In this feature, we take a look at some other paragons of quality and their uniquely German nature.

The PanoMaticLunar

Exemplifying the best of German design and engineering, the Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar, first introduced in 2012, features an off-centered time display, a matching small seconds subdial, an elegant moon phase display and the signature big date. The dial positioning of these elements conforms to the “golden ratio,” the legendary law of aesthetic harmony that has fascinated artists, musicians and architects throughout history.

The PanoMaticLunar’s 40mm case holds the in-house Caliber 90-02, a self-winding 47-jewel mechanical movement with a power reserve of 42 hours, featuring the typical Glashütte three-quarter plate with Glashütte ribbing, off-center skeletonized 21-karat gold rotor, blued screws and hand-engraved balance cock with duplex swan neck fine adjustment.

Steinway & Sons

Before there was Steinway & Sons there was simply Steinweg, which began as a humble operation ran out of its founder Heinrich E. Steinweg’s home in Seesen, Germany. In 1850 he decided to emigrate to the U.S. and trade his home in Saxony for a rather small Manhattan loft as a base of operations. From there, the company supplied the Americas while its new location in Hamburg supplied the rest of the world. Steinway & Sons has been granted 126 patents in piano making and with very good reason, because few if any other manufacturers come close to the level of excellence in manufacturing and innovation as Steinway & Sons have and continue to do.

Currywurst

The must try street food if you go to Berlin — and frankly most other German cities — is without question the Currywurst — a culinary institution with properties that somehow manage to be both straight forward and complex at the same time. It’s been around for decades and not much has changed over the years. Wurst, ketchup and curry.

According to the Currywurst Museum in Berlin, some 850 million of these sausages are eaten in Germany every year, including 70 million in Berlin. I’ve had Currywurst in Glashütte, right next to the Glashütte Original manufacture, so bring it on. Oh, and give me some fries with that!

Bauhaus

The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar opened its doors in 1919, and it quickly became the most influential modernist art school and movement in the world. Bauhaus will be celebrating its centennial next year and the values it succeeded in impressing upon people in the earlier part of the 20th century are no less relevant today. The most fundamental of those values being that form follows function, a lesson that great German brands certainly take to heart.

Photography: Tomas Monka/Skarp Agent (www.tomasmonka.com)
Set Design: Anton Thorsson and Söderberg Agentur
Retouch: Sofia Cederström
Concept/Creative Direction: Jay Gullers