Patek Philippe Calatrava 6000G Reviewed: Still The Ultimate Dress Watch In 2022

hello welcome to watch box and thanks for logging on i'm your host tommaso and everything you see here is for sale reach out to me tmaso at thewatchbox.com for purchase and pricing details of any watch you see here i have pricing for all watches plus accessories condition and availability as you see this on wednesday morning if you're watching it in the first 24 hours everything is in stock we buy we trade we sell we are always looking to build inventories if you want to sell or trade a watch reach out to me team also at thewatchbox.com we pay cash we pay fast no upper limit on value paid we will buy your entire collection today's episode is overstuffed with watches so i have to move quickly i really overstuffed this one with the best stuff if there's a theme today it's a lot of a good thing maybe too much all of these are high value watches starting with the patek philippe calatrava 6000 geno this is the model as it debuted back in 2005. in 2008 it would receive a gray sunburst metallic dial so for 2005 6 and 7 this was the original variant with a matte black dial radially arrayed numerals for both the hour of the day and the date it has a lunette style pointer date you can see the dial as well as the case design clearly descended from the 1992 reference 5000 and it is quite beautiful with an almost flat very shallow domed bezel and strong lug profiles for a 37 millimeter watch it reads larger on the reverse side caliber 240 something that's always set the five thousands the six thousands and the six thousand sixes apart is the presence of a micro rotor auto rather than the cheaper and more common center rotor patek automatics now you can see this one being pre-2009 all of the first version 6000 g's are but they have the geneva hallmark rather than the later patek philippe seal five position adjusted micro rotor auto 48 hour power reserve gyromax style free sprung balance and a gorgeous geneva hallmark movement in a case that wears frankly a little bit large for 37 it's got a lot more wrist presence because of the strength of those lugs and the watch always had the look of a vintage 1950s or 60s automotive instrument on the wrist really does look like a speedometer a tachometer maybe even a clock from a porsche mercedes-benz or jaguar from the period now jumping into the realm of boutique brands and independents my personal favorite debatoon they make about 200 to 220 watches a year this one is one of the most practicals includes a six day or i should say five day automatic winding power reserve and a perpetual calendar so it will wind itself and if you put it down for a day or two you're not going to have to reset that complicated calendar now they make their own cases dials and movements so this is all in-house they even did their own guilloche to create this rosette center dial we have a spherical moon phase made of one-half white palladium one-half blue steel it has an adjustment interval of once every 112 years the perpetual calendar module of course doesn't need to be adjusted until the year 2100 the module is of their own design so is the base movement the case is thin but 44 millimeters in rose gold you can see on the reverse side the movement has a shock protected rotor twin main spring barrels one two three shock protection springs a proprietary hair spring design and a proprietary balance designed to put most of the mass at the outer edge reduce the effects of aerodynamic drag and reduce the effects of temperature on timing so you have two crossed yokes it's not a wheel it's it's non-annular and two crossed yokes of blue titanium and then platinum masks outboard everything you see here is blue titanium devitun has a patented process for fire blowing titanium and you can see it surrounding the moon phase on the dial side a large watch at 44 millimeters it's not a huge watch but i'd recommend your wrist at least be the size of mine 16 centimeters circumference to wear this one well now this is not the limit of what's available from the company based out of law bear song if you want the iconic model then you want the db28 this is a 50 piece limited edition in grade 5 titanium and black zirconium it is extremely light extremely scratch resistant and it is a 50 piece limited edition version of the watch that won the 2011 gphg eggie doll or the best picture at the oscars of watchmaking for the best watch of the year and you can see why there's a lot of innovation here for one thing the floating lugs spring-loaded and variable geometry they're designed to make sure you get a good fit second the watch is thin under 12 millimeters thick we have a balance wheel updated now this is a later version of the evolving devitoon balance this one is a silicon disc with a white gold rim once again we get one two three shock protection springs but now you can see that both the springs and the balance bridge are black polished we have a black polished cap on the deltoid barrel bridge two barrels six day power reserve you can see the spherical moon phase again same one thousand one hundred and twelve year adjustment interval uh we have cote de beton across the bridges and if you look carefully you can see mirrored on garage on the edge all the traditional finishing standards are respected we have black polished