When talking about watchmaking, we tend to think almost reflexively of the adjective “Swiss”, when the truth is that the English and Germans have a lot to say in this field. The Angles for their history, and the Saxons for their present. This year thenews from German watch brands at Baselworld 2016have shone with their own light, starting with Glashütte Original and continuing with Nomos, Tutima and Sinn. It should be noted that the first three mentioned are located in Glashütte, precisely in Saxony. And they all show off the “Made in Germany” on their dials with sincere pride.
Glashütte Original is a “rare” brand. And it is because, being one of the crown jewels of the Swatch Group, it does not seem to belong to a group, or at least to that group in particular. It manufactures everything from its own dials to the smallest components of its calibers, something I was able to see first-hand on my recent visit to its domain. This year has brought us a spectacular blue dial in the well-known Senator Chronometer, an impressive machine that, if it is already impressive on the outside, the interior is not far behind, with a patented system for resetting the seconds hand by removing the crown while the minute hand is automatically set to the next minute. The shame is that with a gold case - white or pink - its price is around €27,000.
Following the trend of recent years and which I already mentioned in this other article, the word “chronometer” (that is, “chronometer”. For neophytes: do not confuse with “chronograph”) comes this year backed by its own certificate, issued by Glashütte Original itself. Something that should not surprise us since all non-COSC certificates are being issued by the brands that display them... all of them? No. Omega is the exception, submitting to the METAS, but that will be a topic for another story.
And the first caliber to undergo the G.O. chronometric test. has been the brand new Caliber 36 that will animate the Senator Excellence: automatic, with a silicon hairspring, 28,800 vibrations/hour and one hundred hours of power reserve thanks to a larger diameter barrel and a thinner hub (the axis of the barrel), which allows the mainspring to be lengthened, therefore accumulating more energy. All this with the decorations that make the Glashütte Original movements unmistakable: three-quarter plate with bands and pearlescent, skeletonized rotor with the double G and heat-blued screws.
For its part, the Senator Excellence comes in two finishes: rose gold and steel, which puts it a little more within the reach of “basic” fans, who appreciate the interior more than the case material. Despite what it may seem at first glance, the dials are very elaborate at the design level: from the red minutes on the white dial on the gold dial (black on the steel dial) and with stick indices except at twelve and six o'clock to the “railway” and the Arabic numerals with Super LumiNova on the black dial. All this in a 40mm case, within the limits of the “regular dress watch”… As for prices, good news (I think): €8,700 for the steel models and €15,800 for the rose gold one. Okay, they're not exactly a bargain, but we could call it "affordable manufacturing," right?
Nomos is that “enfant terrible” that appears in all families, against the grain of almost everything, but in this case with foundations. And the most important of them is that with up to ten calibers in-house, the majority of their prices range from €1,000 to €4,000, thus denying the justifications of the brands that say that materializing a new caliber is so-so expensive that there is no choice but to pass it on at a high RRP. Not only this: they developed their own regulating organ (balance-spiral assembly) in just two years, and the so-called “Swing System” will now equip all of those own movements. Their designs - the other founding part of the brand - have a Bauhaus air that they politely reject, saying that they are more fun... although the truth is that they belong to the Deutscher Werbund, precursor of the Bauhaus. In addition, four of the five owner-partners work directly in the company. A company that, as an independent company, does not give sales or production figures, although it is known that it has long exceeded 10,000 units per year with a staff of 250 people. A ratio of about 20-22 watches per employee, even below that of another independent: Patek Philippe. And at those prices. Is it possible?
Strictly speaking, Nomos has not presented new features at Baselworld 2016, although it has announced that the brand new automatic caliber DUW 3001 presented last year (3.2mm thick, less than the JLC Ultraslim and from now on incorporating the Swing System) will begin to equip other models in addition to the Minimatik, with the tag “Neomatik” for all of them: “Tangente Neomatik”, Ludwig Neomatik” and Thus, the objective is to reach a 50/50 balance between manual and automatic. And it is not small for an independent company that counts its year-on-year growth in double-digit percentages: 30% in 2015.
Tutima is that brand that for years was practically cloning other brands, especially chronographs. It was not until 2011 that, returning to its origins in Glashütte, it began a new stage with its own designs and even movements. In 2013 it presented the fruits of those efforts, with three new families. And it seemed that he came hungry because one of them was the M2, with a sporty and almost warrior-looking 321 chronograph mounted on a modified Valjoux caliber 7750 (the Saxonia itself came with it, a minute repeater).
Curiously - another one who is going to his ball - presents three years later the only time of that family, when the usual (not to say "logical") thing would be to have started with this and then show the time; hence the hunger. The fact is that now we have the Seven Seas, a diver (50 bar, 500m) with a 44mm titanium case that can mount bracelets made of the same material or a Kevlar strap with a folding strap. Of the caliber, a mysterious T-330, we only know that its rotor is “ennobled by Tutima with antique gray and the 750 gold hallmark.” By the way, and speaking of the armis: from the design I would swear that they bought it from Sinn... if not that they also bought the box. And SUG (Sächsische Uhrentechnologie GmbH Glashütte) belongs to Sinn. And those from Tutima have it next to their house.
