Glashütte Original

The senator Calendar week was first shown in 2006 as a Basel novelty and I honestly never took much notice of it till recently. Please forgive me for this oversight as I live in Singapore/Asia. If you dare mention a work schedule in terms of weeks - you'd more than often get a blank stare (and probably lose the deal!). It is uncommon outside of Europe to use the calendar week system to describe the a work schedule which is a complete shame.


This particular watch from GO is actually more complicated than the perpetual calender and assembled in the factory on an assembly floor where only the most complicated watches are assembled (eg. Tourbillon & PanoRetroGraph). Even the Senator perpetual calender today is not assembled in the same area and relegated to the assembly floor below meant for 'simple' watches. Of course it would be horological blasphemy to say that a perpetual calendar is 'simple', therefore the calendar week must be considered an exceptional piece of masterpiece horological art.


Present day, there are not many watches capable of displaying this 'calender week' information. If I recall recall correctly, the last Calender week display watch that was shown to the world was made by Nivrel. The Nivrel ran on an ETA 2892 and used a Dubois Depraz calendar module. The weeks were simply displayed in numerical form on the edge of the dial using a pointer style had to indicate the progression. The other watch that comes to mind is the Breitling Navitimer model 1461 also used a pointer system and these were not too complicated to engineer and construct.








What makes the GO Calendar week different then?

The answer lies in the fact that the week is shown using a large 'digital' display format. The week is displayed in red as a pair of numbers and this is a similar format to the big date concept that GO is known for. This is especially technically demanding as large discs require substantial power to move in certain circumstances.






Firstly, the entire calender week watch itself consist of 475 parts [*in comparison the complex IWC DaVinci perpetual calender consist of 474 parts] with 206 of these dedicated for the calender week module alone. The calender week watch actually has 3 springs in total; 2 springs from the mainspring double barrels of the cal 100 and one individual 17cm long (0.052mm diameter) for the calender module itself.


Secondly, the calendar week change always takes place on Sunday night with the week wheel turning one tooth further. During every change, the spring storing the energy is tensioned one-sixtieth in order to save up enough energy for the big change that occurs at the end of the year.  Over the course of 52 weeks in the year, this additional 17cm long spring is slowly tensioned and acts as the energy store for when the year is up.


Thirdly, the change from calendar week 53 to 01 takes place when calendar week “54” is next on the list. A release opens the stored energy and the week wheel turns the seven steps necessary to get to get from 53 to calendar week 01. This process uses up the energy that the 3rd spring has been storing for the preceding 52 weeks.


And Lastly, if this was not enough, the movement designers of the watch also incorporated a centrifugal force regulator (i.e centrifugal brake) to proportion out the energy when this yearly 7-step advancement change occurs. The only other complication that I know of that requires a 'centrifugal regulator' mechanism is the minute repeater. [*In a minute repeater the centrifugal regulator is the spinning item that ensures and regulates the rate of the chime is not too hurried or not too slow when activated]






You'd compare this watch to the world's fastest understated shopping wagon - the Audi RS6 Avant.
A sheer wolf in sheep's clothing; where the exterior traits are of the anonymous Q-car variety. The true genius of the technical tour-de-force engineering only known to the few that can recognize its elegance from the understated exterior. The same goes for the GO calendar week - simplicity and elegance of the Senator Calender week display betrays its complex inner workings worthy of par- excellence standards from the house of Glashutte Original.




Did you know about the complex inner workings of the GO calender week prior to this photo essay?
Or are you just as surprised as I am in full knowledge of the fact that this particular watch from Saxony is another 'sleeper' that certainly should be given way more credit today.

BTW,  I'm told now that the waiting time for a new Audi Exclusive customized car is approximately 12 weeks - perhaps time to put that Senator Calender week to good use then.*Grin Grin!*






 

This message has been edited by Dr No on 2009-08-04 09:49:56

Thank you for your post on the GO Calendar Week. This is one of my favorite watches and we do not speak much about it here.  There is also the ALS 1815 KALENDERWOCHE, but IMHO no other calendar week watch compares to the movement inside the GO Calendar Week, at least among the models I am aware of.  The ALS has the analog display with a pointer indicating the week numbers along the perimeter of the dial -- lovely looking but far less interesting than the GO display and the movement behind  it.  I was aware that this model is built in a special section of the factory reserved for the most complicated watches, but I was not aware that the perpetuals were not constructed on this same floor.  Apparantly this is one other complication, like the chronograph in general, that is more complicated and challenging to produce than the perpetual calendar.

The calendar week is really only useful in Europe, as you noted, but it is such a novelty outside of Europe at least, that it is appealing to some of us WISes who are fascinated by the unusual, especially when so understated as this one surely is. 

I am glad you posted this, as  I can never get enough of seeing and reading about this special watch.  I hope one day to see one in the metal.  I am very tempted by this watch that is relatively useless to me. 

Thanks again.

respo

The Caliber 100 housed in precious metal cases came with gold chatons but it seems not being the case anymore. Can you confirm that?

 

Regards,

Marcelo

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as I have not noticed myself till you mentioned it.

From observation of the pictures in possession, I can conclude that:
(1) that the chaton group that is perhaps "variable" is shown with RED arrows below.
the blue arrows show the jeweled section of the watch that is consistently the same regardless of case material.

but I cannot conclusively convery with 100% confidence the following as it may be due to pure chance:
(2)The S/Steel pieces with Cal 100 dont seem to have this group of chatons while the photos of the non S/Steel possess this
(or simply dont have enuff photos of cal 100 watches to make this grand assumption).

does anyone here have a Cal 100 watch in S/Steel possessing the chatons shown by the RED arrows? that would certainly answer a lot of questions

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I haven’t noticed there was a jeweled section with no gold chatons in the Caliber 100.

