Since it’s beginning in 2004 HAUTLENCE has grown to become a serious name in the world of Haute Horlogerie. With their newest model, the HL2.0, they really show what’s possible with their combination of design and technique.

From the start, Hautlence has created rather unusual looking watches. Although the first models used the conventional and super reliable Peseux 7001 as base caliber, nothing was conventional about the Hautlence HL and HLs collections. The new HL2.0 takes it even a step further. They call it their ‘Second Philosophy of Timekeeping’….

The Hautlence HL2.0 is a small wonder of technique and design. Not only visually innovative, but technically it’s also offering some very interesting innovations.

Continue reading “The spectacular new HAUTLENCE HL2.0” »

Sometimes you see a watch and you immediately ‘fall in love’ with it. This does not happen too often, but what if this happens with two watches from the same brand?

Recently a friend mailed me about a watch that was for sale at a local watch store. He knoww I have a weak spot for mono-poussoir chronographs. The watch was a Roger Dubuis Hommage Mono-poussoir in white gold with a salmon color dial. A salmon color dial is not my usual pick, but this one was so beautiful….

On the wrist the dial just suits the entire watch perfectly and i wouldn’t change anything about it. The engraving of the dial is absolutely stunning. It’s incredibly complex, yet absolutely not ‘loud’. This watch has all the ingredients I like, a mono-poussoir chronograph, an absolutely stunning movement which is superbly finished, classic yet not too convential design, details that will keep me intriguiged and it’s made by an independent watchmaker.

Now I realized this was not the first Roger Dubuis I fell in love with. The other one was an advertisment in a watch magazine I have seen several years ago, when i just started to get into watches. The advertisement showed a man sitting at a table with a newspaper and a cup of coffee. On his wrist was the Roger Dubuis Golden Square Tourbillon with roman numbers. Unfortunately I can’t find any photo of that particular advertisement.

Of course at that time I had no idea what an independent watchmaker was, let alone who Roger Dubuis was. Luckily I found my way to this ‘niche’ in the watch industry. And a niche it is. Most watch aficionados/collectors are not really familiar with the name and fame of independent watchmakers. With the small production number and small advertisement budgets this actually does not come as a surprise. When I visited the watch-store to take a look at the beautiful Hommage Mono-poussoir, I was surprised to see they had two more Roger Dubuis watches!

All three models are from the Hommage collection, which is the first collection be be produced by manufacture Roger Dubuis. The brand Roger Dubuis is named after watchmaker Roger Dubuis who build this brand together with Carlos Dias. Dias, as founder, owner and designer, had a goal to create a manufacture that was completely independent. He succeeded and every single part of the produced watches where produced in-house.

Roger Dubuis was responsible for the technical aspects. Before joining Dias, Dubuis founded his own aterlier in 1980 after developing complications for Patek Philippe. Dias named the manufacture after his friend and business partner Roger Dubuis.  And as a tribute to Dubuis, he named the first line Hommage.

In August 2008, the Richemont Group bought the manufacture Roger Dubuis, but they will continue to manufacture and distribute watches under the ‘Roger Dubuis’ name. Now back on topic… I was totally amazed to see three models of the Roger Dubuis line at my local watch-store. Absolutely rare watches, because Roger Dubuis produced only 28 pieces of every dial/case combination!

Below is the Roger Dubuis Hommage, a time-only model. Check the Roger Dubuis website to see the entire collection; you can view both the original collection and the current collection. This style-icon below is 40mm in diameter and made of rose gold. Inside is the in-house designed and produced calibre RD14. This automatic movement has 48 jewels and 171 parts in total. With a frequency of 4Hz (or 28,800 bph) it runs for 48 hours without being wound.

All movements used in Roger Dubuis watches bear the Poincon de Genève or Geneva Seal  as proof of the superb quality and finish. At the Roger Dubuis website you can view a very nice short movie about the quality and in-house production of the movements.

Also very interesting is the interview with Carlos Dias, The PuristS Pro did with him some years ago.

If you like to know more about the watches above, visit the watch-store’s website.

Last month Tim and Bart Grönefeld launched the Grönefeld One Hertz, a unique wristwatch with an independent deadbeat seconds, also known as seconde morte. Monochrome interviewed Tim and Bart to find out more about these two watchmakers and their two complicated watches.

The One Hertz is the second watch from the two brothers from the Netherlands, both highly skilled watchmakers. Their first watch, launched in 2008, was the extremely complicated GTM-06 featuring a tourbillon and a minute repeater with cathedral gongs.

Grönefeld GTM-06

Fine watchmaking is a family tradition as both Tim and Bart are 3rd generation watchmakers, following their father and grandfather. The Grönefeld watchmaker dynasty began in 1912, when grandfather Johan Grönefeld began his career as a watchmaker.

When the Grönefeld GTM-06 was released, to some it was a surprise that two relatively unknown watchmakers from the Netherlands could develop such a highly complicated wristwatch. However, Tim and Bart were well known to insiders and have been working on the most complicated watches for many years.

Tim and Bart Grönefeld

Tim and Bart have a very impressive resume. After extensive training in Switzerland, within a relatively short time span they proved themselves specialists in the production of the most coveted and exquisite horological complications of all: the tourbillon and the minute repeater wristwatch.

This year Tim and Bart presented their second watch, the One Hertz, which is the world’s first wristwatch with independent deadbeat seconds and features a completely new in-house developed movement.

Gronefeld One Hertz

Now on to the interview…..

Monochrome: Let’s talk about your new watch, the Grönefeld One Hertz. When did you start with the idea to develop your own calibre for a new Grönefeld watch?