Last but not least, Sinn herself. I had not been to their stand for years, convinced as I was that the glamor of this brand had gone with Herr Sinn when in 1994 he sold the brand to its current owner, engineer Lothar Schmidt (with experience at IWC, by the way). But at the last minute I decided to write to them to make an appointment, and my chat with Tim Burlon, their communications manager, was most interesting. It was there that I ran into Ariel Adams and the AblogToWatch team. What envy: at least six people to cover the events of the fair, like (almost) anyone.
Of course, SGM pilot Helmut Sinn would not recognize his former company: from re-stamping dials in its origins (he bought the wreck of what had been Breitling in the mid-70s and there are examples of authentic Navitimers sporting Sinn on the dial, I attest) to a multinational with large investments in R&D that have led it to implement everything from the Tegiment to its own modifications in pre-existing calibers (Unitas and Val 7750), certifications by Testaf or Diapal, a ruby coating that makes oil lubrication unnecessary. Despite that (or, rather, because of all that) they remainSpecial Watches (SpezialUhren). A principios de 2017 está previsto que se muden a unas nuevas instalaciones.
At Baselworld 2016 they present four very different pieces, thus expressing their intention to play all styles. From an old-fashioned B-Uhr, including the three-piece strap, to the commemorative 6600 Meisterbund I, to a U1 in camouflage! and an 856 in various declensions including the 55th anniversary one without forgetting the revisited 903 (now 910, with rattrapante). Who embraces much, squeezes little? Well, so far it hasn't gone that bad.
The 6600 Meisterbund I is limited to 55 pieces, which are the years of the anniversary it celebrates: 55 years since the founding of the brand in 1961 and highlights its evolution in this time: if in 2001, for the 40th anniversary (one celebrates when they want), it released a 356 with the anthracite dial as the only distinction, this 2016 demonstrates its power with a manufactured caliber (German, of course: UWD, Uhren-Werke-Dresden) in a gold case. And on top of that they call it I because it is going to be the first of several. The UWD 33.1 manual caliber is made of German silver (which is silver only in name: it is an alloy of copper, nickel and zinc, better known as nickel silver) and features a barrel called a “flywheel” (flying,more translatable as "floating") that offers a power reserve of... 55 hours. It's certainly not the watch that comes to mind when you think of Sinn and maybe I wouldn't have designed that dial, but you have to admit that they turned out well. Of course, I would surely spend the €12,900 it costs on something else.
Equally commemorative – and more affordable – is the 556 Anniversary model. It has an automatic ETAsa 2824-2 movement in a steel case (38.5mm) with a visible caseback and has as its distinctive feature an anthracite dial (like the 356 for the 40th anniversary) which discreetly refers to the 55 years that have passed since 1961. Limited to 1,000 pieces, its price ranges from €1,000 to €1,155 depending on the bracelets fitted, a price that remains the same for the other non-limited versions (mocha or white mother-of-pearl dial). Depending on how you look at it, it's a good price for a limited edition... or the others are expensive. In any case, an alternative to consider for those to whom 40mm seems large.
The 856 B-Uhr is a toast to the SGM observer watches (priority to minutes, openwork hour hand) incorporating current technical improvements: 40mm case of tegimented steel (Tegiment is a treatment that hardens the surface of the steel making it virtually scratch-resistant in normal use) it incorporates the copper sulfate capsule (on the seven o'clock lug), which not only absorbs any possible moisture that may sneak into the interior of the watch. clock but when it turns blue in this process it warns of such a circumstance. It also has protection against magnetic fields of up to 80,000 A/m (Ampere/meter, symbol at six o'clock). To avoid allergy problems with nickel, the case back is *not* tegimented. It mounts a Sellita SW300-1 machine (fleeing from the tyranny of ETAsa?) and resists 200 meters of depth – theoretically, see this link – thanks to its screwed crown. Series limited to 856 pieces, it has a price of €1,590 (+€195 if an unnecessary steel bracelet is added).
With the 910 Anniversary Sin has -almost- managed to make an eminently sporty watch, like a split-window chronograph, look as dressy as it can be. Limited to 300 copies, it mounts the modification of the Valjoux 7750 exclusive to Sinn with a ratchet or rochete wheel (it is what most resembles a “ratchet wheel”, which is not a column wheel) and reveals the extra function of the ratchet with the pusher at 8 instead of the more common position at eleven for this type of element. I liked its camel strap. They are getting better at straps, I guess at this point they already buy them all from Di-Modell (also German, of course). €5,000 for each of the 300 copies… At half that price they would have them all sold.
Finally, the least novelty of all but the one that attracted me the most from a “buyability” point of view: the U1 in camouflage version. Yes, it surprises me too, especially when I have no military affiliations or anything like that, but I saw the combination of those green-khakis with the satin finish of the dark submarine steel that has equipped the U1 cases since their conception as perfect. The indexes and hands, although it may not seem like it, are covered in SuperLuminova, which gives them the functionality that could be expected from a watch of this type. To top it all off, a khaki nato and a matching green rubber give the final touch. Continuing with the thing about limited editions, this one is limited to 500 copies and will cost the modest figure of €1,950 with the two straps. A collectible, without a doubt, despite (?) mounting a SW200-1 caliber instead of the ETAsa that were commonplace not so long ago.
If you liked this report, you may want to read:
- Patek Philippe Baselworld 2016 News
- Rolex Vs Omega at Baselworld 2016
- Baselworld 2016 Chronicle
- Telegram
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