capochon of titanium representing the hour track and a little power reserve indicator peeking out between those two jewels it travels as you wind it turn the watch all over and you can see that the more extensive power reserve indicators visible on the reverse along with the underlying mechanism all of satin mirrored bevel and then engine turned lots of fine finish here and everything the company is so progressive and forward-looking that it forgets where horology came from it never does the watch wears easily on a smaller wrist despite being 42.7 millimeters in diameter you can see especially since those lugs are able to change their geometry the watch will fit well on a smaller wrist and it's very flat and very light okay a special piece from h moser and c of shaw thousand this is the pioneer center second with blue lagoon or turquoise dial now whatever you call it it's gorgeous it has a lagoon blue or turquoise center it's a metallic sunburst and this a few may fade from light at the center almost black at the edge the watch is 120 meters water is just an automatic winding with three day power reserve and it has plenty of looms this is a real sports watch you can see mozar always modest about branding has used a clear lacquer to ghost its logo and name onto the dial side the case flanks are beautifully evacuated and coined polished in profile and satinated on the top the watch is 42.8 millimeters in diameter on the reverse side you can see manufacture caliber hmc 200 magic lever style paul based bi-directional winding system three-day power reserve it has hacking seconds if you want to set it precisely moser makes everything including the escapement the hairspring and the balance which you can see is a free sprung recessed bolt type it also has a full balance bridge for better shock protection the strap is a combination of textile and rubber on the bottom and then we have a buckle that sort of matches the coin profile of the case for design parallelism taking a look on the wrist it's a big watch but it's not a huge watch i have no problem wearing it and i think a wrist down to 15 centimeters circumference could wear this quite comfortably moser makes about 2 000 watches a year out of shaft house and they are a fully integrated manufacturer and the fact that they're making the tough parts of this of the escapement the balance the hair spring the parts that even a lot of movement manufacturers don't make in-house that's profoundly impressive here now a much more established integrated manufacturer making decidedly more watches offers you other options in sports watches and here we have the nautilus 5991a launched in 2014 this is probably the most versatile watch that patek makes here 40.5 millimeters in diameter by only 12.8 millimeters thick we have a watch that is a flyback chronograph well loomed automatic winding fully stainless steel and equipped with a travel time function now let's take a look at how that travel time function works hidden in the wing profile at nine o'clock we have a pusher adjuster that allows you to move the local hour hand and you can cover up that second time zone if you want to clean up the dial the watch does include am pm indicators both local and home time so you can keep track of both most travel time watches just give you the home time day night the place where you are not the date sits up at the top so you've got a date we have gold hands gold indices and a few may dial great center almost black at the edge with those striations that are iconic of the nautilus and have been since 1976 the minutes register goes up to 60 which i love because i think that makes for more functional watch and despite all of the through fittings for chronograph and travel time pushers it is still 120 meters water resistant it's also a fairly easy watch to wear the chronograph is vertical clutch and column wheel so it has all of the modern standards for chrono and automatic winding it has a 55-hour power reserve an anti-magnetic silicon hairspring six position adjustment and a free sprung balance patek attests that these will run no worse than minus three plus two seconds a day from the factory and you can see it's a great fit even on a smaller wrist it's big for a nautilus but it's small by the standards of sports watches that pack in this many features okay taking a look at something even a bit more compact if your tastes tend towards thinner smaller or more traditional or even a little bit more ornate and dressy that's what you get in the 5712 1a this is the nautilus moon phase but it's more than that it's a nautilus 8.8 millimeters thick with a micro rotor automatic movement it has a power reserve indicator up to 48 hours it has a moon phase it has a pointer style date that is coaxial with the moon face small seconds white gold hands and then a blue metallic fumey dial that's sort of silver blue at the center and black at the edge now it is quite slim if a standard 5711 is about 8.1 to 8.3 this is only half a millimeter thicker than that so compared to something like a 5990 5980 or even a nautilus annual calendar this one this wears more like a 5711 in terms of how it fits across the wrist it's narrow and how thin and light it feels on the wrist and that includes the thin and light feel of the bracelet now this also includes the caliber 240 micro rotor that