As prices at neighbouring manufactures soar, staying true to one’s roots and remaining relatively accessible – both financially and commercially – with a wide range available for customers to buy, is a wise choice. Glashütte Original meets these criteria with laudable consistency. This is what allows “the least niche of all niche brands” to retain a loyal clientele and a well-considered, reasonably priced catalogue full of wonderful gems. Let’s explore some of these timepieces.
Senator Karrée
Not many people know this, but the classic Senator from the current collection once had a more angular big sister: the Senator Karrée. The range included some unfortunate chronographs, but the small seconds variations and those with moon phase, date and power reserve are elegant timepieces that have stood the test of time. The brand’s signature asymmetrical composition is already visible in a case that Gérald Genta, Audemars Piguet and Gérald Charles would have been proud to call their own.
The trendsetting Sixties
For years, Glashütte Original released limited editions, often summer versions, of its Sixties model, each year with its own colour variant. The brand wisely chose to create authentically vintage models, not just contemporary reinterpretations, resulting in a consistent design aesthetic. That means it could be a very good idea to pick up something from an old limited series, or even start building a vintage collection featuring one watch from each year.
The most affordable collectible
During the 1960s, Glashütte (not yet “Original”, known as “GUB” for Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe) mass-produced watches at high volumes and low prices, similar to Lip, Movado and other brands of the time. The Spezimatic is not a collection or a model as such – it’s more a technical label that encompasses most of what Glashütte was producing during that period. For between CHF 200 and 400 you can find the perfect period pieces, some with bold designs like the square Spezimatic cases. These East German timepieces, which laid the foundations for today’s manufacture, are relatively easy to get hold of, although a service will almost always be necessary.
A great Klassik
It’s a shame that the supremely elegant Klassik line is no longer produced by Glashütte Original. With its 36 mm diameter, it offered an atypical fluted bezel, blued hands, a railway-style minute track and large Roman numerals, reminiscent of Breguet but with an incredibly rare East German GUB movement. This piece for connoisseurs can still be found with some effort, usually for under CHF 3000.
The period TV
The current Vintage collection includes a “Seventies” line with a square case and rounded corners, an idea inspired by a rectangular “TV case” model with rounded corners produced by Glashütte in the 1970s as part of the Spezimatic line. Hautlence is currently running with a similar inspiration. This collector’s piece, which can be found at around the CHF 500 mark, gives an understanding of where the current Seventies line comes from, while providing a highly unusual but utterly charming conversation piece for your wrist.
© Images eBay, uhren-miquel, © Vintage Portfolio
