A brand new model is the speak of the watch world in the present day, and the most recent instance of a development we’ve seen growing during the last a number of years. GRØNE is the brand new venture from Bart and Tim Grönefeld, the brothers behind the Grönefeld model, one of the crucial acclaimed indies on the planet. Following within the footsteps of the M.A.D. 1 venture, Kurono Tokyo, and others, the model exists as a means for admirers of a excessive priced impartial maker to purchase into the aesthetic and perspective of the model at a way more inexpensive worth level. The primary launch from GRØNE, the Manueel One, carries a retail worth of simply 2,150 Euros. At retail, Grönefeld watches begin at round 50,000 Euros and go up from there. They’re additionally very low manufacturing, with fewer than 100 items made annually.
The Manueel One, in response to Bart and Tim, was impressed by a want to deliver their watches to “our our watchmakers, our youngsters, and our associates.” If this sentiment sounds acquainted, it’s practically similar to Max Büsser’s reasoning behind the M.A.D. 1 venture, which was initially solely supplied to associates of the model, together with companions that Max and his crew had labored with for years. Just like the M.A.D. 1, the Manueel One borrows some aesthetic and design ideas from the upper priced watches the model is thought for, however it does so with out the intense consideration to craft and watchmaking you’d get with an atelier made timepiece. That’s to be anticipated, after all. Anybody pondering that an order for the Manueel One is an order for the stainless ending discovered on a Principia, for example, ought to significantly mood their expectations.
So what do you get with the Manueel One? It’s a sector dial of kinds, with a tremblage interior part in a salmon tone, with an outer steel ring the place you’ll discover hour and minute markers. The salmon colorway and tremblage ending are each aesthetic options borrowed from Grönefeld’s atelier-made watches, however it’s price stating that the tremblage end right here is utilized with what I’m positive is an excellent stamping course of. True tremblage, which includes painstaking work of making micro textures with a tiny hammer and chisel, just isn’t one thing anybody ought to anticipate on a watch at this worth level.
The case strains are clearly impressed by the model’s Rementoir and Principia, and have outstanding scalloped lugs. The design is definitely fairly advanced, with a bezel that’s domed between the lugs however concave alongside the case flanks. The stainless-steel case is polished and measures 38.5mm in diameter and 9mm tall (not together with the sapphire crystal). It’s notable, I feel, that the Grönefeld brothers have made an try and evoke their well-known case designs on this watch. A straightforward comparability level, the Kurono Tokyo watches designed by Hajime Asaoka, take pains to evoke the watchmaker’s aesthetic within the dials, however the instances, normally, lack a lot of the complexity of his greater priced items.
The motion is a manually wound Sellita SW210. Apparently, the model claims that the caliber has been “torque adjusted” to attain a winding really feel most popular by the Grönefeld brothers. What does this imply, virtually talking? It’s inconceivable to know with out actually getting our arms on the watch, however this too represents a barely totally different method to this sort of watch than what we’ve seen from different manufacturers dipping their toes into the inexpensive fanatic pushed market. Winding really feel is extremely subjective, however I feel most watch lovers at one level or one other have skilled a manually wound motion that simply feels nice (Naoya Hida, I’m you), so my curiosity is piqued as to what winding this watch will actually really feel like.
The Manueel One’s existence took us unexpectedly in the present day, and judging from commentary on Instagram and the Worn & Wound+ Slack group, opinions are actually everywhere. Along with the standard eye rolls about worth that appear to accompany actually each watch (as a result of no watches are pretty priced – it’s a common fact), questions have come up concerning the varied techniques used to promote the Manueel One, particularly using the time period “tremblage” to explain the dial ending, which has already garnered a response and clarification from Bart Grönefeld himself on Instagram. There may be additionally, I feel, a debate that’s attributable to happen on what it means for top finish indies to enter the inexpensive fanatic market, notably within the wake of the massive success of the M.A.D. 1. It may be considered as an altruistic gesture by these manufacturers on the one hand in getting cool stuff within the arms of true lovers (hopefully), however the alternative to leverage a luxurious model identify for a fast (and substantial) money infusion can’t be ignored. To not indicate this or any related watch is a “money seize” within the conventional, overwhelmingly damaging means that time period is continuously used, however moderately I’m questioning if making extra inexpensive watches alongside greater finish items below a distinct model identify could possibly be a wholly new mannequin that would assist some impartial manufacturers maintain themselves.
GRØNE is making 388 examples of the Manueel One, with pre-orders opening on November 19. All indications on the brand’s new website would appear to level to extra watches coming finally, however there don’t look like any hints as to when that could be or what it would imply.
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