A Keynote Overshadowed by a Wristwatch
Mark Zuckerberg’s presentation at Meta Connect 2025 was intended to highlight a new era of artificial intelligence in wearable technology. Instead, it became a demonstration of the risks inherent in live showcases. Twice during his keynote, glitches interrupted the flow of the event, leaving the audience caught between humor and sympathy as the CEO pushed forward with a strained composure. The mishaps were reminders that even the most carefully rehearsed demonstrations can falter under pressure.
Yet while Zuckerberg worked to salvage the narrative around Meta’s futuristic devices, much of the attention in the room was drawn not to the headsets or neural wristbands but to the timepiece on his wrist. Captured in high-definition streams and magnified across social media, the watch quickly became the real story. For collectors, it was not just another accessory but a revelation: an exceedingly rare example of Greubel Forsey’s most elusive creation.
That such a piece should surface in the midst of a flawed product unveiling added a striking contrast. Where Meta’s vision of the future stumbled on stage, Zuckerberg’s watch represented centuries of refinement, invention, and consistency. It became the silent counterpoint to modern technological missteps, a detail that carried an air of permanence against the backdrop of digital imperfection.
The Nano Foudroyante: A Technical Rarity
The watch in question, the Greubel Forsey Nano Foudroyante EWT, is one of the rarest modern timepieces in existence. Only eleven examples have ever been produced, with an estimated value of around $550,000. For collectors and horological historians, it occupies a space that few contemporary creations achieve: a synthesis of invention, exclusivity, and aesthetic brilliance that defines haute horlogerie at its most daring.
Its dimensions tell part of its story. At just 37.9mm in diameter, it is the smallest case ever created by Greubel Forsey, yet it is constructed from a combination of tantalum and white gold that underscores both durability and distinction. More than size or material, however, it carries significance because it embodies the maison’s tenth “Fundamental Invention.” Within Greubel Forsey’s philosophy, such an invention is not a mere complication but a transformative contribution to the history of mechanical watchmaking.
The innovation lies in its energy optimization. A traditional foudroyante, or flying seconds complication, consumes enormous power as a dedicated hand completes a revolution every second, displaying fractions of a second in rapid jumps. By contrast, Greubel Forsey’s Nano Foudroyante reduces energy consumption by a staggering factor of 1,800. This allows the watch to maintain both its flyback chronograph and its foudroyante for an entire day on a single wind, an achievement of efficiency without precedent. Visually, the complication appears to float above a flying tourbillon, a configuration the brand had never before attempted, further establishing its importance within the canon of modern horology.
Contrasts on the Meta Stage
The juxtaposition between Zuckerberg’s timepiece and the performance of Meta’s devices was striking. On his wrist sat a watch that symbolized centuries of engineering mastery, while in his hands were products meant to signal the future of human-computer interaction. The contrast between permanence and volatility, tradition and innovation, could not have been sharper.
The first disruption occurred during a cooking demonstration with food creator Jack Mancuso, where the upgraded Ray-Ban Metas faltered in real time. When asked how to prepare a Korean-inspired steak sauce, the AI skipped steps, repeated errors, and failed to produce coherent instructions. As Mancuso returned control to Zuckerberg, the audience saw both the promise of wearable technology and its very present limitations.
A second stumble came with the unveiling of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, equipped with a heads-up display and gesture-based neural wristband. Zuckerberg attempted to accept a video call using hand motions, but the commands refused to register until Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth intervened to save the moment. The irony was not lost on observers: while Meta’s vision for the future struggled to function, the Greubel Forsey on Zuckerberg’s wrist ticked flawlessly, offering a reminder of what true precision looks like.