Moritz Grossmann launches a date watch with a guilloché dial in the on-trend colour turquoise.
- Guilloché dial in turquoise
- Jumping date display
- Peripheral date scale with bracket-shaped date marker
- Limited edition of only 18 pieces worldwide
The glittering sea, a swimming pool and the ice of a glacier: the colour turquoise is pure inspiration and as such gives rise to positive vibes and a feel-good factor. Jumping into the soothing cool waters of a swimming pool on a hot summer’s day, an alpine panorama with turquoise-blue glaciers or the blue-green sea dappled with sunlight: these are but a few of the associations people make with the trendy colour turquoise.
With the new expressive DATE Turquoise variant, the independent manufactory Moritz Grossmann presents its successful date model in a new, fresh and yet sophisticated look.
The most eye-catching feature of this watch is its beautiful guilloché dial in turquoise. The special edition, which is limited to a run of 18 pieces, was created in collaboration with exquisite dial manufactory Comblémine by Kari Voutilainen in Switzerland’s Val-de-Travers. The brilliantly iridescent guilloché on the main dial and subsidiary seconds draw the eye and will lend any outfit a special touch – exciting, artistic and very, very cool. The new look is completed by the case made from polished stainless steel, which is another completely new style element for the DATE.
Guilloché – a royal craft
Guilloché is an ancient craft that only a few experts today are still able to master. It has its origins in artistic wood turning and was taught mainly in high aristocratic circles in the 16th-18th centuries.
A geometric pattern comprising several fine lines is engraved into the dial using a guilloché machine. It is highly demanding work that needs to be carried out with full concentration and excellent visual judgement to ensure consistent depth and spacing between the lines. Only in this way is an impression of perfect regularity crafted. The extremely fine grooves are polished to a high gloss using a diamond, giving rise to fascinating reflections of light.
Dial and hands – an interplay of colour in turquoise and blue
The guilloché pattern on the dial and solid silver subsidiary seconds are furnished with a special coating. Depending on the angle the light falls, it creates a dynamic interplay of subtle turquoise shades that are reminiscent of rays of sun on a shimmering body of water.
The minute scale has been moved slightly inwards, creating space for the complete date scale from 1 to 31. The dial numerals in blue contrast sharply with the light background. The hours and minutes are impressed onto a silver ring in dot form. The combination of the iridescent turquoise of the guilloché and the case made from stainless steel creates a cohesive overall impression of perfectly coordinated colours and shapes.
The lance-shaped hands of the DATE Turquoise are handcrafted and finished in the manufactory and then annealed in blue to match the circumferential date scale. The blued bracket-shaped date marker is also elaborately crafted by hand.
Calibre 100.3 with jumping date display – adjustable in both directions, including just before midnight
The date display, a complication much in demand and talked about by watch connoisseurs, is a comparatively recent development in the history of the mechanical wristwatch. Only at the start of the 20th century did the first wristwatches with date hand start to appear.
A unique aspect of the DATE Turquoise is the calibre 100.3 with jumping date display. It is a combination of precise, legible display and mechanical sophistication coupled with a high level of convenience. The complete date scale from 1 to 31 and the unusual bracket shape of the date marker underpin the elegance and functionality of the DATE Turquoise.
One special feature is that the time and date can be adjusted just before midnight and straight after midnight. The hand is positioned exactly on the right date via a click spring. In addition to the precise jumping date display, this date adjustment benefits from the fact that the switching finger does not interfere with the switching wheel except for the jump to the next date, a process that lasts a matter of milliseconds. As such, the date can be adjusted forwards and backwards at any time while the movement carries on running.
To correct the date, for example at the end of the month, there is a separate setting crown at 10 o’clock. This crown is not active in the normal position, thus preventing accidental adjustment. To adjust the date, the crown has to be pulled out. The movement carries on running and the date can be changed by turning the crown in either direction.
