre 229.01 is what Laurent Ferrier deserves to known by. It embraces the very best of traditional technique and modern architecture. Laurent Ferrier rather impressively devised his own double direct-impulse, natural escapement for his micro rotor, which remains one of the most impressive independent watchmaking feats of the prior decade. This greatly improves the efficiency and stability of the balance. For a contemporary watch, Ferrier wanted a contemporary calibre. This architecture was the result, as thin as any manual yet self-winding. All details are considered, for instance the rotor bridge was inspired by a bird standing on one foot, bevelled and mirrored perfectly. Hand anglage is performed with a burin, the rotor is a guillcohé performance, and contrasting black polish is everywhere you look. It is a deeply impressive calibre in architecture, function, and beauty. The dial and calibre are both tied together aesthetically by the gunmetal ruthenium tone, a cohesive aesthetic front and back.
The strength of independent watchmaking lies in the individuality and creativity a watch may express. Hodinkee's vintage-leaning yet contemporary take has created a watch that here, somehow, appears more distilled Laurent Ferrier than his non-collaborative works. This design is testament to Laurent Ferrier’s ability to see his client’s every wish realized, a patron-artist relationship of old. It is a sector dial unlike any other made before or since: no complication, no distraction, pure watchmaking on display.