we saw in the reference 6000 calatrava a moment ago same only you can see it's a later version as this is the patek philippe seal and here we have six position adjustment rather than the previous five and unlike the calatrava 6000 this one features the later anti-magnetic silicon hairspring so a few more refinements technically on this watch than you would see on that older dress timepiece we had earlier this is a great watch to own and a very practical daily driver and again even though it is a dressier nautilus it's still surface swimmable with a screw down crown and a 60 meter water resistance there were a lot of great new patek philippe watches for 2021 but this might have been the best all-around offering in many regards i think this 59051a is what the 5905 should have been from the time it debuted back in 2015. initially it was a dress watch and platinum on a strap this watch in full steel feels more like what the timepiece should have been a bigger and sportier and somewhat stripped down 5960 flyback chronograph with annual calendar so it is a flyback chronograph it has the same base chronograph caliber as the 5990 you just saw so automatic winding anti-magnetic 55-hour power reserve free sprung vertical clutch column wheel it's all those things but significantly it's also an annual calendar with an aperture style display that's intuitive to read and highly legible again we have that 60 minute chronograph register but since it is a calendar we have a day night indicator in there so when it turns blue that's your cue not to use these pusher adjusters to adjust the date it's an american style calendar so day-date month and it's an annual calendar so it only needs to be adjusted once a year during the jump from february to march now the watch is 42 millimeters in diameter so it's bigger than the original 40.5 of the 5960 you can see patek does a few things to pare down the apparent mass the bezel is stepped back dramatically from the case flank in its concave the lugs are scalloped and evacuated and they come to sharp tapered points the dial is a lovely metallic green sunburst and it's a sector dial but the sectors are achieved with metal components chapter rings and then white gold our indices the timepiece has a bracelet that's a lot like the bracelet you'll find on an aquanaut if you see a 51671a it's going to have a bracelet almost exactly like what you find here which means quite robust and substantial visually i think this watch is better matched to that bracelet than the smaller aquanaut as this 42 millimeter complication has a bit more body and substance and doesn't seem quite as overwhelmed by the bracelet proportionally as the aquanaut does it's an easy watch to wear because the lugs are so downwardly sloped at their edges it's not a thick watch so though a sporty watch you can still wear it underneath the cuff very comfortable i can recommend it for a wrist as small as 15 centimeters in circumference and again sporty and steel with a full bracelet automatic winding and loom this is a watch to wear full time here's something a little bit unusual we don't have many quartz watches on this show and we have even fewer quartz led digital displays this is a first in that regard here's a model that came out for 2022 and 820 pieces in a combination of black ceramic rubber inlay and then grade 5 titanium so gerard parago is celebrating the 1976-1978 cascade which was made in about 8 200 pieces and i want to say that's the reference 99-31 well this is a limited edition 2 but they're only making 820 pieces and you can see it includes a number of upgrades over the original this watch has let's go through the features in fact let's go through the features with the light off because part of the fun of an led is that it does have its own luminous force so you have time you can set the watch having demonstrated that in abundance uh the watch includes a number of functions chronograph second time zone a secret date such as an anniversary or a birthday a calendar and of course you can activate it 20 times a day for two years without wearing down the battery so let's throw it on the wrist take a quick look it works fairly easily i would describe it as the equivalent of a 41 millimeter round watch maybe it's so short from end to end that i i would even say maybe a 40 millimeter round watch now of course it has rubber inlays within the ceramic bracelet so it feels comfortable against the wrist the clasp is made of titanium as is the case back and gerard pargo and euless norden newly independent purchased by their management from caring which had owned them before now the original cascade would have been made of gold steel or macroline which was basically a type of plastic and this watch that you see is designed to give you the same look but with greater durability and it does use the gerard perigo manufacturer quartz caliber just like the original so though it is electronic it is still all gp cycle through some of the features here it's a little bit easier to demonstrate when the lights are out zoom in again so you can get this right there's the seconds display there's the calendar there's the date this is the chronograph a very cool retro driver style watch all right from weirdness we go back to hallowed antiquity and classical watch design by the way i love that cascade i call it