The perfect blend of color and materials finally make this concept work…

The Glashütte Original PanoInverse XL was first introduced at Basel 2008.  The concept behind this watch is a good one, which is to engineer and design the watch so that there is a minimalistic dial (at least not in the traditional sense of a dial) and the bridge (beautifully engraved) and balance wheel are visible through the front of the watch (normally features that appear on the back of a watch).  As I say while the concept is a good one, I never liked the color scheme of the first watches GO released (pictured below).  When I first personally handled the watch, I found that the black rings with applied gold numerals indicating the hours and minutes just did not seem to find harmony with the rest of the watch — in fact I think they drew the eye’s attention away from from the most visually compelling element of the watch, the engraved bridge and related components.

The first generation PanoInverse XL watches (2008) were not attractive to me

This year, however, is a different story.  At Baselworld 2010, Glashutte Original introduced a new variation of the PanoInverse XL in stainless steel case with a subtle graphite/gray finish on the dial.  Everything about this watch works.  As you can see, the use of stainless steel numerals and accents looks so much better and more refined that the prior gold-accented versions.  The watch looks amazing!

Taking a closer look (below), you can see the hand-engraved duplex swan-neck bridge is visually impressive.  The duplex swan-neck fine adjustment introduced by Glahütte Original in 2002 is the epitome of demanding haute horlogerie and innovative and aesthetic movement design.  This is a feature rarely seen in watches today.  Functionally, what this mechanism allows is for the timekeeping rate of the watch to be finely adjusted (for example, if it is running somewhat too fast or too slow).

Glashütte Original always pays great attention to the finest details, and this watch is no exception.  For example, notice below that the applied numerals and hour markers are curved/shaped to add to the depth of the watch.  Impressive.

In summary, I think that this unique “inverse” concept has finally been masterfully executed, primarily as a result of some improvements in the color tones of the watch, and I would be proud to own such a fine timepiece.

I would consider using it for my golf game, but it only counts to 99…

Well, this concept is almost so simple you wouldn’t think it has any value.  But for some reason the Glashütte Original PanoMatic Counter XL has made the prospect of “counting” quite enticing.  As GO says, “One.  Two.  Three….that’s a start.  Now use your imagination”   Red numerals appear on a black ground in a double-digit window positioned at 9 o’clock. The wearer activates the counter using three pushers positioned on the left side of the stainless steel case.  The plus pusher at 9 o’clock moves the count forward, one unit at a time, from 00 to 99;  the minus pusher at 8 o’clock counts down, and the zero pusher at 10 o’clock resets to zero (00).  Counter aside, this is one sharp looking watch:

You can SEE ALL THE NEW 2010 GLASHUTTE ORIGINAL watches here on Perpetuelle’s Official Baselworld Forum.

Technical triumph – a mechanical alarm that can be set up to 30 days in advance…

Well, it looks like it will be another great year for perhaps my favorite brand, Glashütte Original, “Made in Germany”.  While I do not see any “Senator Chronometer’s” in the mix (a particular model that GO introduced last year that was a huge hit for the brand), I can say that the master watchmakers in Glashütte, Germany managed to maintain the high standards of the brand again this year with a very solid lineup of new watches.  Design-wise, they did not go far from the brand’s core look and feel or push the envelope too hard, but instead came up with several solid new watches that are elegant and beautiful.  Technically/mechanically, they are putting forth at least one or two interesting new complications, and the first that I would like to highlight comes from the new Senator Diary.  This watch has a mechanical alarm function that can be set up to 30 days in advance.  This is a world first, and for a mechanical watch is quite impressive if you think about it.  This watch also looks beautiful and is perhaps my favorite from Glashütte Original this year.

The Senator Diary is available as described above and in a version featuring a rose gold
case, rose gold hour, minute and sweep second hands and applied rose gold hour
markers on a galvanized silver dial. The date indicator on the diary alarm subdial is in blue,
as is the small arrow indicating the diary alarm time aperture at 6 o’clock. Both versions
feature a finely worked black Louisiana alligator leather strap.

