Glashutte & The Meissen Porcelain Dial

Glashutte Original and the Meissen Porcelain company collaborated and made this White Dial Beauty.

Head on to the Deployant page for a full read. For now, enjoy the photos of the Meissen Porcelain dial which has more than 300 years of history under their belt. Combining expertise both companies possess, the result is the Senator Meissen dial.

This Meissen sample comes as a time only timepiece. Simple, elegant and very handsome. The classic Senator is aesthetically pleasing, proportionate and neat.

The blue hands compliments the dial and rose gold case. Why is the porcelain dial desired? For one, they are rather rare and secondly and more importantly, the dials are said to maintain its colouration for a decades.

Although this is not a limited edition, each dial is individually numbered. All the markers including the Meissen cross swords trademark and the Glashutte brand name are hand painted on the porcelain dials.

A porcelain dial is not easy to manufacture. Lots of skill goes into making one of these dials. For starters the liquid porcelain is applied to a disc and then fired at between 1,200 °C to 1,400 °C. Only milky white flawless discs that meet their stringent requirements are selected and hand painted.

To make one of these dials, the craftsmen takes between 8-10 hours hand painting each marker or logo using very fine brush. This requires dextrous hands with full on concentration too.

As with all hand painted markers, it is not "perfect". This macro shot clearly shows the outcome.

8 and 9 hand painted marker - again, a clear sign it is hand painted and not machine stamped.

As much as one expects the highest of quality from the Meissen manufacture, even the Glashutte logo is not perfectly drawn. But what is true about such hand crafted dials is that no two are alike which makes each dial unique.

The finishing on the inside of the case finishing - brushed interior.

The blued hands...

The complete package...

One last look at the symbol of the Meissen dial

It is sad to note that the collaboration has stopped and that Meissen Porcelain no longer makes these kinds of dials for Glashutte Original. Their short lived collaboration launches some very iconic pieces - the Singapore Edition commemorating 40 years of nationhood, the Senator Meissen Tourbillon, just to name few.

Perhaps the folks at Glashutte Original will find another partner or perhaps someone else will start noticing a missing segment in the luxury watch space and look at doing a series for themselves. These porcelain dials are awesome.

Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer - The Only One

Inside the Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer hides a complication no other brand has.

Glashütte Original is in good company when it comes to making timepieces that possesses the Zero Reset (second hand) function. A. Lange & Söhne, Montblanc (with a Minerva calibre), Akrivia and Jaeger LeCoultre are the other brands that I know how that has timepieces with the zero reset feature. What's the big deal you might say. Big deal if you are like me - one who waits till the second hand reached zero (sixty) before pulling the crown, setting the time and depressing the crown and hoping the minute hand does not advance forward beyond the marker. You will agree with me that when you start winding the watch and the seconds hand is at the 10 second marker that you have to wait 50 seconds till you pull the crown. The zero reset solves that problem.

Basically, what the zero reset does is exactly what it says - it resets to zero when you pull the crown. Very much like the flyback function in a chronograph when you depress the pusher. It surprised me that many brands do not consider this a useful feature or is it because it takes too much to even incorporate such a feature into a timepiece. So a few brands have done that but no more than one hand full in the watch industry and Glashütte Original is one of them.

Zero reset only addresses the first part of my pet peeve - what about the shifting minute hand when you depress the crown. Fact is many (general) automatic movements and even some in-house movements are well known to have the minute hands shift when the crown is depressed. And for many collectors, this is not acceptable. Enter Glashütte Original with the minute increment adjustment mechanism.

Notice in the picture above the second hand it at the zero position and how the minute hand sits nicely at the 11 minute position. When the crown is pulled, the zero reset mechanism returns the second hand to zero and the minute hand to the nearest minute marker. When the user turns the crown to adjust the minute, the minute hand ticks away, yes it ticks from one minute marker to the next and so on. The feeling is a smooth ticking sensation when you turn the crown. Ingenious!

What is even more amazing is the reset function - if the second hand is before the 30 second mark and you pull the crown, not only will the second hand reset to zero, the minute hand will retreat to the minute before. For instance, the minute hand could be between the 10 and 11 minute mark and the second hand is at the 20 second mark, when you pull the crown, the second hand advances (clockwise) to zero while the minute hand retreats to 10 (minute). The same is true when the second hand is at the 35 second mark and you pull the crown, the second hand advances to zero while the minute hand advances to the 11 minute mark. Impressive!