Schönstes deutsches Handwerk – the highest level of precision and refinement
The rear of the watch also offers a striking display of colour thanks to the sapphire crystal back. The artistically finished calibre 100.3 with the Grossmann balance, the ratchet wheel with 3-band snailing and the hand-engraved cantilevered balance cock with regulator arm and Grossmann micrometer screw is a work of art dedicated to precision. The finest cuts and polishes allow the whole ensemble to sparkle in a multitude of ways. The screws, annealed by hand in violet, are in perfect but subtle harmony with the German silver, steel and gold shades.
The Grossmann manual winder with pusher
The manual winding with pusher developed in-house contains a perfected hand setting mechanism, which eliminates two potential problem areas: avoiding the ingress of foreign particles during the adjustment process and altering the hands unintentionally when pushing the crown back into place.
Limited edition
The Moritz Grossmann DATE Turquoise is limited to a run of 18 pieces worldwide and available at the net retail price of EUR 42,500. The watch is completed by a fine hand-sewn strap made from black alligator leather.
Moritz Grossmann DATE Turquoise Technical Specifications
Reference: MG-003406
Case: Stainless steel
Dial: Turquoise, solid silver with guilloché
Hands: Hand-made; hour, minute, seconds, date marker blue annealed
Movement
- Manufactory calibre 100.3, manual winding, regulated in five positions
- Movement dimensions: Diameter: 36.4 mm, height: 5.55 mm
- No. of parts: 259
- Jewels: 26 jewels, of which 3 in screwed gold chatons
- Escapement: Lever escapement
- Oscillator: Shock-resistant Grossmann balance with 4 inertia screws and 2 poising screws, Nivarox 1 balance spring with No. 80 Breguet terminal curve, Gustav Gerstenberger geometry
- Balance Diameter 14.2 mm, frequency 18,000 semi-oscillations per hour
- Power reserve 42 hours when fully wound
- Functions: Hours and minutes, subsidiary seconds with stop second, date display, Grossmann manual winder with pusher
- Operating elements: Two crowns in stainless steel to wind the watch and set the time and the date, pusher in stainless steel to start the watch
Case
- Three-part, stainless steel
- Case dimensions Diameter: 41.0 mm, height: 11.85 mm
Dial
- Solid silver, guilloché
- Hands: Handcrafted, steel; hour, minute and seconds, date marker blue annealed
- Crystal/display back: Sapphire crystal, antireflective coating on one side
Strap
- Hand-stitched alligator leather with prong buckle in stainless steel
Special features
- Grossmann balance;
- hand setting override and start of movement with lateral pusher;
- precisely jumping date display with a peripheral marker;
- bidirectional date adjustment with a second crown at 10 o‘clock;
- space-saving modified Glashütte stopwork with backlash;
- adjustment with Grossmann micrometre screw on cantilevered balance cock;
- pillar movement with 2/3 plate and pillars made of untreated German silver;
- 2/3 plate, balance cock and escape-wheel cock hand-engraved;
- broad horizontal Glashütte ribbing;
- 3-band snailing on the ratchet wheel;
- raised gold chatons with pan-head screws;
- separately removable clutch winding mechanism;
- stop seconds for hand setting
Moritz Grossmann watches
Moritz Grossmann, born in Dresden in 1826, was deemed a visionary among Germany’s great horologists. In 1854, his friend Ferdinand Adolph Lange persuaded the young, highly talented watchmaker to establish his own mechanical workshop in Glashütte. Apart from building a respected watchmaking business, Grossmann was committed to political and social causes. He established the German School of Watchmaking in 1878. Moritz Grossmann passed away unexpectedly in 1885, after which his manufacture was liquidated.
The spirit of Moritz Grossmann’s horological traditions sprang back to life in 2008 when trained watchmaker Christine Hutter discovered the venerable Glashütte brand and had it re-registered. She developed concepts and was inspired by the vision of reviving Grossmann’s legacy more than 120 years later with a particularly exquisite wristwatch. And she convinced private watch enthusiasts to support her in making this dream come true. On 11 November 2008 she founded Grossmann Uhren GmbH in Glashütte. At Grossmann, gifted watchmakers are preserving traditions without copying historic timepieces. With innovation, superb craftsmanship, a combination of traditional and contemporary manufacturing methods as well as precious materials, they celebrate “Schönstes deutsches Handwerk” in their watches.