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!

Technical Specifications

Brand: Glashütte Original

Collection: Senator

Model: Automatic

Ref: 100-08-03-02-04-01

Movement: Automatic GO Caliber 100

Only Watch is a charity auction of unique watches created by many of the most important watch brands in Switzerland. This exceptional event is held every two years in Monaco during the Monaco Yacht Show and is under the patronage of HSH Prince Albert 11. All the proceeds from Only Watch go to support research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The next Only Watch auction is organized in close collaboration with Patrizzi & Co and the Monaco Yacht Show, and will take place on 24 September 2009.

Participating brands include Audemars Piguet, Blancpain, BNB Concept, Bovet Fleurier, Breguet Montres, Cartier, Corum Montres, De Bethune, Delacour, Franck Muller, Frédérique Constant, Glashütte Uhrenbertrieb, Hermès, Hublot, Jaquet Droz, Louis Vuitton, Maximilian Büsser & Friends, Mont Blanc, Omega, Patek Philippe, Piaget, Richard Mille, Swatch, Tag Heuer, Tourneau Timepieces, Ulysse Nardin, Urwerk, Vacheron Constantin, Van Cleef & Arpels, Zenith International.

Below is a mosaic of their “pieces uniques”  – you can view larger images and a quote from each respective brand about their 2009 “Only Watch” contribution HERE.

Glashütte Original has prepared a nice video slide-show of its new novelties revealed at Baselworld 2009.  This is a nice 5:44 clip which is set to some nice soft Jazz and other music   This is a brand that continues to impress me, year after year, with its original and beautiful design concepts and “Made in Germany” craftsmanship.

Here’s the video, and don’t forget you can check out hundreds more new watches in photo and Video from this year’s show on the #1 Baselworld Forum on the Internet, Perpetuelle.com!