Glashütte Original

The new models by the Glashütte Original manufacture are more a consolidation of past years’ innovations, partially with new design.

Rather spectacular is the "Sixties Square Tourbillon": while the combination of a selfwinding movement with flying tourbillon and panorama date is not really new at GO, the cushion-shaped Sixties case offers an unusual, and highly attractive coat for the great movement.


Already shown last year, the "Senator Diary" is a really innovative watch, permitting to preset an appointment up to 30 days in advance, to be then reminded by beats on a chime spring. This interesting mechanism was not completely ready for series production last year, and as fate sometimes strikes, massive problems arose thereafter, delaying the project for a full year. Finally, the Diary will be delivered to the dealers.


The next piece is the "Senator Perpetual". With full justification, GO’s perpetual calendars have developed a status of classics. Barely any other perpetual mechanism on the market offers such a good legibility, while keeping a rather decent price level. Since that movement has been presented already with all kinds of cases and dials, GO now shows a specially beautiful variant: With a black dial, white printed Roman numerals, and of course the delicate hands in pink gold, this perpetual is certainly among the most attractive watches in the full line. This good impression is compromised by the weird rubber strap attached to it, though. But straps can be easily replaced, fortunately.


This is not possible with the next watch, which - I am sure - has the potential to become a true best seller: The "Seventies Panorama Date" has an integrated steel bracelet and its design quotes some aspects of the Seventies; thankfully, only of the more tasteful ones ...
The rectangular case is very distinctive, and the well-known cal. 39 with panorama date at 6 a good engine. The Seventies is available with three dial colours: dark grey, silver-white and a very interesting blue tone with varying density.


Another watch that will certainly become popular is the new pilot’s watch “Senator Navigator WorldView”. It is a technically rather simple construction, featuring a manually operated turning ring under the sapphire crystal. Moved by means of a separate crown at 5, this ring shows the names of cities, standing for the 24 time zones of the world. Since it does not move together with the watch movement, any calculations for the reference time in another city or time zone have to be executed by adjusting the city ring by hand. Anyway, this watch is a very attractive specimen among the pilot watches, and the location of the panorama date at 6 is also a bit more harmonious than the placement at 4, like it is on the cal. 100-equipped Senator Navigator.


Fans of decent watches will like the "Senator Automatic" with three hands hands and without date. It has a very classy silver dial with slim Roman numerals, and perfectly matching blued steel hands “poire corps renflé”. This model reminds me of the successful Senator Meissen edition, but is a lot more friendly to the purse. Not only the dial, but also the cal. 39 movement oldtimer is responsible for a low entrance price into the world of Glashütte Original. Abandoning the panorama date further keeps the watch slim and elegant.



Especially beautiful is the 18k pink gold version.


A variant in 18k pink gold and diamond bezel is offered for either gentlemen with a bias to precious stones, and for ladies with a bias to large watches ...



Staying with the ladies, GO presented a new "PanoMatic Luna", a PanoMatic with moonphase display. Its dials made from either white or black mother-of-pearl, combined with diamonds on the bezel make it a nice and feminine piece. The matching rubber strap has an interesting decorative pattern on the top.



Finally, a very attractive of the "Sixties Panorama Date" with 18k pikg gold case and black dial was shown:



This message has been edited by Marcus Hanke on 2011-04-19 01:39:24 This message has been edited by Dr No on 2011-04-27 11:04:18

I wondered where was the Senator Diary, now I know...

The defy will be to remember what event was planned one month before, when the alarm will chime.

As for the  Seventies, not may cup of tea, but I'm sure it will find its fans.

The Senator Navigator WT has to be seen in the flesh. It is not bad looking on your great pictures, though.

Yes, definitely a consolidation year, for G.O!

Best and thanks for your report, Marcus.

Nicolas.

This message has been edited by amanico on 2011-04-19 03:22:09

... with a small notepad and pen attached to the watch strap. So you can note down the event of which the chime is expected to remind you ...

Regards,
Marcus

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for those of us that could not make it this year. The pink gold with the black face is very striking on the Panorama Date and the Perpetual, any plans to see either of those in WG or Platinum? I still think GO is one of the most undervalued manufactures and has a certain "cool" character. Take good care.

Best regards,
Tim

Thanks Marcus for bringing us the new for 2011 GO's!

-MW

I love the use of rose gold in these releases.

thanks for sharing.

J

The brushed dial reminds me of some of their Chronometres and the Wempe specials.  Though the 70s is not to my liking, the bulk of the collection is interesting.  I'm a bit disappointed there's nothing new with that Chronometre movement though, like a piece in steel  

A

. . . on G O and the many other attendees at Basel.  I find myself in agreement with your assessment that 2011 is a year of consolidation, owing to the absence of a significant movement innovation.  The Senator Diary was introduced in 2010, but not ready for release until now due to difficulties in production.  Excepting the Diary, most of the other novelties are variations of extant models.  The Sixties Square Tourbillon is not a model I would have anticipated, and nor is the shift in aesthetic and movement caliber for the Senator Automatic. 

