Glashütte Original

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Originality & Excellence - diving into details at the G.O. manufactory

Yesterday I had the privilege to follow an invitation to the G.O. manufactory. The headline on the invitation read: Originality & Excellence and workshops were announced. So I was very curious.

It seems I arrived at the correct airport.



A familiar view full of expectations and promises....



I first went over to the German Watch Museum to see the temporary exhibition about mechanical calculators from Glashütte.
A topic that had never come across my way, but quite an interesting one with about 150 years of history too.

It was about time when I came back to the manufactory. After a short greeting and introduction the "classes" started.
As the headline suggested one of the main topics was the Senator Excellence line introduced in 2016 and based on the newly developed caliber 36, which can safely be regarded as a foundation stone of the future G.O. collections.

Here Mr. Köppe, head of the customer service department, is going into the details how G.O. achieved a power reserve of 100 hours with one barrel only!

 

Another feature highlighted was of course the silicon hairspring used for the first time at G.O. in cal. 36. The shiny block in the front consists of pure silicon. It is hard but very fragile, something to be observed by watchmakers during service. That said its temperature and shock resilience are the plus of a silicon hairspring.



Below the chain of winding wheels is clearly visible on cal. 36. The special thing about them is the lack of a ratchet preventing the barrel from unloading its energy in an uncontrolled way.
Instead the third winding wheel can move a little inwards and outwards in its place on the three quarter plate. It engages when the crown is turned and locks the barrel wheel when the crown is released. No more ratchet is needed which is a nice thing because that part and the barren wheel are usually subject to wear and tear.

 

A topic presented by "Our man in Glashütte" and his PR colleage Mr. Hammer was how the dials for the Senator Excellence are made.
Below you have some production steps of the dials of the Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moonphase (upper two rows) and of the Perpetual Calendar in the lower row.

As you might know Glashütte Original acquired its long time dial supplier Th. Müller, Pforzheim some years ago and has the dial production "in house" now, even if still located in Pforzheim.
I think we have seen a big improvement in dial making at G.O. since then.



A third topic covered was the quality control applied to the Senator Excellence and how it is documented for and accessible by the customer.
The tests exceed the German Chronometer requirements, but because the in house tests are not performed by an independent authority, the watches can formally not be called Chronometers.
Sorry, no usable pictures of this. But I am sure that soon there will be a report with better pictures anyway...


After the theoretic "lessons" there came the practical ones. Charming Mrs. Tautt demonstrated how the black polish on swan neck springs, Tourbillon cages and other selected parts is achieved and how the angles of plates and springs are bevelled.



Then we could try ourselves to turn a weight screw into a balance rim. Screws with a thread diameter of 0.35mm.....
This exercise makes it obvious that in reality the parts of a watch are muuuuch smaller than one would usually think.
And it really enhances one's respect for the manual skills of any matchmaker.

Back we went to the classroom.
Mr. Franke is the "resident watchmaker" at the German Watch Museum where he restores and services vintage and antique watches from any existing or gone brand that has ever produced watches and clocks in the town of Glashütte.
This designated him to tell us about the links between today's Glashütte Original watches and the ones of the former GUB in GDR times and and various watchmaking companies from before WW II.
 


Ship's chronometers and deck watches have played an important role in Glashütte history until about 1974.

This deck watch below from 1962 alone shows three links to present G.O. models:
You know the Senator Observer models that show an almost identical dial layout.
The paper slip is basically the same kind of document that is issued today with each Senator Excellence watch: An in house documentation of measured performance of the particular watch.



And finally you find a marking below the 12 that marked the watches of best quality from GUB production:



And this is the logo of the new in house testing program introduced with the Senator Excellence and cal. 36.



When I asked if the criteria of this internal testing program would be applied to all future G.O. movements I did not get an affirmative answer.

And should you have wondered where some G.O. models, namely the Sixties and Seventies line took their inspirations from, here you may get an impression.



I mentioned the dial manufacture before. Th. Müller, Pforzheim has not only only been a long time dial supplier to G.O. but also to the former GUB in GDR times.
This is noteworthy because the German Democratic Republic was notoriously short on western currencies and each D-Mark or Dollar spent had to be earned by exporting goods to western countries.
On the other hand GUB watches were indeed sold in numbers by a leading West German department store, even if under a name that was meant to obscured the watches' origin.
Here are two pages from an old dial sample book. If you feel reminded of the Sixties Iconic editions, then you are probably not wrong ;-)





After we had finished our classes the evening brought a very special treat for us: An elegant dinner in the atrium of the manufacture building.
We had excellent dinner (I prefer not to take pictures of my food), brilliant company and a most entertaining and pleasant evening before we were taken back to our hotel in Dresden.



I would like to send a huge thank you to the PR, Marketing and Service teams at Glashütte for making possible and inviting me to this delightful event!
It was a most pleasing, educating and entertaining time with the G.O. family.

Best, Martin