Who said classic needs to be boring? The Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer watch may look like your grandfather’s timepiece, but it has enough tricks up its sleeve to merit your attention. Much of the appeal is on the inside, so take a moment to appreciate what makes this watch so different. On the surface you have an 18-karat rose gold (also available in white gold) case with an alligator strap in black or brown, and a classy white dial that epitomizes many Teutonic luxury watches. The “tricks” are all thanks to the in-house-made German caliber 58-01 manually wound movement, which has 45 hours of power reserve. Functions include the time, big panorama date, day/night indicator window (from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., the small circular window located in the lower part of the power reserve indicator is light, while during the other half of the day, it is black), upper dial mounted power reserve indicator, and a subsidiary seconds dial.
For serious watch lovers, the magic is revealed when operating the watch and setting the time. The Senator Chronometer is all about precision. As a COSC-certified Chronometer watch, the timepiece is meant to be accurate, so the idea is to give you ample means to set it exactly. Pull the crown out and the second hand jumps back to zero, resetting itself. When you adjust the time, the minute hand moves in full one-second increments. Combined with the “zero reset,” this allows you to easily and precisely set the time. The concept is simple, yet mechanically complex, thus a sign of the brand’s dedication to functional excellence.
The light-colored dial is made of special frosted silver plating over brass, resulting in an easy to read (and appreciate) face, with Roman numeral hour markers and properly sized blue steel hands. The anti-reflective sapphire crystal enhances readability by removing glare. Flip the watch over find another sapphire crystal through which you can view the highly decorated movement. Note the characteristic hand-engraved-and-decorated balance wheel bridge, found only in the highest-end German luxury watches. As classic-looking timepieces go, the Glashütte Original Senator Chronometer has more than just retro looks, giving lovers of this style a satisfying degree of mechanical rarity and complication that is worth bragging about. Priced from $26,900 (rose gold) to $28,000 (white gold).