weird in the most endearing sense possible so 38 millimeters in platinum this is the vacheron constant tab perpetual calendar chronograph 49005 500 of these were made in rose gold 300 and platinum they were made from 1992 to 2002 and this is one of the very few vacheron automatic winding dress perpetual calendars you'll find generally the only other automatic perpetual calendar chronos that you'll find from vacheron and i do mean automatic winding perpetual calendar chronos not perpetuals are going to be overseas so this is a dress watch that has a frederick piguet 1185 base with a perpetual calendar module on top the lugs are built old school as you can see they're welded on this is a very handcrafted low volume case you can also see that the dial is made the same way as the hands are polished by manual means and vaulted or barrel shaped over the top there's a handsome cruciform layout to the dial and you can see we have a sigma dial as this watch made during the 90s was built during a period when vashron still included the aprior marks on its dials this watch is about as sharp as they come if you look at the the character line that breaks the hoods of the lugs from the flank if you look at the fullness of the metal if you look at the sharpness and depth of the engravings on the back this watch has every indication of having been rarely if ever polished which is very important now internally the fredrik pk 1185 is an automatic wander made by blancpain's movement partner so it's a hierology movement five position adjusted hand finished vertical clutch column wheel all those standards plus the addition of a perpetual calendar that does not need to be reset until the year 2100 it's an easy watch to wear too the weighty on platinum with a solid platinum case back it's a nice fit it's a unisex option as this is an older standard of dress watch size and proportion and it wears quite easily on a smaller wrist like mine this might be the coolest overall watch on today's show you're definitely not going to see another one like it remember they only made 300 over a 10-year period okay jumping into rolex i've only got one rolex on the show today but it's a good one this is one one six five two zero so this is the in-house caliber 40 millimeter pre-ceramic bezel with a black dial and silver register chapter rings it's a v series so 2009 40 millimeters by 12.2 millimeters thick 72-hour power reserve vertical clutch column wheel three-day power reserve shock resistant and well loomed you can see on my wrist it's a good fit i know a lot of guys as well as gals who wear these daytonas and they are unisex options it's the power watch for him or for her the black dial with the steel is imposing despite the fact that the watch itself is not very large you can see we have a bit of a transitional bracelet design it's not quite as bare bones as the pre-2009 single locking clasp but this does include the beak and the hook internally but the mechanism the the milled components they feel a little bit different than a modern clasp and we're just charting the changes in terms of how they look and feel but in terms of functionality this is the same as the modern class but as the double locking factor the lift lock system and then the clam shell and then internally we've got the easy link system so you've got that five millimeter tool-free snap-in snap out now this watch also includes the power chrome anti-magnetic hairspring and this being a watch made in 2009 we're well into the super luminova era of rolex no tritium here the timepiece is very dramatic and the combination of the steel and the black dial is punchy not available anymore in steel these metal bezels give the watch an entirely different look than the later ceramic okay three for malongunzona and they're good ones we're going to start with the richard longa as you can see this watch fairly large for a three-hand longer dress watch and i say fairly large for watch that has no other functions in yellow gold this model launched in 2006 is 40.5 millimeters so when you throw it on the wrist it definitely makes a statement it's large it's visible it's broad and saucer-like a timepiece that's surprisingly easy to read is not all dress watches are there's a sharp contrast between the yellow gold hands and the silver white dial and because this is a richard longa we have those roman numerals that pop so easily you can also appreciate the fact there's a little bit color on the style between the blue seconds hand the yellow gold hour and minute hands then the flashes of red at the quarters it's surprisingly nuanced the dial is made of sterling silver galvanized this silver white color turn it all over and you can see the movement is beautifully executed we have right here a large manual wind 38 hour power reserve extensively hand finished caliber so caliber l421 and you can see that it includes an elaborate hacking or stop seconds function it also includes a refinement that's rare on longer watches and over coil hairspring as this model is dedicated to chronometry specifically it's not dedicated to complication or truly long power reserve it's dedicated to keeping the best possible time while it is running now if you want something that's a little bit more elaborate here we have a 2015 limited edition of 200 pieces in platinum it's watched not quite