Ranked among the top five Glashütte brands today, Moritz Grossmann creates exquisite watches with a focus on handcrafted details and high-quality in-house movements. The latest news from Moritz Grossmann is not about a new watch collection or movement, but the introduction of handcrafted gold hands on the Hamatic Vintage and Benu Tourbillon watches. These meticulously crafted hands, already a signature feature of the brand, have been reimagined in massive rose gold. When Moritz Grossmann says 'handmade in-house', it truly means it. Both watch models are released in a limited edition of eight pieces.
Brief History
Invited by Ferdinand Adolph Lange to create a technical workshop in Glashütte, Moritz Grossmann began producing precision measuring instruments and tools, later venturing into making pocket watches, astronomical pendulum clocks, marine chronometers, and even patented his own second counter. As one of the founders of Glashütte's proud watchmaking tradition, Grossmann aimed to encourage aspiring watchmakers and, in 1878, became a co-founder of the German School of Watchmaking in Glashütte.
After his death in 1885, Moritz Grossmann's name faded into obscurity. In 2008, the brand 'Moritz Grossmann' was acquired by Christine Hutter, who revitalized it with a focus on 'Schöntes Deutsches Handwerk' or 'the most beautiful German craftsmanship'. Typical features of Moritz Grossmann watches are borrowed from the founder's pocket chronometers, including large movements and the characteristic untreated German silver three-quarter plate with Glashütte ribbing. With a reverence for handcrafted components and aesthetics, even annealed steel hands are made in-house and stand out for their exceptionally sharp tips and elegant profiles.
Golden Hands
Crafting hands is a complex procedure, and few manufacturers have mastered this labor-intensive traditional craft. Moritz Grossmann makes hands by hand (pardon the redundancy) and has produced the first set of rose gold hands for the Hamatic Vintage and Tourbillon models. According to the brand's representatives, an experienced specialist spends an entire day perfecting one set of hands. The first stage involves milling and eroding a blank from a gold plate. The blank is then meticulously filed with diamond files - a technique that requires skill, patience, and experience to achieve the required contours and curves and ensure a smooth polished finish with precision to fractions of a millimeter. The result is elegant spear-shaped hands with sharp tips.
Vintage
In 2018, Moritz Grossmann introduced its first automatic movement. Known as Hamatic, the movement is powered by an unusual 19th-century hammer winding mechanism. Like previous Hamatic Vintage editions, the three-part 750/000 rose gold case measures 41 mm in diameter and 11.35 mm in height. The dial base is German silver, mirror-polished and then given a 'black or' finish for a glossy black color. Roman numerals and railway tracks for the minutes and small seconds, by contrast, are white. The small seconds counter truncates the VI marker and is decorated with a snail. The obvious novelty is the three beautiful handcrafted spear-shaped rose gold hands. Both the minute and second hands have an elegant counterweight and perfectly align with the tracks.
Instead of a rotor, the Hamatic uses a small pendulum shaped like a hammer with a heavy gold head that swings back and forth. The kinetic energy generated by the wearer's wrist is transmitted through a ratchet wheel to the mainspring in the barrel. If you're intrigued by this fascinating anachronism, refer to Bryce's detailed article. The sapphire caseback reveals Moritz Grossmann's unique in-house caliber 106.0 with a clear view of the hammer swinging in both directions. The finishing is impressive with horizontal Glashütte stripes on the main bridge, polished bevels, circular graining, snail on the winding barrel, three gold chatons, engraved inscriptions on the bridge and hand-engraved cock, blued screws, etc.
A hand-stitched alligator leather strap with a rose gold tang buckle accompanies the Hamatic Vintage with golden hands. The watch is limited to eight pieces and is priced at 50,600 euros.
Brief Facts: 41 mm x 11.35 mm - rose gold case, polished - black dial with white Roman numerals - handcrafted rose gold hands, polished - in-house caliber 106.0, column construction - automatic with Hammer System winding - 36.4 mm x 5.15 mm - 312 components - 38 jewels (3 gold chatons) - lever escapement - Grossmann balance with 4 inertia and 2 poising screws - 21,600 vph - 72-hour power reserve - hours, minutes, small seconds - alligator leather strap with rose gold tang buckle - ref. MG-003079 - limited edition of 8 pieces - 50,600 euros
Benu Tourbillon with Golden Hands
Introduced in 2014, the Benu Tourbillon was the brand's first complication, featuring a three-minute flying tourbillon with a stop-second function in a large 16 mm cage on the dial at 6 o'clock. The tourbillon is inspired by the flying tourbillon cage with a V-shaped balance bridge, designed by another Glashütte watchmaking legend, Alfred Helwig. Another distinctive feature of the Benu Tourbillon is the split-minute indication.
Like the existing Benu Tourbillons in the collection, the 750/000 rose gold case has a diameter of 44.5 mm and a height of 13.9 mm and is polished throughout. The three hands, originally annealed to a brown-purple color in previous series, are now crafted in luxurious rose gold with impressively fine tips and an elongated, very refined silhouette. The dial is designed in a regulator style: minutes are located on the periphery, and small seconds and hours are on sub-dials.
However, since the large tourbillon aperture cuts into the minute scale, obliterating the time interval from 25 to 35 minutes, Moritz Grossmann designers decided to place the missing ten-minute segment on an arc-shaped scale between the two horizontal sub-dials. As with the Hamatic model, the massive silver dial is finished in glossy black with argenté markers. The minute flange is raised above the dial and has recesses for accommodating the two sub-dials - seconds and hours. The bridge with the 25-35 minute scale is also elevated. The crown is used to set the hands, while a pusher in the strap restarts the watch.
Moritz Grossmann's in-house caliber 103.0 boasts a long list of technical and aesthetic refinements. However, unusually, it includes a stop-seconds mechanism and a human hair used in the brake brush mechanism. The caliber 103.0, partially visible through the sapphire caseback, is equipped with a lever escapement, Grossmann's three-minute tourbillon with stop-second function, Grossmann balance, and Nivarox balance spring. The movement operates at 18,000 vph and provides a 72-hour power reserve. Superb finishing includes hand-engraved details on the bridge and balance cock, horizontal Glashütte ribbing, two-barrel ratchet spring click, relief gold chatons, etc.
The limited edition of eight Benu Tourbillon watches comes with an alligator leather strap with a hand-stitched massive rose gold butterfly clasp. The retail price is 179,000 euros.
Key Specifications: 41 mm x 11.35 mm - three-part rose gold case, polished - black dial with silver markers - handcrafted rose gold hands, polished - aperture at 6 o'clock on the dial for Grossmann's 3-minute flying tourbillon in a 16 mm cage - in-house caliber 103.0, manual winding - 38.4 mm x 7.1 mm - 245 components - 30 jewels (4 screw-mounted gold chatons) - lever escapement - Grossmann balance - Nivarox balance spring - 18,000 vph - 72-hour power reserve - 3-minute flying tourbillon, minute hand, off-center hours and seconds with stop-second - alligator leather strap with rose gold butterfly clasp - ref. MG-003077 - limited edition of 8 watches - alligator leather strap with rose gold butterfly clasp - 179,000 euros
For more information, please visit Moritz Grossmann.