The one development that caught my attention immediately was the Senator Seventies, which is, I feel, a brilliant interpretation of the square watch theme, with its pleasingly proportioned blended square form and integrated bracelet.  This would've been at the top of my acquisition list had I not just acquired a modern sports watch; it's a bit difficult to justify the acquisition of another considering how inactive I really am!

Most cordially, Art
This message has been edited by Dr No on 2011-04-22 07:49:27

I've had a sidebar with some of you about the subject so let me put it out there.

I wonder if it isn't time for G.O. to move a bit more aggressively toward introducing an update to its Caliber 39.  The 39 is venerable and reliable but it continues to be introduced into many new automatic models (most recently, the new Senator Seventies...).  But we live in a time when advancements in the use of materials (e.g., silicone), escapement design and computerization, and the restrictions Swatch now places on third-party modifications of ETA/Valjoux movements, have prompted a renaissance in the introduction of newer self-winding and manual wind movements by top houses.  Certainly G.O.'s manual wind movements are real pieces of art, but what about a new self-winding movement?  I had thought that was the role to be played by the Caliber 100, but it seems that the older 39 still forms the core of many new automatics.

What do you think?

DB Darien

. . . and a large kernel, at that.  Certainly, the balance of 2011 G O novelties is weighted in favor of the venerable cal 39.  Two of them are designed around a centrally located date aperture, for which the cal 39 already has a developed module.  The Senator Navigator WorldView is compromised to some extent by the contrast between the space taken up by the dial and the notably reduced area taken up by the movement.  In retrospect, a solid back might have been preferable.

The Senator Seventies doesn't share this compromise . . .

[photo courtesy Tony A]

. . . and the '70s designs it draws upon, like this Omega Seamaster  . . .

[photo from OmegaMania]

. . . were equipped with movements that were technically closer to the cal 39 than the more recent cal 100.  The manual winding shaped cal 22 could also have been fitted in the Seventies, but I can't think of any contemporary '70s square watches that were similarly equipped. 

When we come to the Senator Automatic, however, there must have been a deliberate decision to make the switch to the cal 39 because the previous iteration was equipped with a simplified version of the cal 100.   As far as I can tell, the cal 100 would have been suitable for the new Senator Automatic, so we are left with the question as to why there was a change.  My sense is that this particular design would have been particularly well suited for the manual winding cal 49.  Of course, it wouldn't be a Senator Automatic anymore - it would then be a Senator HandWinding ;-) . . .

Cordially, Art
 
This message has been edited by Dr No on 2011-04-23 08:04:07

... and I believe it is the cheapest watch of the GO line. With a cal. 100 it would have been considerably more expensive.

Regards,
Marcus

. . . Senator HandDate, Marcus? That is thought-provoking, both on account of the needless dilution of the model that goes under the title "Senator Automatic", and also because the aesthetic is more refined than one would expect for an entry-level offering. Those collectors that own one of the cal 100 Senator Automatics now possess a discontinued model that has been simultaneously replaced by an entirely different, not to mention less prestigious, design.

Most interesting . . .

Is the Sixties not even cheaper? And thank you for the great report!

... therefore, it would be strange if the 60s weren't more expensive than the new date-less cal. 39 Senator.

Regards,
Marcus

Art

I have to say it at this point.  I'm pretty disappointed with G.O. and what it's done of late.  In the past year, I see very little technical innovation inside the cases of their otherwise attractive and well-finished watches.  And as to the one watch that even made a pretense of technical innovation, the Senator Sixties Tourbuillon, let me say this:  I think the day has long-passed when a watchmaker can take a tourbuillon used in other watches it has made, put it into a pre-existing design, and declare that to be "innovation".  I'm not buying it.

Having seen them default to an older movement that simply can't be compared to those of many top-tier manufacturers, I can't really put their watches on par with names like Lange, Patek, JLC, VC, AP, Blancpain, Breguet, Journe or Girard Perregaux.  If G.O., from a marketing perspective, is choosing to cut corners in order to price the bulk of their new production to a certain point in order to maximize reveunes, then that's what I'm going to perceive them as....a budget-minded brand that makes no pretense at striving to be among the elite of the business. 

I'm seeing horological and engineering innovation with Bucherer, with Grand Seiko and even with names like Cartier, that I'm just not seeing with this brand.  While G.O. prices their pieces to a point, Patek innovates with an entirely new escapement design.  While G.O. uses an old movement over and over again, Zenith upgrades its movements across-the-board with a complete new product mix that strengthens its reputation as a manufacturer of great movements.  While G.O. tries focuses on revenue masimization with their bargain-priced models, Lange takes its ground-breaking excellence in the RL and further refines its movments with the "Pour La Merite" designs.  Heck, even Omega is moving forward with a new chronograph movment based on its 8500. 

