Visiting One Of Germany's Greatest & Most Overlooked Watch Brands

this is glucha Germany a small town of 7,000 people with no traffic lights a couple of restaurants and a pace of living amongst the locals that is quiet enough at night you can hear a pin drop down the road yet underneath its quaint exterior is a town that is a manufacturing Powerhouse that is at the heart of Germany's acclaimed and story watchmaking I traveled over 4,000 mi from Cleveland Ohio to visit a brand that calls a small town home that in turn is not only one of gla's finest but also serves as helping to embody a watchmaking spirit of an entire nation this is auto [Music] Ran So Rolan thank you very much for opening your doors up to us now we are in a stored region we're in a Mecca of German watch making gluta what does this region mean broadly for German watchmaking but also for glut ran the the region for Germany is like uh we are uh in glass we are top and we are number one in watch making it's uh the W the Val where we do I mean all watches watch Parts produced here especially in glass organal we do the the parts inhouse and this is a very long tradition for me that's the only part in Germany where we can produce this quality watches what are we going to look at today so we're in your main facility here right in the heart of got what are we going to see we're going to see the Departments different departments are going to show you uh where uh all the wetch making starts it's with tool making it's with the main plate with the raw material and then we go up in the different departments where do our screws uh we do uh the stone setting um even engraving this is all done in house you will see you will discover and uh then you you understand what means uh what is the the the big term watch making manufacturing so Rand where are we at now we are in the it's a part of the tool making but here we do all our stampings MH it means this is the beginning of the movement we have Parts here we have brass parts and we stamped them that uh they can uh go in the different departments for further work for further engraving for further Drilling and Milling so the important Point here is this is True Manufacturing right so you're starting with raw materials you are looking at things like base plates uh Wheels Bridges this is all being produced on site in the same facility that the watch maker is going to ultimately put this and assemble this watch uh and you know send it off to a customer absolutely we are here in the in the in the basement because everything starts here it's very oily it's it's like very loud and you see it's a a very heavy tooling here so this is really the beginning and this is also worse to show because not many people know that a movement starts from a piece of press like this mhm and then we start with this piece we have it on a on a big roll we cut it it's stamped and then later on we go and we do the drilling and the milling and you're going to make all those small little cuts for holes uh and in the base plate you're also going to make those recessed areas for things like barrels Wheels you're really getting down and this is where you talk about you 95% of what you're producing is all being done here so there you see that's a tiny a tiny wheel or this is for watchmaking actually that's a that's a big uh wheel that's a huge wheel but this is all done inh house there's no teas on it now so this this is in another department where we cut all the te in the wheels we will discover even more later and you're also producing your own dials here as well which is one of the common things that brands are going to Outsource so that's also remarkable so you're doing these plates here we we we are doing the plates here um uh this is for us something really special we need to still develop but uh main the main parts are already done in [Music] house [Music] so Rand as a manufacturer there's a lot of custom work that needs to be done both with the parts themselves but also the tools required for those parts correct absolutely absolutely that's why we are in the grinding Department here where we do not only parts for the watch we do also our the whole tools this uh part is it's like a screwdriver where we can adjust the balance wheel screw for the right adjustment and the timing of the watch this tool that's uh a little key and this key is like 2.1 mm long and we have a diameter of 0 point to in the middle there's a hole in the middle and a square where we can go onto the screw and we can unscrew yeah yeah then move so moving that weight around with that screw is going to allow the balance either speed up or slow down with its oscillation and swing [Music] absolutely so now we are in a department where we set all the stones and all the rubies in the in the main plates or in the different uh model plates and what we do here at the glass original is we do our ball bearing system um this is a part it helps us uh even you know about the uh the rules in glass to name uh a brand uh or a manufactury there's a standard set to be a who to watch standard glass the watch this is a a requirement of 50% in-house and we do almost the double in-house what what what we see now with the ballbearing system is that we do all single balls into the system with a little plate it keeps the distance and later on WE press it now we have the ball bearing system set and we need to put it in this skeleton rotor plate mhm this is done by hand because you need to have the feeling for the pressure you put on the machine so making sure everything's lined you have that everything is lined so you can even uh we can even uh drill it mhm to see if it works properly now you're going to see that we screw the rotor plate included the ball bearing system to the 21 karat gold Mass what I like about this too this is this Fusion of functionality with beauty right so you have something very precious like gold but it is still allowing the rotor to rotate right absolutely so you have the gold on one side and then on the other side this is really heavy 21 Kate it helps us a lot and it looks beautiful you see the two colors the silver color and then the gold [Music] color now we are in the engraving Department as uh you can see we uh do engrave here a part of our panomatic lunar this is the balance uh Bridge mhm it's completely engraved by hand we put it here in this wooden uh uh tool holder M and then they can do the engraving by hand