Independents

K.simon
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Visit to the Grönefeld brothers and the new Principia

I uploaded this story to my personal Facebook first, therefore there are some personal references.

1540 words. 

Yesterday I had the great pleasure of visiting my favorite watchmakers.  Bart Grönefeld  and  Tim Grönefeld . As most of you know I’m a Dutch guy and Oldenzaal is pretty close to where I live. So after a short train ride I arrived in Oldenzaal.

I’ve been familiar with Grönefeld since they first established their brand. Back in 2008 there were a few forums around and back then I first read about their first watch. Which is an amazingly impressive minute repeater with tourbillon combining cathedral gongs and special designed lugs for a strong resonance of the sounds produced by the hammers. This is the GTM-06.

My first physical encounter with a Grönefeld timepiece however was way later. This happened while I sceduled a meeting with  Ekaterina Sotnikova from Ekso Watches in Paris and the magical wonders of independent watchmaking were shown and elaborately explained to me. I was immediately blown away. I understood very clearly that these kind of watches are something beyond a fairy tale. I think this was about 4 or 5 years ago.

The following years I’ve had a few encounters with the horological Brothers. Both at Basel World and at the SIHH. Although at both occasions I didn’t scedule a meeting (because on both occasions I couldn’t really in advance anticipate on planning a meeting as I was a guest from someone else) , they were just so awesome and kind to show me their latest creations and philosophy behind the movement, development and decorations. For some of my friends reading this who might not be so much of a watch affionado, these fairs are the largest watch fairs in the world and are extremely busy times for the watchmakers.

Again I was blown away by what the brothers presented. After being a collector for over a decade and have seen soooooo many watches, it’s a huge achievement when a watch really gives you that magic feeling of realization that perfection does exist. I personally believe that the Grönefeld Brothers truly make the nicest watches on the planet. With “nice” I mean the total package of quality of the finishing of the movement, their technical inventiveness and case and crown design within their philosophy. I think they do the best job of all.

So as you could imagine I was pretty hyped to meet these gents again. And this time at their home base.

I arrived a bit early and wanted to make a short walk around the Pechelmus basllica. This church houses the clock that the Grönefeld family has been maintaining for a couple of generations now and served as an inspiration for their 1941 Remontoire and latest dial iteration for the Principia. Sadly, it was not visible due to construction work on the tower.

A bit early, I ringed at their door and Bart welcomed me into their atelier. When you arrive at the building and you enter the stairs you recognize the great atmosphere. You can hear the tick-tocking of an antique clock which displays a scene of ships sailing in front of Amsterdam. The waves actually move and go along with the swing of the pendulum. This impressive clock is the first thing you see when you walk up the stairs. Really cool. They also made a small display cabinet with old tools being either invented or used by the ancestors of the Grönefeld Brothers. Extremely cool.

We sad down, had a coffee and had a great conversation about their new automatic Principia watch. We proceeded our way to the workshop and there I was introduced to the watchmakers.

The workshop provides a working area for about 8 watchmakers. All of them are true artists. As the watch lovers know, they are known to fabricate the movement using stainless steel. The extreme focus and dedication is mind blowing. For the polishing they use different hand work techniques. One of which involves a very fine paper of 3 different structures which varies in fineness to polish the individual parts. I was lucky enough to see this process and feel the different structures of the paper. I also had a lovely conversation with the lady watchmaker and we talked about different finishing techniques and how they are implemented in the final result and talked about my private collection, how I got in touch with indipendent watchmakers, and how we both compare them to each other. Really, really cool conversations. Another watchmaker showed me the assembly of a prototype of the Principia and parts which are roughly finished and which still had to go to multiple finishing procedures. So cool.

We proceded our way downstairs and there I was showed another room where other finishing techniques are applied. Such as case polishing, perlage setting and the machine which is used for applying Geneva stripes. The brothers and I also talked about their collaboration with Hodinkee which was sold out in a day. I think it’s very cool that they went the extra mile to adjust the movement a little bit. Which makes it truly the Hodinkee watch, rather than the Hodinkee dial so to speak.

We headed back to the main area with two big tables and here the complete line up of the new Principia and 3 variations of the Remontoire were shown to me. I have no idea how I would discribe this watch. Maybe the best way is to say it’s beyond everything imaginable. When I checked it out with a loupe my heart skipped a beat. You can get emotional reactions to a watch of course. Which is why luxury watches are around in the first place. But I noticed I really felt silent and stopped talking. I am completely overwhelmed by this watch. When the Remontoire was launched I said “ it’s much more the future of classics, rather than a future classic”. Which of course means it’s a pioneer of new boundaries of perfection. You know how we have this joke that goes like “ how can you keep an idiot busy? Ask him to stand in the corner of a round room”. I suggest handing an idiot a Grönefeld and ask him to “spot the flaw”. I guarantee he will find none. It’s above a masterpiece. You will keep him busy for a while 

I started to unpack my bag and camera in order to take pictures of the watches. I brought with me a book and a wooden mask in order to have some nice backgrounds. Bart told me that he maybe also had some interesting books and he showed me some really cool books. One of which he used at WOSTEP, the Daniels book, but also a book dating all the way back to before 1900 and was used by grandfather Johan himself. Now that’s extremely cool to see.

I was given all the time to photograph the magnificent watches. The pictures don’t show 10% of the true beauty though. It’s a watch you just have to experience in person. While I was busy taking pictures , one of the watchmakers walked in to go for a coffee and we had a great talk about the world of indipendent watchmaking. Such a pure to joy to exchange thoughts regarding this highly interesting topic.

The brothers and I decided to have a quick break and we went out for lunch. Two doors next to the brothers is a burger place and we enjoyed some mighty mighty burgers and talked further about the progress I wish to make in my private collection, where my passion started and how I think a watch from their hands who add value to my private collection compared to other top notch independent watch makers. It’s good to have these kind of conversation.

When the burger was eaten, we went back to the atelier. Here I finished taking the pictures. The day I took notice of the introduction of the Principia I made a quick sketch of a dial variation of would love to have in a Principia. Sadly it’s not possible, since I wanted to have very specific elements. What I think it very cool and friendly though is that Bart really elaborately explained what actually had to be adjusted to make that dial variation I had in mind and where you find trouble as a watchmaker to adjust it for just one single person. Besided that, Grönefeld doesnt do bespoke series for the Principia in this moment of time.

Does this mean I am completely neglecting the possibility of obtaining a Principia in the future? Absolutely f-king not. They are the nicest (automatic) watches on the planet.

After we finished discussing this bespoke idea and after realizing I’ve spent multiple hours at the atelier, it was a good time to call it a day. I packed my camera and bags and thanked Bart and Tim heavely for showing so much hospitality.

It was absolutely one of the nicest watch days I’ve ever had.

Massive thanks again!

What an absolute pleasure it is to live in a world where this kind of perfection excists and where it is crafted by such humble and funny gents with a team that’s so proud and passionate about what they make.

Excuse me while I’m staying in heaven with my head a little longer.

💕 ⌚⌚ 💕

Team Grönefeld, MASSIVE THANKS.

See the pictures here :

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