Watch Commission
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Grönefeld appointment / disappointment
Such a bummer. I have been thinking about (read: obsessing over) the Grönefeld Remontoire for a year, and had finally decided to buy one. God knows they’re not a quick decision, so I wanted to buy from a trusted source. The 1916 crew in New York are real fellow watch geeks so that is clearly a safe set of hands.
The watch had been held for me, and when I finally got to see it in person…. It was absolutely magnificent! But also much smaller than I had somehow assumed throughout all this time. It’s a 39mm, but the design is so old-school elegant and efficient in terms of the mechanism and its occupation of the case that the watch appears even small for a 39mm. I am soooo very sad. I am relatively big person, and this incredibly elegant watch seems a little lost on my wrist.
In all my excitement I didn’t take many pictures, I’m the kind of guy who eats a great meal and then thinks “ah I should have taken a photo” so I’m clearly not influencer material… but anyway.
I had an important year and want to commemorate it. I’m open to ludicrous ideas in the low sixes.
Grönefeld Remontoire
Grönefeld appointment / disappointment
Such a bummer. I have been thinking about (read: obsessing over) the Grönefeld Remontoire for a year, and had finally decided to buy one. God knows they’re not a quick decision, so I wanted to buy from a trusted source. The 1916 crew in New York are real ...
How about a 42, 43, or a 44?
Thanks for visiting my company to see this watch. If you're interested in something larger, we periodically have the earlier pre-"1941" Gronefeld and recent DeltaWorks cases that are considerably larger than the watch you saw. Alternatively, a De Bethune ...
Definitely noticed the De Berthunes....
... will have to do some serious googling for a few weeks. I like to spend long flights with wifi reading up things like this. Fortunately I have a long existing wish list across all kinds of brands, and remain in touch with your team. See you there soon
I own a Zeitwerk Striking Time
… so you see how I am ok with big phat watches, and that we share a taste
Too bad! But...
I think there are much more interesting watches in the price range, and it's better to have a big wrist than a small wrist because most of the crazy cool independent stuff is quite large. The Romain Gauthier Logical one springs to mind. 43mm. MB&F perpetu...
They'll do custom work too
Have mine coming in later this month hopefully. I'll post a review when I get it. Have spent a lot of time with the Principia too.
Argh, hate it when that happens! I prefer larger watches and have experienced the same when I was super excited to try a watch on only to realize that irl it looked tiny on my wrist.
Most disappointing for me was the Voutilainen Observatoir, so beautiful but when I finally got to hold one it was so tiny... and I know that's a traditional size so it's not the watch, it just made me feel like I needed to go on a diet! 😭 On the plus side...
Only issue with the Ferdinand...
They will lose a ton on secondary and there's no way to buy one used, since they never seem to pop up. So the other options will have an exponentially lower cost of ownership if you're buying used like OP is? IE if I buy a Logical1 for ~$120k and get bore...
Yeah same.
It's nice they are owned by Chopard. All the benefits of being independent without any of the drawbacks IMO.
But if they are never popping up
and there are none for sale, are they really losing money?
I would assume so given almost no independents sell at a premium and the wait is not long for FB
When a brand does sell at a premium it's because its unobtanium.
Maybe new but market pricing today means the Gronefeld Remontoire, Greubel S1, MB&F HM9 are all in the $100k-$150k range. FB3 msrp new is in there, FB2 preowned is yet to be seen... but good point on the dress watch - updated pic
GF vision tourbillon not too crazy and the toubillon is in the same spot as the Gronefeld remontoire ...
Yeah, I was confused by that too. Gronefeld Remontoire is over $100k so I figured we're talking under $150k?
Remontoire price at double MSRP is a little crazy imo, I'd rather spend $100k on a MSRP $200k watch than $100k on a $50k watch...
100-150k
I believe in Grönefeld, I think they're going to continue to put out cool watches. But I don't buy watches as investments. But by the same token, I am happy to spend that amount of money on three or four very cool watches...
100-150K
But happy to spend that on several less expensive cool watches... Or not at all.
We have a lot of NFL lineman on this forum...
...I consider it a dress watch and not sporty, so it should be elegant. But you have to like it, so onward...
It is a disappointing moment, indeed.
I am sorry it didn't work out, but in my eyes, you made the right decision to walk away. I fell in love with a few 36mm Rolex watches because they were beautiful and bought them. Yes, beautiful to look at but not beuatiful looking on my big wrist. I sold ...
Yeah, this has got to be the best problem of the year
Happy to keep plugging away at this issue...
Wow
Yes... and with a fusée-and-chain constant force mechanism.... Hello!! Thanks for pointing me in that direction....
To bad you don’t like the watch on your wrist
For me its always been one of my favorites and when i had it on the wrist for the first time i knew i had to add one at some point. There are many options (great watches) to replace this amazing watch but for me its still one of my favorite . Like some al...
What a great entertaining and
instructive thread - thanks to the OP and all who've made suggestions! Cheers Marc