so this will rotate and then they can apply pressure with their hand and that will create these Engravings you're so right it's rotating you can see it mhm it's like uh you can you can use it in each Direction mhm so we engrave it to underline the craftmanship in a glass original watch and then each Artisan do they have their own slight unique flare are these all uniform and their look how does how does that work is it an expression here if you do something by hand all parts are different so individual touch with each absolutely now you saw the uh the the engraving the hand engraving of the balance bridge this is called the butterfly balance Bridge butterfly because the two sides where we have the later on we put on the the one neck spring this is the raw material it's hand engraved this is already with the chemical treatment and this is a finished product and he will put the finished product product now onto the movement to make the watch tick and wake to watch up finally coming alive after all these steps coming alive that's [Music] right so we're looking at a traditional technique here R you want to explain what's going on this is a technique um we use use to finish all the steel parts you see in the movement or on the dial side in this case we have a Turon cage and uh this is now finished by hand with a tin stick mhm and some Diamond powder and some Diamond uh liquid you have it inside here and she's like polishing it that it's it's called afterwards it's called the black polishing sure and uh this is for the in in this case we have the turbon cage but we do it with our swan neck Springs we do it with almost all the steel parts in the watch all these tiny components are getting this treatment and you're looking at this friction that's being applied so that's going to after a period of time do you know how long this action needs to go forward to I mean it depends on the on the uh on the finishing component our quality standard is very high so this could be that it takes one day wow you cannot remove too much cuz then the technical or the function is not given anymore so we need to be very very careful and this is where you start to see that separation between many different brands where you're getting into these highly finished components where you're not just assembling a watch but everything is going to this additional level of scrutiny to really look the part Teddy we are in the assembly department now where uh now finally the uh final and the finished movement gets the dial on the hands on and at the end we put the movement into the case mhm so the casing is done here in this department with all the high quality standards we have and um we will start with figure out when our Panorama date on the CQ jumps because then we know exactly that's midnight mhm it's for hand alignment that it's helpful and we can set the hand on midnight on 12:00 quite helpful when you have a date that large to make sure you're in the right position huh that's the the uniess of of GL original with the panorama date and we are very very happy um having the CQ with the Panorama date because it's really it's really easy not for the not only for the assembling but for the clients exactly and you're always putting down this protective film beforehand so there's no scratching that could take place you're so right yeah and now she's adjusting the height mhm so without touching the dial there's no we cannot have any slight changes to the left side or to the right side otherwi otherwise the timing is not correct so this is really something we need to really watch out and it needs to be very very dedicated to the hand setting and throughout every single step of the process dust is our enemy because once this gets cased up there is no going back there's no going back we we need to uncase it again we need to clean it again now if you if you see the crown and on the tube of the crown you you you can see the the red fitting ring on the on the tube the red fitting ring shows us that the crown is unscrewed mhm so whenever the client unscrews the crown he can see it with this indicator that's why everybody for a diving watch it's very very crucial that you always check again that the crown is definitely screwed the case bag is then um uh case b of course this is screwed down we have a a special uh Force to screw down the case b in this case that's a a CQ Panorama date so we need to do it for a water resistance reason otherwise for the panamatic lunar we just see it without 300 M or without a waterproof control so now we uh fully uh cased the CQ Panorama dat and uh we did the screw the case back watch is almost ready but only almost now we start with our waterproof control which is in a different department I going to show you that we have a different uh requirements one is a a German industry norm and the other one is an international industry [Music] Norm Teddy now we are in a Testing Lab where we do uh our waterproof tests for the CQ model and as you know we do an ISO test um but this is not enough for a German watch brand we also do an additional test that's the dean a German industry Norm test which is even more stress test for the watch so this guarantees that the watch has the highest quality and all the standards we are above so we going to show you the process and we start with the waterproof uh machine so first we start uh the waterproof test in our lab we put in the whole water watch and the mass flow device puts in some air around the case and it always stays the same air when we see a flow and a change there's something wrong because then the air goes into the case and we can see that there's a little leak somewhere so it's a way to test those seals on the wash case itself absolutely and this is from uh 0.5 to two bar now we go there we do the water test by the way this is done for all the CQ models there we put on a pressure of uh 37.5 Bar for a minimum of 2 hours so now you could see that the water is floating so we can make sure that there is no air inside the whole testing device now pressure goes on up to 37.5 bar so now we take out the watch head from the water and we still do not know if there is a leak or not we close the dryer this is for all to remove all the water from outside so now the uh case uh is uh completely dry from outside and uh we need to take it out we put it on a heating plate and the heating blade is uh heating up to 40 45° C and to ensure that there's no