Patrick_y, a respected WatchProSite Moderator, delves into a critical yet often overlooked aspect of luxury watchmaking: the precision of time setting. His detailed exploration of zero-seconds reset and minute detents highlights how certain brands, particularly Glashütte Original, excel in user experience, challenging the industry to prioritize functionality alongside haute horlogerie. This article frames his argument, inviting collectors to consider the practicalities of precise time synchronization in their prized timepieces.
WatchProSite Moderator Patrick_y is concerned about setting his watches to the precise second and minute, and wishes more watch brands would create a user experience that allows this. While the German watch industry has some of these features, the Swiss industry doesn't have many of these features. the Swiss watch industry rise to the challenge?
The Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer; this model comes in a white gold case with a special dial with silver film applied with friction for a unique texture.
INTRODUCTION
A $5000 USD Rolex allows you to hack the seconds and set the watch precisely and down to the second. Yet, my $50,000 USD Patek Philippe with the 240 caliber ironically does not have hacking seconds, and the second hand just keeps on spinning. That's a bit ironic considering Patek Philippe made its name in accuracy trials. I'd also like to mention that Patek Philippe is adding a hacking seconds feature to many of their new models. And I'd also like to mention that Patek Philippe is not the only top-level Swiss brand that lacks some of these features; there are many watches from Breguet, Vacheron Constantin, and Audemars Piguet that lack a hacking seconds. Nevertheless, presenting this data point is surprising; the junior associate's watch has an important feature that the senior manager's watch doesn't have...
I like to set my watches to the second. And when I set my watches, I want my minute hand to be correctly synchronized to the second hand - if the time is 12h:30m:30s, that minute hand should be in the middle between 30m and 31m. Yet, this is impossible on many of my watches (many watches I own don't have a hacking second hand) and difficult even with the ones that do have hacking seconds.
There are three key elements here that I feel should watches should have...
0. No stop seconds. Pulling out the crown does not stop the second hands, the second advances at a normal rate. Thus, it is impossible to set the watch to the second.
1. Stop seconds or Hacking seconds. When you pull out the crown, the second hand stops. This is achieved in a few different ways, but the main thing is that the seconds are stopped so a watch can be set precisely down to the second. Many Swiss models have this. Yet, while almost every Tissot and Rolex model has this feature, oddly, it is not a universal feature among the upper-echelon brands.
2. Zero-Seconds Reset. The next level of hacking seconds... Upon pulling out the crown, the second hand resets to 00 and is held there. This is a relatively rare feature and is mostly found on German watches - and German watches are already somewhat rare as the watch industry is Swiss dominated. You can see this on several Glashütte Original models and several Lange models with the Sax-O-Mat feature.
3. Minute Detents and Zero-Seconds Reset. This is building on the Zero-Seconds Reset and taking it to the next level. When you pull out the crown, the seconds stop, the second resets to 00, and the minute hands correlate exactly to their indexes. When you turn the crown to advance the time it advances exactly on the minute allowing the correct relationship between the minute hand and the second hand to be preserved. For instance, if the time is 12h:30m:30s then you would expect the minute hand to be exactly centered between the 30 and 31 minute index. Very few watches have this. Only some Glashütte Original models, mainly the Senator Chronometer models have this very practical feature to my knowledge.
The Bulgari Octo Finissimo - one of the author's favorite timepieces - does not have a stopping seconds hand.
Your author's favorite Tourbillon has a hacking seconds for the Tourbillon!
Virtually all Lange models with a seconds hand has hacking seconds, and some Lange models have zero reset seconds - called Sax O Mat at Lange. Photo by Jocke!
This watch has zero seconds reset AND minute detents! When you pull out the crown to set the time, the second hand automatically jumps to zero (thanks to a heart cam) and the minute advances exactly by 1 minute, the minute hand points exactly to the new minute indexes too.
CLASSIC DEFINITION OF HAUTE HORLOGERIE DOES NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE CONSUMER'S USER INTERFACE NOR USER EXPERIENCE (UI/UX)
The Caliber 89 is the definition of high horology; it hits all the major pillars of Haute Horlogerie!
