The problem with visiting factories and seeing the immensely impressive skills that go into making things is that I always end up wanting to own an example of what I've seen. A recent trip to Glashütte Original's factory in Germany (I was invited as their guest for two days) was no exception. Only when you've seen a watchmaker deftly pick up and manipulate a screw the size of a grain of sand can you appreciate the skills that go into making the best watches and naturally you want one on your wrist.
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| My favourite Glashütte Original watches are at opposite ends of the price spectrum, ranging from £4900 for classic simplicity to nearly £30,000 for the skeletonized watch, partly shown centre |
This visit to Glashütte was my first to a watch factory and I'd never really sat down to consider how a good watch is made to become one of the most beautiful yet practical objects and man or woman can own.
When we see images and videos of watches being put together we forget that they are magnified many times. A component that appears several millimetres across may be in reality be mistaken for a speck of dust. Yet somehow that object has been machined, polished, blued and added to several hundred other components to make a little machine that, without any external power source, ticks away and keeps time often to within a few seconds a month.
A good watch is a minor mechanical miracle and the result of the most impressively skilled micro-engineering. And this is what I saw at Glashütte.
When we see images and videos of watches being put together we forget that they are magnified many times. A component that appears several millimetres across may be in reality be mistaken for a speck of dust. Yet somehow that object has been machined, polished, blued and added to several hundred other components to make a little machine that, without any external power source, ticks away and keeps time often to within a few seconds a month.
A good watch is a minor mechanical miracle and the result of the most impressively skilled micro-engineering. And this is what I saw at Glashütte.
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| Making components (from top left clockwise: bevelling edges, bluing screws, pressing rubies) |
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| Assembling components, each of which has been carefully manufactured and finished by hand |
Glashütte Original makes nearly all their own components, including movements and dials. This adds a value and interest to a watch at a time when many major manufacturers buy in such components. The most discerning watch buyers will look for watches that are made in this way - perhaps because it echoes the origins of the skills of watchmaking, when a master craftsman would make an entire watch rather than simply assemble parts made by others. Such an approach adds to the cost of a watch, but Glashütte's range starts at £4200; competitive for watches of such quality.
And quality lies at the heart of German watchmaking. Glashütte Original is named after the town where it and several other prestige watchmakers are based (such as A. Lange & Söhne, Nomos Glashütte and Mühle Glashütte). Glashütte Original's roots go back to the nineteenth century and through the Communist era. It has built on that heritage to develop a luxury watchmaking business of the highest quality. Many workers have been there for decades, while young watchmakers and engineers also make up a large part of the workforce.
Glashütte Original is proud of its heritage and doesn't shy from reviving the designs it used in the sixties when it was at the heart of watchmaking in Communist East Germany. As you can see from the image below, the striking Sixties range (a favourite of mine) draws heavily on that era while making available the best of their watchmaking skills at a relatively affordable price.
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| In The German Watch Museum, Glashütte (L) and from the current Glashütte Original Classic Sixties range (R) |
And talking of the Sixties collection, Glashütte Original have just launched this year's version in a gorgeous pumpkin orange (below) which I love almost as much as the previous minty green version (pictured above).
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| Glashütte Original Sixties Edition for 2019 |
Other watches in the collection range from the classically minimalist Senator Automatic, with its beautifully blued hands, to the Senator Moon Phase Skeletonized Edition and a Tourbillon range which combine complexity, beauty and astonishing watchmaking skills.
Glashütte Original are also behind the German Watch Museum and Watchmaking School which display the history of the town's watchmaking skills and isn't to be missed if you visit the area.
For more information see Glashütte Original.
Note: I was a guest of Glashütte Original in Dresden and Glashütte. All views expressed here are mine alone. I have not been compensated for this feature.
Note: I was a guest of Glashütte Original in Dresden and Glashütte. All views expressed here are mine alone. I have not been compensated for this feature.