The Senator Sixties Gets A Date Function, But Does it Fit?

This is a new model in renowned German watch manufacture Glashütte Orignal – the Senator Sixties Panorama Date.  It is one of 2 Baselworld 2010 pre-releases from Glashütte Original (I wrote about the PanoMaticLunar XL earlier today, which you can see here).  The Senator Sixties collection was first launched in 2007, and I’ve always liked the 1960’s-insipred design elements of this watch, specifically the stylized “3″ “6″ “9″ and “12″ numerals that mark the hours and the domed sapphire crystal.  Last year, GO introduced this model in a square case with chrongraph, also a neat design. 

This year, however, I think something is off with the new design.  It is the new function – the “Panorama Date” – that they added onto the dial, and unfortunately, something just doesn’t look right about this design combination.  Odd as it may sound, I think that the font type on the panorama date is completely inconsistent with the rest of the watch.  I don’t like it.  Being a big Glashütte Original fan (and owner of one of their watches myself), I’m hoping they will reconsider this design with another font style, because this one just does not seem to fit and I don’t see this watch being a big hit in its current form.  What do you think?

 Glashütte Original Caliber 39-47 – automatic movement with 21k gold oscillation weight

Reference 39-47-01-02-04 with silver dial (above)

with 42mm stainless steel case on both

Reference 39-47-0302-04 with black dial  (below)

On a related note, if you want to see the other Glashütte Original watches when they are announced at Baselworld 2010, stay tuned to Perpetuelle.com’s Official Baselworld 2010 forum (click here to view).

Glashütte Original Checks In With A Baselworld 2010 Preview

This is the first of 2 new watches coming in 2010 from one of my favorite brands, German manufacture Glashütte Original (GO) – the PanoMaticLunar XL.  “Less is more” and “the quintessential understatement” GO says of this watch – which I’m not sure I can agree with as it looks to me like a fairly loaded dial.  You want to make an understatment get yourself one of those boring “understated” Piaget’s or Jaeger-LeCoultre master thins.  This watch is more of an attention-getter, in my humble opinion.

The watch is 42mm diameter case in stainless steel with grey dial.  The case is primarily polished with some satin-finish touches.  Sapphire crystal on bottom so you can see all the fine German handiwork which in this case happens to be a GO Caliber 90-02.  Function-wise, you get GO’s masterfully executed “panorama” date (ie big date – and yes it is substantially larger and easier to read than many other brands), moon phase, and the usual time keeping functions.  All neatly arranged on the dial – although if you don’t like the decentralized dial concept this will not be one for you.  Comes on a cool looking gray alligator strap.  Price?  I’d say somewhere around $20,000 but no official word yet.

On a separate note, GO really has it together when it comes to their blogger and Internet outreach – “new media” as they call us and in fact they have a dedicated role to this effect.  They always provide pre-sized images and very concise press releases that get right to the point.  And for that I sincerely thank them.

This in contrast to other brands that provide very un-user frienly FTP file links to enormous and impractical TIF image files along with press releases full of absurd marketing speak and flowery, nonsensical hype that nobody cares about and nobody reads (ie something I increasingly have little patience for).  So what I am saying here is that it should be no wonder that GO will continue to get good exposure here and other websites and blogs as they not only make great watches but they know how to “present” them as well.

Several weeks ago, I saw an exciting one-of-a-kind watch from German manufacture Glashütte Original over on the watch blog Monochrome.  Upon seeing this watch my first reaction was WOW – what a gorgeous looking watch.  Now again this morning I found myself looking at the watch again on GO’s website and the temptation became too much to resist – I just had to share this awesome watch with my readers!

Glashütte Original donated the unique piece to support Italian cancer research.  A great watch for a great cause, it ended up auctioning for 8,000 EUR, or about $12,000.  Like Monochrome, I think that the black PVD steel case with yellow numerals and accents is what watch absolutely fantastic.  See if you would agree that this is a pretty spectacular looking watch:

You can check out more pictures over at Monochrome – just click here!

