I have a few of them, pocket watches I mean. I just got them from my grandfather, and it seems that most of him were owned by his own father and grandfather. I never wear them and they just sit tight in the safe. Although I can admire a nice pocket watch, I don’t see myself wearing (or is it carrying?) one of those time pieces.

However, I guess there is a market for them, since Glashütte Original just introduced their Pocket Watch No.1 today on the 28th of October. With the launch of the Glashütte Original Pocket Watch No. 1, the established manufactory harkens back to this epoch and presents a timelessly elegant pocket watch with quarter-hour repetition, which comes in a worldwide limited edition of 25 pieces.

As a reference model, a historical watch by Julius Assmann (famous for his pioneering work in the Glashütte watchmaking industry) has been used. When I attend watchfairs, I sometimes look at these (formerly) East German made pocket watches and really like them for their complications, especially the repetition movements. However, as I said before, when am I ever going to use such a watch? Perhaps I should put one up in a glass bell in the living room and use it as a clock.

Back to the Glashütte Original Pocket Watch No.1. It features a quarter-hour repetition that will tell you time by first letting you hear the number of hours that passed, and additionally (in another tone) the quarters since that last hour. So, if it dings 12 times and dings (in a higher tone) another 2 times, it is half past 12 in the afternoon. To operate the repetition complication, simply use the slide that is located on the lower side of the case.

What I really do like about pocket watches is that the movement is kind of large and easy to access. As you can see above, the Glashütte Original movement is a feast for the eyes, especially the engraving on the balance cock.

This special model will be available as of April 2010 when it will be officially presented during BASELWORLD 2010 (18 – 25 March). And remember folks, only 25 pieces available. I guess you have to be quick or have some good friends over at the Glashütte Original factory.

Glashütte Original took part in the international ART HK 09 fair in Hong Kong, by presenting a nice selection of timepieces  and watchmaking demonstrations to the visitors. This year’s ART HK09 fair attracted more than 27.000 visitors.

Click here to go to the official pictorial review by Glashütte Original.

Glashütte Original presented a number of pocket watches, pilot watches, chronographs, historical wristwatches, and historic watchmaking tools. This all together represented more than 160 years of continuous creation and development.

As you can see, the weather was cloudy and we only had some sun rays on friday. However, we were inside the BaselWorld building anyway. The first day of Basel was overwhelming. BaselWorld is so big and so crowded, I really had the feeling that I hadn’t see anything at the end of the day. Friday we were packed with appointments with brands like Blancpain, Glashütte Original, Jean Dunand and Jaquet Droz. We only had little time to wander around to see all the watches we wanted to see. However, I did meet for the first time with the Grönefeld brothers and got a nice introduction on their GMT06 watch (and had a few beers with them later on that day). We also teamed up with the people of a Dutch magazine called Watching and got invited for a nice diner organized by Nomos.

On of my personal highlights of BaselWorld 2009 was the introduction of the new Omega Speedmaster Professional 40th Anniversary edition by former Apollo astronauts (Aldrin, Duke, Schmitt, Cernan and Stafford) on saturday around noon.

Omega also displayed some of their Speedmasters, used by the astronauts in the 1960s and 1970s. These watches are normally part of their museum watches (which is located in Biel, Switzerland).

Another high light was our meeting with Maitres du Temps, the introduction of their Chapter Two watch by Steven Holtzman and an unexpected interview with master watchmakers Roger Dubuis and Daniel Roth. More on that in our detailed report later on.

I also was pleasantly surprised by the product knowledge meeting of Glashütte Original, presented my Mr Meier, Managing Director of Glashütte Original. It was very easy-going, with a lot of humour and some old faces that were nice to see again. A big thank you to Mr Marx for the invitation!

One of my personal favorites are the SpidoLite and 3-Timer watches from Linde Werdelin. We had a great meeting with Aphrodite of Linde Werdelin in their booth, and discussed all new models in detail. Aphrodite / Linde Werdelin really took the time (which is scarce for exhibitors on BaselWorld) to talk with us about their watches and professional instruments.

Pictured above is the 3-Timer, which I really love! The dial pattern is amazing, and I love GMT watches. Below is their SpidoLite model (photo by Frank), with the Svend Anderson finished movement. I wrote an introduction article on the Spidolite here already, but will do a more detailed review on Linde Werdelin’s watches in the near future.

Last thing to mention here, is our unexpected interview with Bernhard Lederer of BLU (Bernhard Lederer Universe) and his wife. They introduced us to their brand and Mr. Lederer described the inner workings of the MT3 Tourbillon Watch.

Keep an eye on Perpetuelle the coming days for more BaselWorld news!

Back in february, you could read about the new Glashütte Original Senator Navigator Perpetual Calendar. And as of today, the firm from Glashütte introduced a whole serie of new watches during BaselWorld 2009.

All the news from Glashütte Original is summarized in the two photos below, send to me by René Marx of Glashütte Original.

Monochrome covered some of the new models already in detail, and I suggest you visit the BaselWorld 2009 forum over at Perpetuelle.com for all the latest news, pictures and details.

As my interest is growing in this brand from Glashütte, I am looking forward to meet the guys behind the brand tomorrow in Basel. Finally able to hold some of their watches in my hands and have a look at them in detail. The Senator Meissen Tourbillon and Senator Chronometer are very interesting timepieces, being classic and still suitable for the young(er) wrist

Just before the big BaselWorld 2009 exposition, Glashütte Original (hereafter GO) presents their Senator Navigator Perpetual Calendar.

This 44mm pilot watch in stainless steel has a matt black dial (as a pilot’s watch always should have) with large Arabic numerals and blued hour and minute hands. I don’t know if I am a big fan of too much functionality on a pilot’s watch, especially if they seem not very functional (moonphase and leap year).

However, as GO put it themselves in their press release: “The added perpetual calendar functions have been seamlessly integrated into the dynamic design of this efficient timepiece.” Probably only few will actually control the flight control stick in an aircraft, so it doesn’t really matter of course. As you can see on the picture below, the leap year is indicated with the small hand at 12 o’clock. The red ‘L’ in this subdial indicates that it is a leap year.

Inside ticks GO caliber 100-07, a manufacture caliber, that has a power reserve of more than 55 hours (+/- 10%) and features a reset mechanism to reset the second hand that enables quick synchronization. The reset button is being operated from an extra button on the side of the case at 8 o’clock.

The vintage look strap (calf skin) gives this watch a real pilot’s watch look.

Other Basel novelties by Glashütte Original are the Senator Meissen Tourbillon and the Lady Serenade Chronograph. I will do some coverage on both later on.

What do you think of a pilot’s watch with all these fancy features? Please share your thoughts by clicking ‘comments’ below.