Glashütte Original

What would a trip to Glashütte be without a visit to the G.O. boutique at Dresden?

I have been at BaselWorld this and last year to see the novelties,but time is limited there and the watches are still prototypes. Now I wanted to see and feel the production pieces on the wrist. (No movement pictures today.)

Let's start with the first deviation from the plan. This is the personal Seventies of Mr. Braig, who spent ample time with us and was an excellent and friendly host, as the whole boutique staff is.
The purple tint of the dial is not my cup of tea, but I like how sporty, streamlined and elegantly flat it sits on the wrist (here my wife's).




Would there not be a Seventies Chronograph in my box the Seventies Panoramadatum might tempt me with its ruthenium dial. Even under the artificial light of the boutique the dial changed between cold grey, a kind of olive and a slightly brownish touch.
The G.O. colleagues at the dial manufacture in Pforzheim surely know their business. A funny thing was that the leather strap seemed to follow the dial when it changed its hue. However that might be possible. Maybe t is just a trick of the eye. Nevertheless: A Seventies should be garnished with a bracelet for me, please!




Mr. Braig was obviously proud to to show us the Senator Cosmopolite and to let us play with it. We did not hesitate to accept this offer.
It is a real pleasure to feel the smoothness when the minute hand jumped in quarter hour steps by the simple turn of the crown at 4.
How I would embrace a version of its cal. 89 in the style of cal. 37 (rugged, reasonably finished, "affordable") in a "under the radar", water and sweat resistant stainless steel case and bracelet! I know this is even more unlikely than a Senator Chronometer in a steel case, but that is why they call it a dream, isn't it?)





Apropos Chronometer. The blue dial of the new Chronometer version is gorgeous. It is not shiny at all in a sunburst sense. Very elegant and restrained. But there is a depth to the colour and a noblesse that I can only applaude to. The only drawback is that of all dark dials with polished white metal hands: They tend to get lost on the dial under many lighting conditions. At this point one cannot deny that the blue dial version strays away from its design roots which demanded excellent readability and that makes its own way up the road of fashion. That is not a bad thing, just different. And as long as it stays true to the noblesse and the elegance of the Senator Chronometer I am fine with it. Btw: I did not ask if the design team tried out brushed hands, but I am quite sure they did.




Speaking of blue dials. Of course we took the chance to have a look at the blue Boutique versions of the Senator Date/Moon and Perpetual.

In contrast to the blue dial of the Chronometer these are mildly satinated and perfectly even. The Date/Moon pleased me most, especially on its bracelet.
And though I have absolutely no use for a moon phase display it is simply beautiful and balances the dial nicely.



I was relieved to find out that I will not need to save for a Perpetual Calendar. Not that I did not like it. The G.O. way to display a PCs is one of the best I know of (next to Moser), but I simply have no chance to read the day of week and month displays without my glasses. And even with them it is hard. Seems I am getting old.
But it is a true beauty nevertheless. (Sorry for the bad picture.)




Now let's move on to the important novelties of this year: The Senator Excellence.

Some say that the white dials versions were too reduced, almost a little empty. I think they are fine. They help yielding an effect that Mr. Braig described as: "The Senator Excellence in gold is one of the very few gold watches that do not make you ten years older in the moment you put  it onto your wrist." I tend to agree. Quite fresh and the red minute indications are sugar to my eyes.



I had already asked at the manufacture if they would not like to put these red minute numbers on the steel version too. And - of course, how could I ask  - they had tried that and decided by a clear majority that it did not work out. This leaves us with a seemingly black and silver watch because the hands are blued to a very dark hue of blue. They look more like black most of the time.



Btw. I asked if the dials of the gold and the steel Excellence were different apart from the red minute numbers because the dial looks warmer on the gold model. Mr Braig told us that they were the same, but that the light reflected onto the dial from the inner rim of the bezel indeed made the dial seem to have a warmer hue.