Believe me – when I started out this week with a post about the Glashütte Original (Glashütte Original Goes Global With Its New Senator Chronometer) I had absolutely no idea it would be the first of 3 posts on GO watches this week! But here we are, #3 this week about a watch from Glashütte Original, the renowned German manufacture!

Actually, I am more than happy to be sharing yet another splendid watch from our friends in Germany – after all, when they are unveiling watches like this, how can I not cover them!  So let’s get down to it, shall we?  Check out the new, limited edition Glashütte Original Strasser & Rohde Regulator:

While the name does leave something to be desired – there are several things about this watch that make it quite special.  For one, it is a tribute watch to another now defunct Glashütte-based watchmaking company known for their accurate and aesthetic pendulum watches (circa the late 1800’s).  This company’s name?  Strasser and Rhode, of course (more on S&R at the bottom of the post).

And of course it is an elegantly designed watch known as a “regulator”.  What’s the deal with a “regulator” you ask?  I think Glashütte Original does a fine job of explaining this:

In watchmaking tradition, “regulator” watches were special pendulum clocks, used by watchmakers in their workshops to set the exact time and therefore to test the precision of smaller watches. They were also used in science whenever extremely precise time indicators were needed, like in the field of astronomy.

In order to achieve optimum readability of the time, the hands were positioned on different axes of the dial. As the sole central hand, the minute hand dominated.  The other hands were smaller and located in decentralized sub-dial areas.

Every watchmaker’s workshop always contained a regulator in a clearly visible position as a time reference.

Consistent with the nature of a regulator watch, the dial of the GO Strasser & Rohde is pure and minimalist, and dominated by an elegantly shaped blued minute hand.  The 2 subdials mark the hours and the seconds.  The watch case is polished rose gold, 42mm in diameter, and 12.8mm high.

Perhaps what is as interesting an element as any on this watch is its wonderfully decorated movement – a GO hand-wound caliber 49-04, with blued screws and screwed gold chatons:

Too bad they will only be making 25 of them.

Here is some good historical information on Strasser and Rohdes,courtesy of Glashütte Original:

Ludwig Strasser and Gustav Rohde established their business partnership in Glashütte in 1875. Ludwig Strasser served his watchmaker’s apprenticeship with Sebastian Geist in Würzburg and was already, by way of Moritz Grossmann, resident in Glashütte in 1871.

After a brief period in Leipzig with the tower clock manufacturers Zachariä, he returned one year later to Glashütte. In 1875, Ludwig Strasser and Gustav Rohde jointly founded the company “Strasser & Rohde” in Glashütte.

Strasser & Rohde produced precision pendulum clocks in the most varied designs, including inverse construction (anchor from below on the escape wheel).  Their product range also included marine chronometers, precision tools, speedometers, safety clocks for safes, pocket watches, chronoscopes and various timers.

On 1st May 1885, Ludwig Strasser became the director of the German Watchmaking School in Glashütte, where he had already been teaching theory for a number of years.

The last Strasser & Rohde pendulum clock was delivered to an observatory in Greece on 19th June 1959. It was a field clock with a 24-hour dial of the B I type, with lateral weighted guidance, electrical contacts and Riefler-J pendulum.

Glashütte Original pays tribute to this ingenious watchmaking heritage with its limited-edition Strasser & Rohde Regulator.

Are pocket watches becoming cool again?  Are they making a comeback?  Well, probably not, but it is certainly an interesting coincidence to see 2 of the most respected watch brands in the world each release a pocket watch within about a month of each other!  You may recall it was just weeks ago that I wrote about Vacheron Constantin’s new pocket watch, the Patrimony Contemporaine (For the Dandy Man: Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Contemporaine Pocket Watch) - this was Vacheron’s first new pocket watch since 1992. And now just today Glashütte Original announced the Pocket Watch No. 1, based on a historical watch by famous Glashütte watchmaker Julius Assmann circa 1905.  Julius Assmann followed Ferdinand Adolph Lange in establishing the Glashütte watchmaking tradition, manufacturing precision watches outfitted with elements typical of Glashütte, such as the three-quarter plate and a hand-engraved balance cock – of which both features are (not by coincidence) featured on the GO Original Pocket Watch No. 1.  Cased in rose gold and housing a specially made, hand-wound GO Caliber 84-01, the watch includes a quarter-hour repetition complication, which announces the quarter hours and hours acoustically.