humidity inside the watch this is to test condensation test condensation that's in in in water so no moisture will form on the underside of the crystal the crystal exactly so this normally takes one minute and then we can detect if the watch is waterproof or if we have a leak somewhere and we could see a condensation underneath of the sapphire crystal and one thing I want to stress here is that this is just scratching the surface for your tests for these watches especially the Pano date the interesting thing here is you also have a standard internally called the Excellence test where you're going to be testing these watches over 24 days temperature tests power Reserve testing the full duration positional tests all of this is being done before these watches go out so that's remarkable to think about so ran we've had a long day we've seen the process of producing these watches now it's time to get into the details of these amazing Creations so I think that I think one thing that's important to discuss at the beginning is you have five key pillar Collections and this encompasses an idea where somebody that's maybe looking at this brand can find a distinct identity in many of these different Collections and something that might be better for them so where do we want to be again I in front of us here we have some key pillars in your vintage series so do maybe want to start there so let's start with our 60s chronograph annual Edition annual Edition means that uh we just produce it for one single year yeah it's not a limited piece but it's only produced for one year you can see the dial with the dial we have a degrade like grayish and outside there's a degrade in Black which yeah so this outer circumference really dark rich black and then as it gets to the dial Center we'll start to transition into almost this kind of charcoal gray but light color that really kind of transitions well then the texture is beautiful as well I think the texture the the the strap fits perfectly on that watch and uh this is uh an automatic movement automatic chronograph it's a beautiful watch and then when you're playing with this texture with the strap it does kind of make it more of this casual and this is emblematic of as we're talking about the 1960s this is really what this goes back to and paying honor to your history and reference to that past transitioning to another decade but another model as well we have your 70s now one thing I want to dwell on here is just the concept that when you look at a walk watch there is sure the dial there's the movement but then there's also your case silhouette and what does IT project out integrated column wheel chronograph with your Panorama date this has all of the touches of uniqueness that I think are really cool to you know talk about the details even further so details of the watch I mean that's a our caliber 37 mhm um you mentioned it the colon wheel but uh on top there's a flyback mhm the flyback function this is uh especially done for the caliber 7 37 and uh there we have a dial a greenish with the degrade outside you can see it is like outside going back in the center and is bit uh more than a light green in uh the middle Panorama data at 6:00 power Reserve indicator also when you're talking about wearability on the wrist I find this quite wearable despite having more of the square architecture I've never really worn anything else like it but still pretty remarkably wearable and you find these kind of integrated style watches where they start to potentially wear a little bit larger in this case I think you're doing a great job in making this accommodating for more RIS out there absolutely and you know like uh with the 70s uh when I started uh we were discussing about the 70s what should we do with the 70s MH and uh I found that uh this piece is brilliant for doing not only limited editions but also showing the people with a unique case style that is something really special something different glass of the orginal presents on top with the Panorama date moving along to another watch this is a watch that I always think about when discussing your brand now this year celebrating an important anniversary of 20 years and whenever I position this watch I always I talk about the dial I talk about moon phase which is very emblematic of this brand but also the value for money that you're getting from the movement here the finishing on this movement I would say it's arguably not just the best in Germany for this price segment but perhaps anywhere for the price segment it's a really phenomenal watch this your panamatic lunar pantic lunar is of course a beautiful dial the panom fits perfectly with the moon phas you can see that's a balance on the dial and uh that's very very uh for for us of course beautiful watch the dial and now the movement movement is produced completely inhouse you have seen all the different steps today it goes from a hand engraving to a gold rotor 21 uh karat gold on the on the oscillating Mass like all parts done in house beautiful as you said 20 years uh anniversary this year mhm which uh makes us very proud and uh yeah that's uh iconic piece for glass oral yeah they give some reasoning behind that claim earlier because that was a pretty bold claim you talked about the 21 karat gold weight which for this price segment is rare hand engraving on the balance Bridge double regulator swan neck regulator there's just so many touches of detail in the finishing across the 3/4 plate the rotor how it has the recess track to rotate and be off of the center axis there's just so many of these details that I think are just beautiful about this watch that when you're looking at stacking it up against the competition it really does sing and now on this model we have uh attached the uh steel the steel bracelet yeah um the watch comes uh of course with the leather bracelet too or with a textile but now when we have this uh steel bracelet you can see we have a fine adjustment on the steel bracelet like we can really if you wear the watch and the watch is getting too tight you can extend it or you just go down and make it a bit more smoo to your wrist so your logo is acting as like a button the logo is acting as a button very discreet this is something this is something we need to mention because this uh people sometimes forget about this watch typically you don't see micro adjustment like that on a dress watch either so a nice little ad moving