Grönefeld Tourbillon Minute Repeater – GTM-06

The new Dutch watch brand Grönefeld presents their GTM-06 in platinum for Baselworld 2009.

On the 15th of November 2008 Bart and Tim Grönefeld presented the rose gold version of the Grönefeld GTM-06 wristwatch. Being one of the lucky few invited for the presentation of Grönefeld’s first wristwatch, i already wrote about it here.

The GTM-06 is the first in a line of wristwatches planned by the Oldenzaal based watchmakers. Bart and Tim Grönefeld have spent 4 years of hard work before the realization of this new timepiece has become a reality. At Baselworld 2009 they presented the Platinum version of the Grönefeld GTM-06. This is the most complicated wristwatch ever created in the Netherlands. The Grönefeld GTM-06 has a tourbillon and a minute repeater mechanism, able to sound the exact time on tiny gongs in the case. This highly complicated wristwatch requirs more than 6 months of careful construction, assembly and regulation before completion.

The watch differs from other minute repeater wristwatches in a number of details. First of all the design of this watch has a masculine look. Even the teardrop lugs are designed much bolder than ever before. But there is also an acoustic reason behind this design aspect, as the case volume allows the gongs to develop a full and pure sound. The lugs appear to be straightforward but they are not. Using specially developed techniques invisible from the exterior, the lugs are specially channeled in order to allow the resonance of the case not to be dampened by their mass. This is the result of experiments and vast experience that both Tim and Bart developed in the course of years of work on minute repeater mechanisms, as well as careful listening and tuning of the sounds the minute gongs produce. The GTM-06 also utilizes a Cathedral type gong that has a longer winding within the confines of the case, thus providing the fullest possible tone achievable.

The dial is formed by the beautifully finished movement itself, decorated with Geneva stripes, perlage, anglage and perfectly polished screws, hands, indexes and springs. Black polish, the most impossibly demanding and difficult ‘dark art’ of fine finishing found only in the most expensive watches, is used extensively throughout the movement. Even those areas never to be seen by the user are given exquisite finishing on a level that has become increasing rare in the world of haute horlogerie today. The modern styled chapter ring of black onyx is adorned with highly polished hour indexes that catch the light at every angle to provide a subtle and discrete view of the time. Only the fine finishing of the parts before assembly starts takes more than 2 months of intensive work in several stages to complete.

The combination of the two complications and this level of finish, make this watch so special. Only a handful of watchmakers in the world, either inside or outside of Switzerland, are able to deal with horological creations comprising this type of extreme complexity.

With a contemporary and masculine look, the GTM-06 Tourbillon Minute Repeater wristwatch is available in a strictly limited edition of 10 pieces in 18 carat 4N gold and 10 in 950 platinum, priced at Euro 325,000 and 385,000 accordingly.

For this price you get this masculine watch ‘wrapped’ as it should be… in a beautiful black piano lacquer box that includes a space for cuff links and a special, ventilated wooden tray for cigars. Another level lower, one pushes on the engraved aircraft aluminum inlay with Grönefeld logo, and a secret drawer appears containing a Davidoff (Dupont) black lacquer gas lighter and two cigar cutters.

For more information check the website of Grönefeld Exclusive Timepieces. You can also take a look at Horomundi for many, many more photos of this beauty.

At their booth in Baselworld we had a long talk about this magnifiscent watch from the Netherlands and i couldn’t resist making a wristshot 😀