Reviews
Glashütte’s Other Watchmaking Notables
Reviews
Glashütte’s Other Watchmaking Notables
Nothing happens in a vacuum, so it might seem odd to credit one man with turning the sleepy German village of Glashütte into a Teutonic equivalent of Neuchâtel. One would prefer to attribute this to a series of events, a “perfect storm” as it were, but the late Günter Blümlein deserves recognition above all others for reviving German watchmaking and elevating it to a level on a par with the Swiss, for quality if not yet quantity.
It was Blümlein who, with Walter Lange, masterminded the rebirth of A. Lange & Söhne in the mid-1990s. As modern horological developments go, it was an event that surely served as the catalyst for breathing new life into a region which had suffered for a half-century under stifling Communist rule. Instantly alerting the then-burgeoning watch community to the forgotten horological riches of the area, Lange’s phenomenal – and rapid – success was followed by the return of Glashütte Original.
At the same time, they embrace different types of watchmaking, from a maker of affordable timepieces with in-house movements to extreme haute horlogerie, completely new maisons or back-from-the-dead, a store’s own brand, one with “auteur” status and even a prodigal son. Yes, all of those elements can be found among the handful of companies selected by the organisers of Dubai Watch Week for a press visit.
The high-end one: Moritz Grossmann
Christine Hutter, who worked with Günter Blümlein, learned well from the maestro. Also cherishing Glashütte’s heritage, she chose to honour one of the region’s four founding fathers, who – along with Adolph Lange, Julius Assmann and Adolf Schneider – established its reputation for horological excellence.
Common to all are what the company refers to as “typical Grossmann hallmarks”. This means a belt-and-braces approach to everything, like three screws to hold in each raised gold chaton, hand-engraved German silver bridges, a cantilevered balance cock boasting one of Moritz Grossmann’s designs, a micrometer screw adjustment, pillar construction for the support of the bridges and hands made in-house.
The exclusive one: Lang & Heyne
Technically, this astounding manufacture isn’t a Glashütte brand: it’s located in Dresden. But let’s be flexible, because it certainly adheres to the mores of Saxon watchmaking down the strasse apiece.
Fifth-generation watchmaker and founder Marco Lang is very much of the culture that has given us Kari Voutilainen and Messrs Greubel and Forsey. Lang – “I designed my very first watch shortly before the millennium” – is a purist and a perfectionist, but his devotion to the region is all-encompassing. He even named each of his watches after a Saxon king.
If one had to choose a single model to represent this remarkable auteur it might be the rectangular Anton Flying Tourbillon. Turn it over. It’s atypical in this family as it is not round, and it features no three-quarter plate. Instead, look at its “bow-tie” bridge for the tourbillon, its “half-bows” for the remaining bearings, its massive rectangular baseplate and construction to make a grown watchmaker weep. This is art, and Marco Lang shares more than a last name with Fritz.
The cool one: Nomos
Among the best-known of the German brands, and easily among the most relevant in the real world thanks to the affordable nature of its products, Nomos has achieved much in a mere 28 years. History buffs will note that the company emerged within months of the fall of the Berlin Wall, making it one of the first manifestations of the freedom offered by the end of Communist rule in East Germany.
This is a modern company in every sense of the word, the only historical aspect being the choice of Germany’s traditional watchmaking centre as its base, and the use of a former train station for the precision machining department. Instead, its ethos is based on the pure style of the forerunner to Bauhaus: the Deutscher Werkbund. They’ve turned this into one of the very few watch ranges that actually deserves to be described as “cool”.
There is another whiff of the historical to Nomos: the CEO drives a 60-year-old Mercedes-Benz 190.
The returning one: Tutima
Unlike its neighbours, Tutima has been in continual production since 1927 – but they relocated from Glashütte to West Germany following the Second World War. While having to leave the place of its birth, Tutima was spared the degradation inflicted upon its fellow watchmakers by spending the dark years away from the Commies. A sense of longing, though, meant a return to Glashütte in 2011, not far from its original works.
What looks set to elevate Tutima, however, from a tool watchmaker of note to part of the haute horlogerie community is what they describe as: “The first minute repeater to be completely developed and produced on German soil.” I suspect that may be a dig at their neighbours, perhaps intimating that others may have had help from the Swiss. But the Tutima Hommage Minute Repeater – whatever the claim – will prove a rarity: only two in rose gold and five in platinum will be produced. Keeping it pure are the traditional Glashütte touches of a three-quarter plate and wave decoration.
The prodigious one: Wempe
Marking 140 years since its founding in 1878, Germany’s largest watch and jewellery retailer entered the manufacturing of timepieces back in 1905. It is one of those brands that honed its skills with genuine marine chronometers and this historical component informs its current activities.
Again, the visit was an eye-opener, not least because – like Nomos – Wempe seems to have missed the general horological directive to overcharge. And unlike most store-branded watches, Wempe makes its own, instead of simply sticking its logo on someone else’s dial.