Mühle-Glashütte 29er Casual
The Mühle-Glashütte 29er Casual, housed in a 42.4mm steel case, features a blue dial and a slender automatic movement. Its name was inspired by a small sailing dinghy.
Nautische Instrumente Mühle-Glashütte is based in the eponymous watchmaking town of Glashütte. This picturesque mecca for German horology is home to A. Lange & Söhne, Glashütte Original, NOMOS Glashütte, Moritz Grossmann, Tutima et al.
Robert Mühle established the company in 1869 and it still remains in the hands of the founder’s family. Today, Thilo Mühle is the fifth generation to work in the family business. He is CEO of the company and plays a hands-on role day-to-day.
Unusually, Mühle-Glashütte, the widely used abbreviated name, does not restrict its activities solely to watchmaking. The company also makes nautical instruments, marine time systems and marine chronometers.
Irrespective of which product the company makes, there is an overriding obsession with precision. Indeed, the brand’s fixation with exactitude saw it make measuring instruments for the watchmaking industry in the firm’s early years.
Recently, the brand unveiled the Mühle-Glashütte 29er Casual, a three-handed watch, sporting a becoming blue dial. It is inspired by sailing, reaffirming the marque’s ties with the marine world.
The brand’s press release
The 29er watch models manufactured by Nautische Instrumente Mühle-Glashütte got their name from a small sailing dinghy used by young sailing talents in their Junior Championship Class competitions run by the German Sailing Association (DSV). This little regatta skiff is not only able to speed through the seas but also very easy to sail in all kinds of waters. Additional draft is only provided by the stabilising centreboard in the hull, which requires water to be sufficiently deep.
In the case of the dinghy’s wristwatch counterpart, Mühle-Glashütte has now significantly reduced the depth of the 29er: with a height of just 9.35 millimetres and a diameter of 42.4 millimetres, the stainless-steel case of the 29er Casual is the flattest
case in the current Mühle collection. Just like its namesake, it, therefore, feels at home in all waters and what’s more, it also cuts a fine figure on dry land, for example when teamed with a sporty slim- fit suit jacket.
With its straightforward yet striking design, the case of the 29er has been one of the most stunning outfits in the wardrobe of Mühle movements ever since 2006. Its defining and, indeed, most charming quality is its combination of contrasting surface finishes, with the bezel alone featuring both a brushed top surface and finely polished sides. The middle section of the case has a vertical finish and is stunningly framed by the bezel and the screwed-on back, the sides of which are also perfectly polished. This alternation between shiny and matt surfaces creates an array of different light reflections, just like the sun sparkling in the waves, and makes the case of the 29er a true eye-catcher.
The low height of the 29er Casual is not only the result of its flat movement but also its newly designed face. Unlike the other 29er models, the face of the 29er Casual does not have a flange. Nevertheless, it still offers all of the values for which the classic and sporty 29er collection is known and loved, namely a reduced face design with applied indices combined with fine minute numerals and clear minute graduation on the edge of the face.
The flat SW 300-1 Mühle version movement is a strongly modified version of a well-established Swiss basic movement and has a height of just 3.6 millimetres. To create this watch, Mühle-Glashütte first disassembles the basic movement and subjects it to a technical examination. When subsequently reassembled, the movement is enhanced with the patented Mühle fine regulation and the matching balance cock. The characteristic Mühle rotor is also manufactured by Mühle-Glashütte itself.
After assembly, every single Mühle movement is regulated in six positions. The complex regulation procedure is based on the German chronometer standard and ensures that every watch maintains a precision of between 0 and a maximum of +8 seconds per day. This enables Mühle-Glashütte to keep its ultimate promise to itself and its customers: no wearer of a Mühle watch should ever be too late because of their time measuring instrument.
Further reading