Haute Horlogerie, or High Horology, is mainly about three pillars; high movement finishing, complications, and movement architecture/construction/design (a lack of wire springs, an ultra thin movement, etc.). And brands have primarily focused on these aspects as these aspects are classic pillars within watchmaking and they are heavily marketable. These marketable attributes are features that can be added to the resume of a watch. But, some of these features are not always easy to use because of a cumbersome designed user interface (UI). A great user interface creates a great user experience. That's why, your Apple iPhone is so fantastic; it's an extremely complex device with a lot of capabilities, yet the UI/UX is so good that it works almost intuitively.
Patek Philippe now realizes that people want a date with their World Time mechanism, and this date goes forwards and backwards, so if you fly past the date line, the date will be correct! Patek Philippe is working to improve the User Interface and User Experience! Bravo Patek Philippe!
Unfortunately, brands are not focused on the User Experience nor the User Interface. The UI/UX has always been ignored; take for instance the perpetual calendar - a powerful complication - except that it is extremely difficult to set and there are even times at night from 10PM to 3AM that you shouldn't adjust the watch as the mechanism is in motion and any adjustment may potentially desynchronize the careful calibration inside the mechanism. This is just one example of watch manufacturers chasing their goal for marketable pillars without a lot of thought to the UI/UX that ultimately benefits the consumer's long term experience. If brands were more focused on the User Experience, they wouldn't release a perpetual calendar that was so delicate. And with today's jet-set lifestyle, an owner of a perpetual calendar may fly frequently and need to reset his/her watch if they get on a plane and change timezones.
A WATCH THAT HAS DONE UI AND UX CORRECTLY BUT DID NOT NECESSARILY PAD ITS OWN RESUME WITH COMPLICATIONS
So... Let's explore the Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer. This watch has ZERO COMPLICATIONS - oops, my mistake - it has a date and a power reserve, which are technically complications. Yet, despite its normal length resume - it does have one remarkable feature that almost no client ever asks for - Minute Detents and Zero Seconds reset!
The architecture of the winding system is unparalleled; during those few seconds while manually winding a watch, the energy from barrel to escapement is disturbed causing some rate inaccuracy on a normal watch. The Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer model (and other models such as the Regulator model) actually have special planetary gear sets (the three gold gears in the photo above) to allow the user to wind the watch without disturbing the rate accuracy of the watch! These are all attributes towards great precision and providing a great User Interface (when setting the watch) and a great User Experience (when setting, winding, and using the watch). The team that designed this watch cared less about cramming complications and padding the resume. The team instead focused on making a watch that is easy to use!
IN CONCLUSION: GLASHUTTE ORIGINAL IS AN UNDERRATED BRAND
The Glashütte Original is a special brand that doesn't chase superlatives for the sake of chasing superlatives. It's a thoughtful brand that tries to create impressive technical watches with features that are rare and irregular yet really helps reward its owner with special attributes such as precision. The User Interface and User Experience of the Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer is remarkable. The watch is a simple time-only watch with date and power reserve - not a long list of special complications to pad its resume. Yet, it is thoughtfully executed by a team of watchmakers who wanted to give the user something special that they didn't ask for. Apple computers makes products with almost a clairvoyance, giving people something they didn't think they needed until they had it... Once you have a watch with this stop seconds, zero-reset, and minute detent feature allowing you to precisely adjust the time, you'll start thinking - why can't those other brands offer something like this - in fact, why can't certain brands offer just hacking seconds? Furthermore, the Glashutte Original Senator Chronometer starts at just $25,700 USD in a large 42mm rose gold case - a reasonable amount in some sense.
I urge all of us to explore the Glashütte Original brand. Explore it for the first time or revisit it again! The brand features an impressive portfolio of great products that were made for real watch lovers in mind - and not necessarily made for product marketers. A classic German trait; to engineer an exceptional product but not always so exceptional in marketing said product!
Thank you for reading and as always, I look forward to your comments!
This is a white gold Glashütte Original.
The movement is reasonably well finished and handsomely decorated. The balance cock is engraved by hand - a Saxon watchmaking tradition. And the watch features a planetary gear set that allows the watch to deliver power and torque consistently to the escapement and hairspring while you wind the watch - a feature not commonly found on other watches. These timepieces are made in Glashutte, a town near the city of Dresden in East Germany.
This is the Glashutte Panomatic Inverse. There's a lot of beauty in this watch. The watch is asymmetric, yet there is a lot of symmetry in this watch. Photo by Jocke!
This squash looks like a Swan Neck Spring. No?
Photo Credits: Glashütte Original, Moderator Patrick_y, Moderator Jocke, Bulgari.