A smart move was to introduce a "sporty" version of the Senator Excellence together with the two more formal ones. Internally I call it the Observer version for obvious reasons.
At the forum presentation at BaselWorld this year this dark Senator Excellence "Observer" was the one to receive the most applause by far.
Mr. Braig was quite interested to know my opinion about the luminous triangle at the tip of the second hand. Obviously there are strong sentiments around against it.
Personally I like it. It is most reasonable to have the second hand visible on a watch that glows at night like the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center Lume is good!




Of course the "small Observer" calls out for a putting its big brother on also. I never did so before and was surprised that the 44mm worked out so well.
Of course the wide bezel, the short lugs and the dark dial with its detailed design help a lot. Amazing how a dial can hold so much detail and look so clean at the same time.
To me this is G.O. design at its best.



So which one to chose? I think the solution is simple:



Maybe next time we come to the boutique ?

Thanks a lot for the most pleasurable time spent with us and for their great hospitality to Mr. Braig and the rest of the Boutique team at Dresden!

Best,
Martin



This message has been edited by stromer on 2016-09-06 11:22:17

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Thank you Martin for sharing all these beauties with us.

Best wishes

Alkiro

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Best wishes

Alkiro

. . . because, other than the Cosmopolite and Observer, I haven't seen any of these in the metal yet.  (Of course, the boutique editions wouldn't be available in So Cal, anyways, as we aren't fortunate enough to have one here.)

Actually, the 2016 novelties did make their way to So Cal, but I wasn't able to attend due to a conflicting personal commitment.  Perhaps Our Man in Glashütte can arrange for a return visit of the collection.

Thanks very much for taking the time to share your thoughts with us, Martin.  Regarding the lumed seconds hand tip of the Excellence: one would not normally expect such an accoutrement on an ostensible dress watch, but the Observer version is casual enough that it comes across as intrinsically consistent in aesthetic terms.  Again, I have to tip my cap to the design bureau at Glashütte . . . they are so adroit at crafting a coherent aesthetic to their entire line.

Warmest,

Art

Dear Art,
it seems that (at least some of) the boutique editions are delivered to selected Tourbillon Boutiques in the U.S. Please refer to this Facebook post by the manufacture: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1733964663524588&substory_index=0&id=1374723796115345&__tn__=%2As
The 2016 novelties have started their roll-out almost four weeks ago. They have been available in Munich two weeks ago. They should have reached your regular sources in the meantime.
Best regards, Martin

Does that purple dial come in the chronograph version?

Sorry, could not resist

Seriously, it is the Seventies Panorama Date with the blue dial.
Don't let the pictures confuse you. It looks bluer and more saturized on the G.O. web site than it is in reality and looks more purple on my picture than in the metal. The truth is shifting around somewhere in the middle. This dial that can only be judged live. Anyway it tends to play into purple enough to keep me off as I am personally not a fan of purple.

The Seventies Chronograph dial is very different. It plays from a turquoise touch into beep blue. I did a post about the Seventies Chronograph with the blue dial a while ago. You may get a feel for the blue Chronograph dial there.

I like the way G.O. are designing and producing different shades of dials for the Panorama Date and the Chronograph. So there is something for the different tastes

Best, Martin

With Canon's auto white balance it will looks like that. LOL

Give the guy a Nikon and it's blue again. LOL
This message has been edited by Jocke on 2016-09-07 09:22:58

It looks SO different on the GO website versus here I don't quite know what to think. Is there an AD in NYC for GO?

I suggest you use the store locator http://www.glashuette-original.com/boutiques/authorized-retailer/ to get a complete list.

And as I wrote before: My picture is too purple but the website pictures are too blue. You need to see it in the metal yourself.

Beat, Martin

at all.   It is clearly lavender in color which in my opinion makes it even more desirable.

Ad we say here.
The automatic white balance did not work out under the lighting conditions but it was me who did not know his stuff well enough to do a proper manual one. Have to re-read the manual.
Best, Martin

especially if the magic is given that much room as in the simple big date version.

Thanks for sharing these images,
Magnus

Great pics!