as large this is the language 1815 fa longa 200th anniversary dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the birth of fe langa the father of modern watchmaking in glasuta we still have the sterling silver dial only now it's black galvanized because this is an 1815 rather than a richard longa we have arabic numerals rather than roman numerals the watch as you can see powered by a movement that's a little bit less elaborate in layout than the zero four two uh this is the zero five one we now have a fifty five hour power reserve we have a smaller balance beating at twenty one six we still have a lot of fine hand finish including black polish blue screws engraved balance lassota stripes engine turning and then mirrored on galage on the edge of the bridge it's designed to look like a german pocket watch just as every longa caseback is designed to evoke the halcyon years of german pocket watches in the 19th century and early 20th century so we've seen the 1815 and the richard longer collections they also have the saxonia collection at alangu unzona and you know you're looking at a saxonia when you have stick indices and that's exactly what we have with the data graph flyback now this is the dadograph up down it's a bigger watch there's no doubt about that the timepiece 41 millimeters compared to 39 millimeters for the original here with a black galvanized silver dial and a rose gold case the watch includes a lot of functionality as you can see it features a flyback chrono that you restart with a simple push of the trigger at four you don't have to stop at first there's a power reserve indicator the data graph up down has 60 hours of power reserve compared to the original dottos 36 and the watch includes a double digit date or panorama datum that gives you that distinctive double date look the date mechanism used was originally a jlc patent that was given to longer by gunterblumline in the early 1990s jlc went on to create another double-digit date that was even more advanced but this one has remained something of a longest signature and it's still in production you can see there's a pusher adjuster for the date which is as pleasurable to use as the column wheel chronograph itself perhaps a little bit surprisingly for a dress watch there's a tachymeter and there's loom which makes this a fairly sporty chronograph and when you flip it over caliber l951 is in rare form okay based on the original data graph a few things do change uh for one thing you get a much longer power reserve other than that they decided not to mess with what worked now you can see the balance design is somewhat updated versus the original dotto it's expressly designed as a free sprung balance but the combination of the column wheel which is black polished and capped the lateral clutch which is fully jeweled and then the nice slow 18k beat rate with an over coil hairspring all of that remains now as i move the watch through the light everything that turns black as i tilt the movement is black polished steel everything that has a golden hue is german silver where the copper gives it that golden hue we have both black polished and blue screws and the difference between them is that in general the polished screws are used for adjustment and the blue screws are used for physical fixtures to fix things that don't move in place you can see that all of the silver components are made of steel they're satinated on their top and then they're beveled on their sides or their black polished on their top and beveled on their side and you can see that there are a number of sharp interior as well as exterior points inside the chronograph yoke itself speaking to the quality of the finishing it's not easy to accomplish that using stainless steel as the base material it's easy to finish brass it's easy to finish german silver even gold but steel and titanium are a bear to finish and langa impressively finishes the chronograph components to the same standard as the rest of the watch this is a landmark piece not just as a model this is the original fp journal tourbillon remote and that's great but what really sets this one apart is how early it is it is a serial number in the 70s which means yes it is one of the first 80 fp journey tourbillon remontoir or tourbillon supreme ever made so this is a third series watch and you know that for a few reasons but the giveaways are of course the flat rum on twarcock which means it's gonna be a third or fourth series watch and then it's got big dial side bolts fixing the dial to the movement big bolts means series three small bolts it's just a rule of thumb means series 4 easy accessible easy to understand we have a pale yellow gold dial and as you can see we have a torbjorn which isn't really the standout feature of the watch it's the torbjorn in tandem with the remontoir shawn has commented that the key to this watch's precision lies in the constant force device the free sprung balance the overcoil hairspring the six position adjustment he says that the torbjorn was only placed here for aesthetic purposes and traditional purposes he worships brigade this is an homage but the combination is a world premiere jorn built his first tourbillon with remontor back in 1991 and it was the prototype of the watch that he serialized starting in 1999 now you can see this is an interesting watch