along to another piece that's very crucial to your history looking at the senator collection can you walk us through this Senator collection it's a a very nice collection the name mentions it but this this piece that's a Unique Piece it's a chronometer you know there's a rich history about uh chronometers produced in Germany and uh we try not only the the optic and not only the the the dial but we also tried to kind of of keep the style of a marine chronometer on this wrist watch so whenever you see the Basel this is an outstanding Basel it makes it uh it makes the dial a bit uh more brighter when we talk about the the movement we are talking about uh silver plating by friction this is something we do inhouse and it when when you see the the the the surf surface of the movement you can really see it it's very nice very fine but it is also a bit of um grainy mhm yeah it has almost like this blasted texture to it which I think is very unique and I also love how the dial is almost like a window to the reverse side with the movement itself with some incredible finishing and just in the same lineup as uh you're looking at you know the center collection and looking back to your past you have this really atten detail when it comes to Precision the countdown power reserves it's almost the inverse to the norm and then also when you have your stop seconds when you pull out the crown it will then jump back to the less distance travel to go back to that reset point so very much in mind with Precision across every single element when you're talking about Marine chronometers that's at the corner the corner it's at a corner and if you see the minute hand the minute hand is jumps mhm when you adjust the watch it jumps from one to the next index so this is really something special because a second is already set mhm and now you can precisely set also the minute hand means the watch really starts at a zero and you can feel it when you when you when you turn the crown there's a little it is a graduation you have this little uh feeling that um slight tactile feedback that you're feeling as you rotate very unique very unique another watch that I want to talk about and when you look you know we're in gluta if we had to put it in a box which I don't think we should but it's very much about traditional watch making dive watches were an invention of the mid 20th century and it's perhaps maybe not the first thing we think about when we think of gluta but your history has a lot to say about dive watches and if there's one watch that in the Last 5 Years From your brand that has taken off like crazy it's the CQ so with the CQ um there there was you know like uh the story with the CQ is is easy we have our own watch Museum and uh we went there to see what kind of watches we did produce in the past and then uh we we follow over CQ not a secq at that time of course but a diverse watch it's a 1969 diverse watch produced in 1969 and we took this piece as the original of divers V for class the original mhm so when we built the case the diameter of course changed but all the Angles and all the the the form of the case is like the same from the original divers watch on top of course there's our caliber 36 with a power Reserve 100 hours and a gold oscillating uh Mass with uh 21 karat we have a Basel a turning Basel and there with the Basel this is also something we need to we need to explain to people the Basel turns very smooth because we have a keramic teas underneath of the Basel with two keramic balls like this is really something you can feel and um we are very proud of that so it was an invention uh from the team in at class or and how I always tried to frame this watch is you know sure you have a L to choose from in the dive watch segment but I think you have some characteristics here that are unconventional for a dive watch talking about the Panorama date and just the finishing of the movement itself when I think of dive watch you think of utility right you don't think of artisanal finishing right so this is where you can really you know see that take place when you can flip it around of course you have your 39 millimeter variant as well we won't have that Panorama date but many to get lost in within the CQ this collection has really been burgeoning over the last few years and now really a key pillar thank you very much yeah we very proud of it and to finish off so we looked at a panamatic lunar now a Luna the lunar Luna is here now so the watch comes uh the lady watch with the uh Panorama date and you you can see the little detail here we have an oval Panorama dat window that's more feminine and fits perfectly this watch and uh this watch comes with a uh leather strap um attached with an exchangeable system so whenever ladies want to wear different color they can in exchange it very easy ran thank you very much for a very eventful day when I think of this brand I think of you know German wash making I think of also you know attention to detail artisanal finishing and there's almost like a a level of Independence and also Pride if you come to glassa you see that the streets here the very limited amount of streets there are you can feel that there's like a pride that goes all the way down to the core of what this brand is all about and I appreciate really the walk through here and seeing what goes on behind the doors of Lut ran now it was a great pleasure you know I have showed you the many many of our uh workshops and for me as a watch maker this is of course it it makes my heart love it makes it makes me smile you know I'm very proud I'm very proud of the people here because whatever they work on it's a beautiful product and we need to show you the world and help you for doing it with your uh team and uh thank you very much for uh being our guest [Music] today

Channel: Teddy Baldassarre

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Keywords: teddy baldassarre, teddy watch review, watch collecting guide, best new watches 2023, high watchmaking, holy trinity watch, glashutte watches, glashutte original, a lange and sohne, lange one, lange chronograph, lange 1815, german watch brands, hodinkee, glashutte seaq, glashutte panomatic lunar, jenni elle, about effing time, glashutte original factory tour, watches how its made, watchmaking asmr, talking watches, teddy baldassarre sotc

Id: EtquFUM51Ss

Length: 31min 47sec (1907 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 03 2023