In the first weekend of December, I will be visiting the Watch2008 event. A two day watch event, to be held in a castle in Maastricht. A city with a very nice shopping center and lots of nice watch and jewelery stores.

Anyway, one of the exhibitors on the Watch2008 event is Rainer Nienaber, from Bünde/Germany. This watchmaker, born in 1955, created his first wristwatches in 1995. Before that, Nienaber had a repairshop and was primarily occupied with clocks (regulators). Nienaber is a member of the AHCI – the Académie Horlogère des Créateurs Indépendants. Other members of the AHCI are George Daniels (Co-Axial design), Paul Gerber, Svend Anderson, Franck Muller, FP Journe, Felix Baumgartner (Urwerk) and our own Dutchman, Christiaan van der Klaauw.

Horlogenieuws.nl, a Dutch blog with the latest watch news, had a topic on Nienaber recently. They covered the Digimat watch, a nice rectangular shaped watch with a jump-hour display. Very nice, and limited to 25 pieces. That’s what I call ‘limited’.

After a visit to the Nienaber website, which is a bit of a disappointment really, I was immediately interested when seeiing the Retrograde watches. The disappointment of the website is mainly because it is lacking good pictures, pricing information and specifications on each watch. However, I rather see the Nienaber company putting their effort in creating interesting watches than in their website.

The Retrograde watch comes in several models, but I am discussing this ‘The Unique’ model here. Only 50 pieces per year, featuring a regulator dial with a jumping hour at the top, followed by a retrograde minute hand and a small seconds hand. The stainless steel case has a 41mm diameter and is 10.8mm thick. The dial has an incredible nice pattern and is made out of silver.

Nienaber used a A.Schild S.A. movement, also referred to as A.S. with caliber number 1130. This manual wind movement was produced between 1936 and 1967. This slow-ticker (18000 bp/h) is a 29.4mm movement, with a power reserve of 38 hours.

I am definately going to check Rainer’s watches out in December. The price of this watch is 6300 euro. An up-to-date price list of Nienaber watches can be found here. Since the used movement is not very special and can be found in lower market brands like MarcelloC as well, I will pay close attention to the finish of the movement and the applied modification. Otherwise I think 6300 euro is a lot of money for this watch.

Do you want to see Nienaber’s watches yourself as well? Thanks to Ernie Romers of WatchUseek, one of the Watch2008 partners, I have some entrée cards worth 35 Euro each to give away. Just drop me a line at fratellowatches@gmail.com.

Watch2008 – THE two day watch fair for the independent and innovative watch companies!

Watch2008, the 1st watch fair showcasing independent and innovative watchmakers, will be held on December 6th and 7th at Castle Hoogenweerth in Maastricht, The Netherlands. Visitors will have the unique opportunity to meet and talk to the watchmakers and experience their latest products.

“An event like this, mainly focused on the independent watch brands, is something we lack in the Benelux and maybe even in all of Europe”, says Ernie Romers, director and owner of Watchuseek.com, one of the organizers of Watch2008.

“A fair where pure craftsmanship comes first and the producers can share their knowledge and enthusiasm with true connoisseurs. That’s what Watch2008 is all about!”. In the opinion of the organizers, the glamour and location of Castle Hoogenweerth make it a fitting surrounding for this gathering.

The list of watch brands include: ACE, Aristo Vollmer, Blancier, D.Dornblüth, Cyclos, Fifth Avenue, Limes, Jörg Schauer and Stowa, JS Watch co., TB Buti, Kadloo, Kremke Watch Co., Kudoke, Archimede, MKII Corp., Rainer Nienaber, Pita, Steffen, Thomas Ninchritz, Quadtec, Marcello C, Pierre Junod, Anonimo and Svend Andersen.

There will also be several “round table meetings” on specific subjects like watch seminars and how to recognize counterfeit watches.

Tickets for this unique event are EUR 35.00 including food and beverage. An early bird discount applies until October 1st.

Please visit www.watch2008.nl for updates, links and subscriptions.