Grönefeld: To make a calibre exclusively for ourselves is a dream come true. In 2008 we were assembling our first watch, the GTM-06 tourbillon-minute-repeater, and decided to create a watch that is more affordable to a larger public. That meant that it should not have a complication as sophisticated as the GTM-06. To make a simple time-only watch does not fit our strategy as we are experts on complications. The One Hertz features three complications: independent deadbeat seconds; power reserve; and a special push setting-winding mechanism.

Monochrome: How long did it take to create the new caliber and the new watch?

Grönefeld: The development began when we started sketching designs at the beginning of 2009. We were very happy to develop our ideas in collaboration with Renaud et Papi and we have been working closely with them for 20 years now. The technical side and the design of the One Hertz is finalized and components are now being manufactured. From first sketches to a finished watch will have taken two years of hard, but interesting and satisfying work.

Monochrome: What did you learn from your previous watch, the Grönefeld GTM-06, that was incorporated in the One Hertz?

Grönefeld:The design of the GTM-06 is very masculine and we wanted some of that design DNA in the One Hertz. However we have made the watch more elegant by using finer lugs and a thinner bezel. The shape of the indexes mounted on a black ring is similar to the GTM-06, but the dial of the One Hertz is subtler because the movement is only visible from the back whereas you could see the top of the movement on the GTM-06.

Monochrome: What challenges did you encounter designing a brand new calibre from scratch?

Grönefeld: We have been now working for 20 years on the most complicated watches in the world. To make a relative simple complicated movement is not really that difficult for us. Especially as we have the experience and collaboration of Renaud et Papi, with whom we have a very strong relationship. We make a great team.

Monochrome: You chose a calibre with deadbeat seconds, which is a complication not seen often. Why did you choose this complication? And how did you come up with the independent force for this extremely rare complication.

Grönefeld: Luxury wristwatches are mostly in demand for the emotion they offer. They are hand made with passion and patience. In the era when quartz watches came out the deadbeat seconds mechanism in a mechanical wristwatch was simply “not done” because the second hand moved like a quartz second hand. In the 1800’s quite a few independent deadbeat second pocket watches were made, indicating to their owner that they possessed a high quality accurate timekeeper. The highest quality regulator wall clocks had also deadbeat seconds. Because the second hand jumps in full one-second increments like quartz seconds, it is a very discrete watch. Unless the movement is viewed from the back, only the owner knows what beats inside the One Hertz.

Monochrome: The One Hertz features similar design elements as the GTM-06, e.g. the lugs, crown and probably the most important, it’s looks and style. What was your role in the design of both watches?

Grönefeld: All of the design of both of our watches was created by us, though with the One Hertz we also benefited from the input of a very experienced designer. Since the launch of the One Hertz we have had extremely positive feedback regarding its design.

Monochrome: Is the One Hertz, the way it’s presented to the press, what you imagined before you started?

Grönefeld: We are very happy with the case and dial design. The design of the movement is also important and unique to Grönefeld, the style of the bridges in particular. We only use classical materials such as steel, brass and German silver. For the bridges we have chosen stainless steel. The bridges sit very close to each other so that the hand-bevelling reflects light like a mirror. The centres of the bridges are laser engraved and sandblasted to give a unique look at the movement. At first we thought that we could make the watch with fewer components; however, after making the movement function better and look more interesting, we ended up with a lot of components, approximately 270 in total.

Monochrome: What’s next for Tim and Bart Grönefeld?

Grönefeld: We have a couple of ideas for the future. We do not know yet which complication to chose. Most probably they will be more complicated then the One Hertz. We will follow our “mechanical” heart, though we can reveal that we do love complicated wristwatches.

This interview was also posted at The PuristS Pro.

URWERK reveals the new UR-202 White Shark. A stunning limited edition of only 12 pieces, exclusively available from Chronopassion (Paris), The Hour Glass (Singapore) and of course URWERK.

The first line of the press release sounds just great: “Time is monochrome on the UR-202 White Shark”. With a website called Monochrome and being a fan of the unusual yet beautiful watches created by Martin Frei and Felix Baumgartner, I was delighted to hear about the new URWERK UR-202 White Shark.

The UR-202 White Shark’s monochrome design is the result of no use of any ‘make-up’, it’s only ornament is its technicality. URWERK has a huge reputation of using unordinary materials. The White Shark is made of titanium, steel and ARCAP, a combination of materials new to the 200 series!

The black numbers of the hours on the satellites stand out clearly against the light background. However one number of the 12 hour digits is not black, but red. This exception to the rule identifies the individual piece number in this limited edition of 12.

The way time is displayed is identical to the URWERK UR-203. The telescopic hour hands exist of three orbiting and revolving hour satellites. These hands precisely adjust their length to follow the three vectors marking the minutes: 0 -14, 15 – 44, 45 – 60. Because of the ability to retract, they allow for a very wearable and comfortably sized case. A moonphase and day/night indicator complete the dial.

Two turbines are visible on the back of the UR-202 White Shark and these are coupled to the rotor to regulate the winding system of the watch. The turbines are controlled by a three position selector lever. In mode”FREE”, the two turbines spin freely enabling maximum winding of the mainspring. In mode “Sport”, the two turbines spin with resistance, acting like pneumatic brakes that reduce the winding efficacy wound by 1/3rd. In mode “STOP”, the turbines are locked and block the rotor from winding at all, although the watch can still be manually wound if necessary.

The URWERK UR-202 White Shark is only available through Chronopassion in Paris (France), The Hour Glass (Singapore) and of course URWERK in Geneva.

You can read more about this ‘rare species’ at URWERK’s special website UR-RareSpecies.