Technical features aside, the timepiece on the whole is well proportioned. Large date at three o'clock... notice how the dial is grainy rather than a smooth dial.

And the blued hands are pretty well finished too.

Power reserve is at the 12 and a day/night indicator window within the power reserve. The day/night indicator comes in the form of a black or white window that changes at 6 o'clock - 6 pm and it changes to a black window and at 6am, changes back to white. Picture below is showing as 2.24am with the day/night indicator being black.

And the movement side... Featuring the Calibre 58-01, the manual winding movement is all German - the three quarter plate construction, the ribbing...

...the hand engraved balance cock. All signature features of German watchmaking.

The finishing on the Senator Chronometer is industrial. Ok but not great. I had expected more on the finishing of the movement especially when this timepiece is one of their higher end pieces. Power reserve is also rather limited at 42 hours.

The movement is Chronometer certified by the Glashütte Observatory who provides the certification while working in conjunction with the offices of weights and measures in Thuringia (LMET) and Saxony (SLME). While the certification is similar to the Swiss standard, the main difference is that the movement is encased in the watch case when undergoing certification. For the Swiss COSC, the movement is encased in a temporary case.

The 42mm Senator Chronometer was unveiled some years ago and I first saw it at an exhibition in Bangkok. I recall the piece to be rose gold with the same white coloured dial. The first timepiece that is exacting in it time adjustment capabilities - zero reset second and actual minute adjustment.

For more information on the timepiece and its variations, please visit the Glashütte Original website. The website video shows all the features of the Senator Chronometer including the minute increment peculiarity.

Lange One - Blue Blue Baby

There is Lange 1 and then there is Lange 1 - the Blue Lange 1!

The timepiece needs no introduction - one of the icons of the brand that was released back in 1994 when the brand was resurrected. The most iconic off centre dial timepiece in the world, I believe the Lange 1 is instantaneously recognisable. And lusted after by many too...

My discerning friend who bought this Lange 1 chose the white gold blue dial version - an astute decision. Rather rare in the market, you don't find many owners wanting to sell their piece and I can clearly understand why.

The dial is special - at different lighting conditions, the dial shows two tones...

And different shades of blue too...

Not quite 50 shades, but it is close.

This is the off-centre dial so many find it alluring.

And the finishing on the timepiece is as one would expect from the Manufacture - great!

Take a look at the large date window. Well polished window.

And what is a Lange without a movement shot...

A well patina German silver three quarter plate on this example.

And the Glashutte ribbing on the main plate. Talk about character!

And then there is the hand engraved balance cock - it is said no two balance cocks are identical. I was told they blue all the screws at one go to ensure consistency. And it adds so much colour to the movement.

I am green with envy but blue because I don't own this version of the Lange 1.

To many, myself included, the Lange 1 represents the first big foray into the world of luxury timepiece ownership. And a nugget of information for those who may not know - Lange only makes timepieces in precious metal (gold and platinum). Steel Lange timepieces are extremely rare as they were once loaned to owners who brought their gold and platinum watches for service. And the irony of it all, steel Lange timepieces are fetching far higher prices than their gold counterparts in auctions because of their rarity.

The Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon - Another Dream Watch

First image of the Lange Datograph Perpetual Tourbillon. Stunning piece!

Another dream watch on many people's list, including mine.

More pictures and report on the timepiece coming up.

Lange & Sohne in Sketches

Manufacture Lange & Sohne makes some very iconic timepieces and following my other post featuring The Antiqua Perpetual Calendar in sketches, I am featuring some timepieces from AL&S.

Perhaps one of the most recognised and iconic is the Lange 1.

And the super-sized Lange 1 Tourbillon.

And who can resist the 1815 Chronograph?

And the first generation 1815 chronograph.

Featured here is the dial of the older 1815 Chronograph.

And now for the drool-worthy movement of the 1815 chronograph. Look at the column wheel on the right. And such an intricate construction.

And I wonder during the pre-photograph days if the pocket watch would look something like this...

And the movement of the Lange Pocket Watch. Check out that post.

More sketches to come.