I don't see the same level of horological and technical illustration coming out of Glashutte Original.  I can't help but feel that we're seeing a certain grand strategy unfolding out of the bean-counters and financial types at Swatch....and I don't like it

DB Darien

To be honest I had expected that the caliber 100 would become the house workhorse and the 39 would move toward retirement with another robust movement being introduced that would anchor the sport models. It was a great movement and  I understand that the caliber 39 was the movement GO needed years ago but now? I find the senator most perplexing. This design would have been better suited to the caliber 100 outside of the question of putting an older less refined movement in a watch which had previously had a more modern heart beating within it. IMIO 2011 is a step backwards. I would hope that no one questions my respect for the brand when I say these things but my greatest emotion as I looked upon the latest developments was distress over the direction GO has gone this year. I see some good things there but my fear is the GO that I know and love may become something else.

. . . from a collectors viewpoint, Mike. The Explorer or Speedmaster of today isn't that far removed from their predecessors in decades past, which is, I think, a factor behind the affection collectors have for these icons. The Senator Automatic has fundamentally changed both aesthetically and mechanically in just five years, which must be troubling to those who have the original incarnation. I fully understand a management decision to cease production of the cal 100 Senator Automatic and replace it with a less costly version, but the designation could have been changed.

Cordially, Art

. . . by Glashütte Original in the last ten years, DB, how many would we come up with? Caliber numbers 22, 60, 61, 65, 58, 99, 95, 100, 90, and 93/94, not to mention the myriad permutations within cal 90 and 100. That's ten movements developed entirely in-house by a manufacturer whose output is in the four-figure range. What distinguishes these movements is neither cutting edge materials nor advanced technology, but rather, a dedication to the craft of traditional watchmaking. Glashütte's innovations, such as the seconds re-set mechanism of the cal 100, which allows the balance to remain in motion while time is being set, or the winding system of the cal 95, which reduces wear over long periods of usage, are more in the way of evolution rather than revolution. Subtle, to be sure, but meaningful if traditional watchmaking is a primary consideration.

Your point regarding the absence of innovation this year is a valid one, although the criticism regarding the Sixties Tourbillon is a bit off the mark as the press release doesn't invoke innovation as one of the redeeming values of the design. I hope, though, that you were excluding the Senator Diary on the grounds that it's a holdover from 2010. The Diary is a remarkable complication that allows the wearer a relationship with time, which I find to be both unique and charming. A perpetual calendar is a passive companion, the Diary an active one. It represents the core of Glashütte's essence: making watches that capture our imagination.

As for the ubiquity of the cal 39, yes, it would be preferable to see dedicated movements for each watch, but every enterprise works within constraints, and G O is no exception. Perhaps we'll see a slew of innovation next year. If so, I hope you'll be on board again ;-) . . .

Best regards, Art

... since many of the great movements you mentioned were quietly phased out again, before they could become some kind of standard. The wonderful PanoGraph started this development, let's then talk about the PanoMaticChrono - where is it now? And, msot recently, the Senator's cal. 100 appears to be the next one on the red list of endangered movement species.

In 1995, GO's standard movement was a GDR-indigenous alternative to the ETA 2824, and a simple chronograph module, commissioned to Dubois-Dépraz. In 2011, GO's standard movement is --- guess what?

Regards,
Marcus

. . . of the cal 58 . . .

. . . and the continuation of the cal 95 in the PanoMatic Counter . . .

. . . partially alleviates the admittedly painful loss of the cal 60 and (especially) 61. I'm not sure of the exact breakdown, but notionally, rendering the cal 39 the preponderant movement as a proportion of total output is likely correct. That said, I'm not sure I'd consider G O's base movement as an equivalent, near or otherwise, of the ETA 2824. The cal 39 draws upon the aesthetic of German watchmaking . . .

. . . with its 3/4 plate construction and swan's neck regulator, in addition to its higher level of finishing. The performance of the seven examples (in four configurations) that have passed thru my collection at one time or another has been eminently satisfying. Perhaps the cal 39 is the only movement that can be fitted to entry-level models from an economic perspective; if so, then there are many alternatives in their current catalog that aren't based on the cal 39.

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I think this is a great addition to the range, in a typical GO fashion of exquisite craftsmanship as always. Attended the Malaysia launch of these pieces last night, and I must say I think I have my eyes set on the seventies panodate now. The heft and feel is just perfect and very comfortable even on my smallish wrist. Love the blue and the look.

HAGWE.

Richard