Greubel Forsey's tagline is "the art of invention," and its iconoclastic architecture straddles the intersection of sculpture and engineering. But it's a very thin line on which to balance. While the brand's timepieces do have an avant-garde visual flair, they're always tempered by chronograph function, creating a gorgeous yet restrained tension between visual beauty and wearing purpose.

The headquarters and seat of Greubel Forsey in La Chaux-de-Fonds is one of the most fascinating buildings in the entire Swiss watch industry. The centerpiece of the facility is a 17th-century farmhouse, purchased in 2007 by company founders Robert Greubel and Stephen Forsey. Throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, the duo worked gradually to expand the building into its current form, which features a tall modernist glass-walled studio swelling from the side of the once quaint log home.