 

From my recent observations of several pictures of recent purchased precious metal GO Senator(s) I concluded no model, regardless the case material – gold or platinum – come with the Caliber 100 with gold chatons anymore.

 

My guess is that it is part of a cost-reduction strategy by GO.

 

Best regards!

Marcelo

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Spent some time asking about the gold chatons in quesiton and i have learnt the info to share:

the gold chatons appear in the Cal 100 in the following:

- In the very first First 108 pieces of the Senator Automatic when the Cal 100 was first launched (exact mix of case materials not specified)
- Senator Perpetual Calendar in platinum (Ref: 100-02-05-03-04, limited to 200 pieces)
- Current Senator Meissen as the Cal 100-10 [i.e. Cal 100-10 is the current Cal 100 derivative where chatons will be used)


In times of past, the chaton was present as the shape and size of the jewels were pretty inconsistent and the watchmaker would have to alter the hole in the plate to fit the jewel, sometimes destroying the jewel hole permanently and hence the entire plate [if enlarged too big for example]. If the jewel were held in place by a chaton that could be changed, then destruction of the plate could be avoided.

In modern day production, the synthetic jewels are all manufactured to extremely tight tolerances and sizes. So one could say that a chaton today is superflous in the functional sense [as varability of jewel sizes is not a problem, fits perfect into the plate]. However it is still a nice demstration of aesthetics from the art of the old masters' works.

My impression is that GO want to keep the chatons in the narrow upper end of the Cal 100 range from now on which is completely understandable in any product differentiation by any manufacturer.

That RS6 is is great example of top end grocery run product *laughs*

I first took part on a discussion regarding the Caliber 100 gold chatons after reading this post you’ve collaborated to with superb pictures.

 

I understand that the Senator Perpetual Calendar in platinum featured on it is not one of the 200 pieces you’ve mentioned. The strange thing is that wmclarenf1’s watch is from an even more limited series of just 50 pieces – supposedly at the “upper end of the Cal 100 range” – but its Caliber 100 does not have the gold chatons…

 

I apologize for insisting on this subject, but it really makes me curious.

 

Marcelo This message has been edited by marcelo on 2009-07-16 10:40:30

as i've written elsewhere, my mechanical interests are fairly rudimentary compared to 99% of you folks, but the aesthetics of the calendar week watch have always caught my eye.  it just looks great, and i loved the double big date approach.  that always struck me as very unique.  the handling of the actual days is also a nice contrast to balance the day/week windows.  and the color for week was a nice touch reminiscent of business calendars of yore.  i don't know if the watch turns up in the us very often, but i've wanted to see the real thing.  for the cognoscienti, it certainly could be an understated watch of choice.  now the rs6...who doesn't know that that thing hauls? 

for a great report of a great watch

True, we do not see much of this special watch with a very clean and Germanic dial

Cheers

even though I live in Singapore as well, as I am attracted by the aesthetic of its dial – clean and understated.

I don't use the functions on most of my watches anyway. At least I have the very useful panorama datum and day functions on this piece.

Goh

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its amazing that something seemingly so simple as counting the weeks is so complicated to do.

its a lovely clean look as with most GO's.

has anyone considered if it would also look good if they replaced the week counter with the month 1-12 counter to give it a triple date function.

i've never come across anyone who uses weeks as a measure of counting, but i'm aware its common practise in some businesses.

thanks for the review of what is obviously a high complication.

Graham

..., Decksurgeon, for pojnting our attention to this exceptional complication and for your fine report!

It is really amazing how complicated the calendar week feature is executed in this watch and how well this complexity is conceiled.

Here in Germany even in the IT industry calendar weeks are used by some people to describe deadlines.
As far as I know they are more common in production and construction industries here.

Best regards and Read you,
Martin

Understated is beautiful, specially in this case.

I didn't pay attention ot it till I saw it in the flesh, and, lie you, I was puzzled by its elegance.

As for the movement, a pure G.O!

Thanks for this informative and funny post!

Best,

Nicolas

Hi,

I am pleased to see that this very much underrated model receives some additional attention here. Let me add a view pics from mine, here in Germany. I also add the picture I have received from GO, explaining the complexity of the watch (unfortunately in German language. Sorry !). Btw: There it is said that this caliber contains even 507 parts.

 

Some pics from the backside. Does this tell you anything about your "Goldchatons questions" ??

Kind regards from Germany,

Stefan

 

 

 

 

. . . the 'exploded diagram' (yes, I do remember your last post!) is most welcome. Are you able to use the uncommon complication afforded by the Calendar Week functionally in your line of business? Cordially, Art

Hi Art !

Indeed. The "exploded diagram" ... )  That was me ....

As one of the other members from Germany said earlier. The calendar week is an extremely usefull complication for business. At least in Germany delivery time for instance is very often stated as "week xx". If people are emailing or phoning eachother , trying to find a suitable date for an appointment, very often the phrase is "how about week xx ?" and then they start looking for a particular day. So yes. Over here it is very much common to use the calendar week. Together with the date and the day, this is for me the perfect "office (business) watch" .....

Kind regards,

Stefan

 

 

 

. . . and wasn't able to respond until the following weekend. As it happens, the photos I wanted to use in my reply went awol when I tried to post a response. Now that they're back, here's a photo of one of G O's master watchmakers assembling a Calendar Week:

Right alongside him were several other watchmakers working on various high complications . . .

. . . and trust me on this: the Library of Congress isn't as quiet as this room!

My deepest appreciation for your efforts - they did not go unnoticed. Most cordially, Art

I love to see photos from manufactures. It’s the best way to connect with the human side that goes into our beloved timepieces.

 

I’ve just saved these images in my HD in case they should go missing again in the future.

 

Andrew  ;-)

photos...

thanks Art

Cheers