While I like the traditional design of the Pocket Watch No. 1, I can’t help but think how starkly it contrasts with the Vacheron Constantin Patrimony Contemporaine that is, well, much more contemporary!  This holds true even for the type of chain that is used for each.  Ultimately, it is of course a matter of personal preference, but if you like this beautiful new piece from Glashütte Original, get on it quick because as you can see in the last picture below, only 25 will be made.  As for me, well, I’ll just stick with my very dependable and equally beautiful GO Senator Automatic for now.

For an alternative viewpoint on this one, check out my watch friend RJ’s post HERE (you snuck in right ahead of me on this on RJ ).  Or, you can see it for yourself at BASELWORLD 2010!!  Here’s some pics, courtesy of GO:

Prestigous watch manufacture Glashütte Original (“GO”) has been making the rounds these past few months to show off its new Senator Chronometer watch at “exclusive” launch events in various cities around the globe.  And with a watch this beautiful and technically interesting, why wouldn’t they?  The Senator Navigator was unveiled at Baselworld 2009 and has turned out to be a real hit with watch collectors and enthusiasts.  Also, because GO just recently released a good (but not great) video which highlights the various functions of the watch, I thought it would be an opportune time to introduce (or re-introduce) this fine watch to the readers of First In Watches.

Now, being a Glashütte Original owner myself (you can watch my review of my Senator Navigator HERE),  I can not say enough good things about the brand and their passion for watchmaking at the highest level.  Having toured the manufacture last year, I also admire and appreciate the brand’s enormous sense of pride that their watches are “Made In Germany”.  In fact, GO’s home town of Glashütte, Germany is home to several watch brands, but it is Glashütte Original and its neighbor A. Lange & Sohne (literally, the building next door to the GO manufacture) that put this quaint little town – and German watches – on the map.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand – the Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer.  If you have not yet seen this watch, take as long as you would like to enjoy it here, and be sure to check out the video which I included below:

A lavish manufacturing process goes into making the dial’s seemingly simple surface.  Glashütte Original consciously opted to employ a vintage tradition: a technique known as l’argenture grainée, a frosted silver plating.  The first step in the process consists of machine-blasting the surface of the brass dial with a mixture of water, chalk, and wood. Then a paste containing silver powder and water is carefully applied by hand to the blasted surface.

While beauty is of course in the eye of the beholder, I will be good money that even the most glaring eye will find it hard to look away from this watch!

Ok, so the watch looks good, but what can it do?  Well, here is the aforementioned video which walks you through each of the watches functions.

(Note to GO:  Add some background music next time!)

As you saw in the video, pulling the crown stops the time display and causes the second hand to jump to the beginning position, where it remains; the minute hand moves simultaneously to the next full minute. When the crown is then turned to set the time, the minute hand stops only on the indication of the full minute, thus always guaranteeing the correct relationship between the minutes and seconds displayed.  No small feat, and no wonder this watch is proving to be such a big hit!

Summer Soiree at Moda Cucina in Boston to Benefit the Make A Wish Foundation

This past Wednesday evening (July 15th) Perpetuelle.com Senior Moderator James Bond was on the scene for a splendid VIP gala at Moda Cucina in the Boston Design Center.  This event celebrated Moda Cucina winning Best of Boston Home 2009 with proceeds being donated to Make A Wish Foundation. And to help celebrate with Moda Cucina, also present were Grenon’s of Newport, authorized dealer for many outstanding watch brands, and Ferrari-Maserati of New England.

Of course James was there for the watches, but I am glad that he couldn’t help but snap a few pics of the evenings other attractions!

***Click here to see James Bond’s full report – with some very nice pictures! ***

Great report James and thanks for sharing!