because it has the name of the manufacturer and then the tagline of the company deeply stamped into the case back but you can see that the actual engraving of the reference the case here of manufacture and then the model name is very shallow which is characteristic of these early tourbillon souvent tourbillon rim onto our watches now you can also see that it features the hallmarks of both france and switzerland as well as the makers mark of eleanor a french casemaker that was jordan's case maker from his early pocket watch days through about mid-2008 when he bought the company and moved it to geneva the movement of course is brass bridges and plates as all of these were until mid-2004 and then we've got a nice easy to trace power supply so we have the crown the crown wheel the ratchet wheel atop the barrel the click spring a drivetrain that leads through this secondary escapement with a titanium linear spring and for 28 hours of the 42 hour power reserve you have uh this jumping indication that the rim on tour is operating that would later be redesigned to act as a jumping seconds display on the second generation tourbillon suvron but you can see straight here through the dial for 28 hours the constant force divides operates so wind the watch at the same time daily and the balance will always be impulsed with the same amount of energy which allows outstanding isochronous performance and thus adjustment to very precise and ultimately accurate performance tolerances this is a very important watch this is one of the first 100 fp journal tourbillon ever made and again it has a serial number in the 70s so it's one of the first 80 ever made 38 millimeters in platinum a discontinued case size a very important foundational watch really along with the resonance one of the two foundational watches that helped to establish the reputation of watchmaking's most important independent manufacturer in an era when independents really are the entire scene this is a very cool watch and a great way to get into jorn if you have the budget i'm not going to lie it isn't cheap but it is worth what it costs and unlike a lot of watches in the current market this is one that has projectable long-term value and relevance okay now i have two watches made by we're going to stick with our independent brand theme two watches in white metal with blue dials made by german speaking independent brands we're going to start with the h moser and c heritage perpetual calendar this is the heritage blue enamel a 20-piece limited edition 42 millimeters in diameter launched for 2021 so it's part of moser's heritage series which is one of their scarcest series you don't see a lot of them you see a lot of endeavors you see a lot of pioneers you even see a lot of streamliners but the heritage is designed to look like a converted pocket watch or perhaps an officer's watch a field watch or even a vintage pilot's watch so here we have a 42 millimeter white gold case with wire style lugs and then we have the lovely engraved and translucent lacquered flink enamel case band so we have enamel on the case itself then we have enamel on the dial and you can see that slight orange peel ripple characteristic of enamel it's a few may fade as moser is want to produce so light at the center darker at the edge you can see we have vintage style hands white gold black polished and we have a power reserve indicator it is a manual wind power reserve seven days rated in fact it will run for almost nine days andrea streller the independent watchmaking ace designed the calendar system for moser so you can see how it is bi-directional i can actually adjust it in either direction i have a large date display and then 12 hours 12 months this little stub index at the center indicates the month and you can see i can quick set in either direction very few perpetual calendars are bi-directionally settable i also have hacking seconds if i want to stop the movement and set the watch precisely to a reference time turn it over hmc 800 the movement has two barrels both set in gold and chaton fixed by joules pocket watch style three quarter bridge it's not strictly a three quarter because you can see it is broken up into a few pieces for ease of servicing but it has the look of an encompassing three-quarter pocket watch bridge 18k beat rate solid gold 14 carat escapement from minimal friction over coil hairspring moser makes all the tough parts of the movement anyone can make bridges plates and wheels wheels are a little bit more challenging than bridges and plates but if you really want to show your chops make escapements balances and hairsprings moser makes all of those for this watch it's a free sprung balance architecture with a full bridge so it's fairly sturdy in construction and the over coil means that in any position the watch will keep consistent time because the mass of an over coil hairspring is very close to the balance staff it is super centered this watch is a 20 piece limited edition and rarely for a moser it includes a full deploy and clasp they usually include pin buckles this one is in white gold to match the watch and if you're wondering yes moser uses gray gold a white gold that is white all the way through and never needs to be rhodium plated for 42 it wears pretty compact and that's down to the wire lug design which is short across the