Glashütte Original’s latest entry in its Vintage Collection is a rose-gold model with a small seconds sub-dial, a new dial display within the watchmaker’s hyper-retro Sixties series.
The new Glashütte Original Sixties Small Second, which introduces a small seconds display to the series.
Previously only fitted with three-hand or chronograph displays, the Sixties collection now offers this Sixties Small Second model that retains a true 1960s spirit but with a namesake classical twist at the 6 o’clock position.
Glashütte Original sets its new small second display within a shimmering galvanic silver dial and decorated with a fine matte finish, a process designed and completed at the watchmaker’s own (impressive) dial-making facility.
Artisans have matched the color of the watch’s hands and indexes to the 42mm rose gold case. All this attention to detail is easy to enjoy thanks to an anti-reflective domed sapphire crystal shaped to echo the gently curved dial and hands.
To better recall the watch’s namesake decade, Glashütte Original also includes a groovy matte green alligator leather strap that just might remind you of your great aunt’s shag carpeting, but in a good way. It will certainly look terrific on any wrist.
Well known for its superb in-house manufacturing (which I can attest is some of the most detail-oriented I’ve witnessed) Glashütte Original fits its 39-60 manufactory caliber, complete with decorative finishes such as Glashütte stripes, bevelled edges and polished screws.
All this decor plus a skeletonized rotor and a double-G logo can be seen through the sapphirecrystal case back of this eye-catching new Glashütte Original Sixties Small Second model.
Glashütte Original adds a green lacquer dial option to it its SeaQ Panorama Date collection. The new dial color, dubbed ‘reed green’ by the brand, joins existing black, blue and grey options within the same collection.
The new Glashütte Original SeaQ Panorama Date comes with a rubber strap, stainless steel bracelet or a grey fabric strap.
As with all dials made by Glashütte Original, the rich color of this newest hue again underscore’s this watchmaker’s unusually strong expertise at this particular craft.
This in-house ability is the result the brand’s 2006 purchase of its long-time watch dial supplier. The purchase made Glashütte Original one of just a few watch manufacturers to make its own dials in-house. (Check out this much-lauded example of how Glashütte Original excels at creating eye-catching dials.)
Glashütte Original also makes all its own movements. Inside this watch’s 43.2mm steel case you’ll find the manufacture’s automatic Caliber 36-13, made extra shock-resistant and protected from water to 300 meters under the sea.
Caliber 36-13 also offers an extra-long power reserve of 100 hours and, with a silicon balance spring, is immune to the effects of magnetic fields.
Like all the brand’s seaworthy watches, this model not only meets all the dive watch requirements set by the DIN 8306 and ISO 6425 standards, but is also passes Glashütte Original’s own Excellence Test, which entails a 24-day series of tests.
The watch’s unidirectional rotating bezel features a scratch-resistant ceramic inlay while all hands, numerals and indexes are coated with SuperLumiNova.
The new Glashütte Original SeaQ Panorama Date comes with a rubber strap, stainless steel bracelet or a grey fabric strap.
Sporting icy blue dials, this Glashütte Original Sixties Annual Edition & Sixties Annual Edition Chronograph are both particularly cool.
Glashütte Original Sixties Annual Edition Chronograph
The yearly vintage-style debut that teams the German-based member of the Swatch Group with historic dial designs from its in-house dial manufactory in Pforzheim, Germany, for the first time presents the same dial color simultaneously on both the time-only model and the chronograph model.
This year’s cooler hue may be less eye-popping than the previous green, silver, and (especially) orange-dialed releases into the collection, but the 2020 Sixties Annual Edition and Sixties Annual Edition Chronograph retain all the vintage-era design cues that have made the series a hot hit for Glashütte Original.
The pure 1960s design here continues, utilizing domed sapphire crystals, curved hands and characteristic Arabic numerals Glashütte Original found in its own archives.
But it’s primarily the dial on both these models that enthrall collectors, and Glashütte Original’s attention to the actual 1960s-era tooling of the dial-making process ensures that these dials seem to glow with a handcrafted cut and finish. Having witnessed the process at the Pforzheim facility, I’m can attest to the labor and attention to detail the dials receive.
At the dial-making facility, technicians first give a sunray finish to the dial blanks, after which they are pressed into their domed shape and then coated with galvanic nickel. That perfect dégradé effect on each dial starts with a spray of dark blue lacquer to give them a dark edge.
Then the dial is given a coat of ‘glacier blue’ lacquer, a process that gives each dials its own color gradient. After being oven-heated to burn in the colors, one worker cuts the dial’s individually incised indexes (using some of the original tooling). Technicians then transfer-print the numerals and add SuperLuminova highlights on each hour marker.
In-house movement As with previous models, Glashütte Original’s latest Sixties Annual Edition is fitted with the excellent in-house Calibre 39-52 automatic movement. The new Sixties Annual Edition Chronograph is powered by Caliber 39-34. The three-hand model is a 39mm polished steel case watch; the steel-cased chronograph measures 42mm in diameter. The domed sapphire crystal caseback on both models offers a clear view of each watch’s movement.
The Glashutte Original Caliber 39, the base caliber for both Sixties models.
As is usual with all this brand’s calibers, the movement is built with a three-quarter plate, a swan-neck fine adjustment, Glashütte stripe finish and a skeletonized rotor with 21-karat weight. The straps are brown-grey nubuck calfskin with contrasting stitching and pin buckle. Prices: $6,700 for the Sixties annual edition and $8,300 for the Sixties Chronograph.
Specifications
Glashütte Original Sixties Annual Edition
REF. 1-39-52-14-02-04
Movement: Caliber 39-52, automatic winding, hour/minute/second (central), polished steel parts, polished screws, plate/balance cock/rotor with Glashütte stripe finish, beveled edges, skeletonized rotor with 21-karat gold oscillation weight, swan-neck fine adjustment
Case: 39mm by 9.4mm steel with two sapphire crystals, anti-reflective both sides
Dial: Glacier blue, varnished with dégradé effect, white Arabic numerals, diamond-cut hour markers with luminous dots and (partially) hands
Strap: Calf leather strap nubuck brown-grey
Glashütte Original Sixties Chronograph Annual Edition
REF. 1-39-34-04-22-04
Movement: Caliber 39-34, Automatic winding, hour/minute (central), small second (off-center), second stop, chronograph with stop second (central) and 30-minutes-counter, polished steel parts, polished screws, plate/balance cock/rotor with Glashütte-stripe finish, beveled edges, skeletonized rotor with 21-ct gold oscillation weight, swan-neck fine adjustment
Case: 42 mm by 12.4 mm steel, two sapphire crystals, anti-reflective both sides
Dial: Glacier blue, varnished with dégradé effect, white Arabic numerals, diamond-cut hour markers with luminous dots (partially on hands).
