Our Take

Nestled in the watchmaking town of Glashütte, Moritz Grossmann has established its reputation as an independent amongst its neighbors – some of the industry’s largest players from A. Lange to Nomos to Glashütte Original. One of the timepieces that gathered critical acclaim from the collector community was the HAMATIC – a bold revitalization of the historical pendulum-style rotor found on early fine timepieces in the 18th century. Founder and CEO Christine Hutter and her team have struck a chord by balancing the tradition of German watchmaking with the imperative to continue its growth and evolution into the future. We’re fortunate to present you the Moritz Grossmann HAMATIC, in the HAMATIC Vintage edition “Black Or”, one of only 25 produced.

What makes this timepiece so fascinating is precisely how the movement is simultaneously both traditional and modern. It’s traditional in that it recants the earliest days of watchmaking, the watchmaking of Breguet himself, with the pendulum rotor while bringing an architecture and level of finish that far exceeds the standards of history. Collectors can compare to Breguet’s earliest Perpetuelle automatic movements which are remarkable and beautiful, yet clearly in a different realm than the HAMATIC’s Calibre 106.0. Namely, the historical versions were only ever found in much larger pocket watches. Miniaturization on a wristwatch is a feat by Moritz Grossmann, one that A.L. Breguet would have likely responded with joy and amazement.

The dial is a beautiful german silver treated in a black paint finish and the logo for this iteration of the HAMATIC is more traditional in aesthetic. The heart and soul of this timepiece however is the movement. The team at Moritz Grossmann was able to overcome the historical issue with hammer winding systems – that they are wildly inefficient. With a center of gravity removed from the pivot, it provides all the power to the movement necessary with only 5-degrees of motion. Combined with the emblems of German finishing and movement construction, this is a timepiece that is certain to attract the attention and admiration of seasoned collectors.

The Details

Moritz Grossmann HAMATIC Vintage

Movement: Manufacture calibre 106.0, manually wound, adjusted in five positions

Special Features: Grossmann balance; lateral pusher for disabling the handsetting mode and starting the movement; space saving and modified Glashütte stopwork with backlash; adjustment with Grossmann micrometer screw on a cantilevered balance cock; Pillar movement with 2/3 plate and frame pillars in untreated German silver; 2/3 plate, balance cock, and escape-wheel cock engraved by hand; broad horizontal Glashütte ribbing; 3-band snailing on the ratchet wheel; raised gold chatons with pan-head screws; separately removable clutch winder.

Functions: Hours and minutes, subsidiary seconds with stop seconds

No. of jewels: 38, of which 3 in screwed gold chatons

Oscillator: Shock-resistant Grossmann balance with 4 inertia and 2 poising screws, Nivarox 1 balance spring

Power reserve: 72 hours when fully wound

Case dimensions: Diameter: 41.0 mm, height 11.35 mm

Case: Three-part, in 750/000 gold

Hands: Manually crafted, 000 gold, annealed to a brown-violet hue or polished

Strap: Hand-stitched alligator leather with prong buckle in 000 gold

No. of parts: 312

Escapement: Lever escapement

Balance: Diameter 10.0 mm, frequency 21,600 semi-oscillations/hour

Operating elements: Crown for winding the watch, and setting the time

Movement dimensions: Diameter: 36.4 mm, height: 5.15 mm

Dial: Solid silver, opaline, with printed Roman numerals or ‘black-or’ shiny black, white Roman numerals or Engraved numerals, with black finish and handcrafted silver-plating by friction

Crystal / display back: Sapphire crystal, antireflective coating on one side