By Harlan Chapman-Green
Now, here’s a nice take on history, that’s something we get to say a lot, but without really feeling it. Moritz Grossmann decided this year that rather than going back and looking at one of the watches the man himself made and designing that for the modern day, they would instead take an old concept and bring it to life in a wristwatch. At the same time, Moritz Grossmann just dropped the bomb on the world of horology, but are we ready?
I honestly wasn’t expecting this, in fact, I wasn’t expecting them to make an automatic movement at all, especially considering how well they are received as manually winding timepieces. Of course, Moritz Grossmann doesn’t make a lot of watches, so it’s got some time to play around in the design workshop and come up with something crazy. Because they are very much a boutique brand as well, they really need to bring something to the table with every piece they make.
The automatic movement is made up of a refined yet elaborate set of components, the most apparent being the large hammer which stretches across the breadth of the movement. This is connected to a gearset which in turn winds the barrel, it was first developed by Abraham-Louis Breguet and was very popular in pocket watches. I love the addition of it into a wristwatch, despite the fact that a simple rotor is much easier to make and decorate (and probably more efficient, too), this system is by far and away more interesting in every sense, you can even see a part of it through the dial.
This myriad of fascination is connected to a beautifully decorated calibre 106.0, which is made up of 324 individual parts, most of which are undoubtedly going to that auto function. The movement plates are made of German silver and the movement itself features a hacking seconds function. There’s also a 72-hour power reserve as well. The styling of the dial is classic Moritz Grossman and is very clean and precise, with steel hands given a heat treatment until they turn a ‘violet-blue’ colour.
This 41mm rose gold gem is priced at a respectable 39,900 Euros with availability beginning in December 2018. For more info, visit Moritz Grossmann online.
