Marcus Hanke
[PuristSPro Moderator]
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Baselworld 2011: The big PuristSPro report --- Glashütte Original
Basel 2011 Novelty report
Glashütte Original
by Marcus Hanke
Glashütte Original
by Marcus Hanke
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.
The cal. 39 movement appears a bit small in the case ...
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.
Changing illumination intensity and angles bring the black mother-of-pearl alive, letting it shine in vibrant colours:
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
Baselworld 2011: The big PuristSPro report --- Glashütte Original
Basel 2011 Novelty report Glashütte Original by Marcus Hanke 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 ...
Agreed, more a consolidation year...
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 h...
For this, the next model will be the "Diary Notes" ....
... 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
Thanks for the report Marcus, much appreciated
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 a...
a very attractoive set of releases
I love the use of rose gold in these releases. thanks for sharing. J
I like the Senator Automatic
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...
Thanks, as always, Marcus, for your reporting . . .
. . . 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 fo...
Time for a Change?
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 in...
There's a kernel of truth to your observations, DB . . .
. . . 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 Senat...
I think the new Senator Automatic was planned as entrance piece ...
... 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
Less costly than either the Senator Sixties or . . .
. . . 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 offerin...
A shaped sapphire crystal like that on the 60's back costs a lot ...
... therefore, it would be strange if the 60s weren't more expensive than the new date-less cal. 39 Senator. Regards, Marcus
Then I'll say it: I'm disappointed by G.O.
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 th...
My thoughts are not so far from this...
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 c...
There's merit to your concern . . .
. . . 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 funda...
If we review movement introductions . . .
. . . 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...
The problem is that innovation seems not to be sustainable at GO ...
... 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 rec...
From my view, the recent release . . .
. . . 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 ...
Impressive
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 fee...