wrist and highly convenient it's a lovely watch and frankly this is the moser i love best the inventive low volume craft level moser i'm not a fan of some of the more mass produced watches but this is a moser i would proudly wear every single day eye popping front and back it's a technical tour of force and an aesthetic masterpiece understated rich in detail beautiful as a whole but subtle the way a german swiss watch should be remember moser is the other integrated manufacturer out of shaft housing iwc makes about a hundred thousand watches your moser makes about two thousand and the difference matters now speaking of a company that only makes about 200 to 400 watches a year this is one of the coolest independents going we just don't see them much moritz grossman of glasuta was founded back in 2008 in the heart of the financial crisis and founded by a watchmaker christine hutter it managed to pull through showing both grit and determination this here is the mort's grossman high art that combines everything i love about the company first a wearable case 41 millimeters in stainless steel you can see you're not paying for precious metal here the case is beautifully made the lugs are handsomely broken from the case banner there's a little bit of inward inflection to the lug profiles you can also see that the watch has a dial that is made of sterling silver and then blue you can see there is a rosette pattern cut reductively into the sub seconds and then we have a soleil radiating out from an imaginary center point at the base of the dial the hands are immaculately handcrafted both in the way they're cut and the way they're polished and the company as you can see has ghosted the logo down to the underside of the crystal along with the individual indices for the minutes track now the watch allows you to pull the crown out and when you do so it stops the balance and activates hacking second but note the the crown moves back flushed the case so as i set this watch i can't push the crown back in it's in a setting mode until i press the button below and i re-engage the drive now once i re-engage the drive you can see i did so without the hands moving at all once i've set them in position i re-engage the drive without accidentally moving the hands because the crown is always flush during the setting you never have to worry about pushing it back in and removing the precise setting you've already applied now on the reverse side you can see why i've long considered mort's grossman watches to be more exquisitely detailed than longa and here's the reason look what you can do when you're making one tenth as many watches maybe maybe less than one tenth as many watches as longa maybe one twelfth we have huge luminous stripes across the german silver bridges you can see how broad these stripes are they need to be applied slowly to create the sharp gradient from light to dark you can also see it's not just the balanced that's been hand engraved it's not just the structure adjacent it's the entire set of bridges and plates as everything the characters the letters the numbers all of it freehand engraved into the bridges the ratchet wheel is solarized one two three separate times manually and if you look carefully they have a feature i've often shouted out when i've had carry voodoolin and watches in which is the beveling of the teeth of the ratchet wheel and the crown wheel you can see we have both black polished screws and we have fired screws but they're not blued they're browned to create this brown violet is a more delicate operation than bluing a screw you can fire a screw all day and it'll come out beautifully blue but timing and feel are necessary to get this brown violet color you can also see that they use clear sapphires rather than synthetic rubies simply because it better matches the pale subtle luxury of this watch it's almost like you're looking at the foam of a fine brew taking a look in profile you can see that the beveling is all done by hand you can even see a little bit of the beveling of those ratchet wheel teeth i told you about you can also see that there's a black polished micrometric regulator that's based on a a screwed rack for fine timing adjustments it's a 42 hour power reserve and what's impressive here and will stop the balance is that moritz grossman is making its own recessed bolt free sprung balance it has an over coil hairspring for fine time keeping in every position this is adjusted in multiple positions and you can see that the escape wheel and the pallet are both black polished and even the bridge bearing the anchor has been beveled on its side so attention to detail really matters here they've recessed the bolts so that they don't enter the free air stream and i'll show you how you you reset and restart the watch using the release trigger down below the crown this is as good as finishing gets in germany it's subtle but it's beautiful and what's more important is the closer you get the more beautiful it becomes that is the ultimate signature of fine finish now when you throw the watch on the wrist this high art piece with its gorgeous guilloche dial is subtle the branding is minimal the look is low key and it's flat enough to fit underneath the cuff reach out if you like this watch or any you just saw to tmaso at thewatchbox.com for purchase and pricing details