After that, think of all of the watches that have non-round cases which just didn’t work despite best attempts. If you understand your watches, you will understand that the unsuccessful ones clearly outnumber the successful ones. So in regards to non-round watches, then there is great danger, but also fantastic reward when the manufacturer gets its right. In my opinion, the Glashütte Original Seventies, while not totally mainstream in its appeal, has the makings of a classic.In a sense, it is already a contemporary classic. Even though the modern version came out just a few years back, Glashütte Original didn’t simply name it “Seventies” because it loosely reminded them of this era. Rather, this particular collection, including models on several straps and three different dial colors, is directly based on watches that the brand released in the 1970s. In the 1960s to the 1970s, Glashütte Original came out with a large assortment of really interesting and very “out-there” stuff. That meant a great deal of experimentation with colours and case shapes. Remember that this was during a time once the brand was actually state-controlled, as Saxony was in what was then East Germany, run as a democratic country. Nevertheless, the nation was rather liberal with its designs, and it was a golden era of design that the Glashütte Original brand of now regularly draws inspiration from.
Introduced almost 20 years ago, the Glashütte Original perpetual calendar is distinguished by its functional and legible display, with four windows for each element of the calendar. Now at Baselworld 2017 the perpetual calendar has finally received a major upgrade with a new base movement, the Senator Excellence calibre 36, at a minimal price increase of about 5%.
Unveiled last year in time-only form, the calibre 36 is a robust automatic movement that’s destined to become the workhorse movement for the brand. It has a useful four-day, or 100-hour, power reserve, nearly double the 55 hours of the calibre 100 found in the earlier versions of the perpetual calendar. And it also has a silicon hairspring and free-sprung balance.
The perpetual calendar mechanism, however, remains the same. The two-disc, oversized date display remains at four o’clock, with the day, month and moon phase almost symmetrically position in the remaining quadrants of the dial. A small sub-dial at 12 o’clock indicates the leap year.
Available in red gold or steel, the case is 42mm in diameter, while the dial for both is silver-plated with a grained finish. Notably, rather than just being printed, the markings on the dial are laser engraved and then filled with black lacquer.
Price and availability
The Senator Excellence Perpetual Calendar in red gold (ref. 1-36-02-02-05-01) costs €32,300 or S$57,600.
And in steel (ref. 1-36-02-01-02-01) it will cost €19,800 or S$34,600.
Available in stores starting June 2017, both versions cost about 5% more than the calibre 100-equipped models they replace.
