Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase
The Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase is now offered with a galvanic silver dial paired with blue hands and indexes. Beyond its prepossessing appearance, this new model is equipped with the superb Calibre 36-24 movement that proffers an array of wearer benefits. Recently, Angus Davies spent an enjoyable seven days with the watch and shares his thoughts based on his ‘hands-on’ experience.
Glashütte Original – luxury and value
Crafted in Saxony, the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase is a highly refined timepiece, brimming with exquisite details. Endowed with the brand’s legendary large date display, a moon phase, an embossed dial and incorporating a lovingly finished self-winding movement, the Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase is the quintessence of luxury.
And yet, despite the greatness of the Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase, the watch sells for £10,700 (RRP as of 8.1.2024). Granted, this is not an inconsequential sum of money; however, based on the impressive materials used and the model’s flawless execution it seems remarkably good value. How is the German Manufactory able to deliver so much for so little?
Firstly, the German marque manufactures many components in-house, a policy that differentiates it from many rival brands. Indeed, beyond crafting Manufacture movements, the company has its own dial-making facility, a rare in-house competence for a watch firm. Secondly, Glashütte Original (GO) is a subsidiary of the Swatch Group, a large horological conglomerate capable of fulfilling any of GO’s requirements. It is the group’s industrial strength that allows Glashütte Original to simultaneously deliver luxury and value, attributes that differentiate the company from many rival brands.
However, while the brand’s penchant for delivering value for money is worthy of mention, it may seem somewhat crass when discussing a watch of such immense beauty and sophistication. Hereafter, I will focus on appraising the specification of the model in minute detail.
Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase – dial
The embossed galvanic silver dial features applied Roman numerals, executed in solid gold and coated in a blue finish. The silver hues and the dial’s granular finish deliver a wonderful shimmering appearance.
Blue poire-style hands indicate the hours and minutes, while a svelte centre seconds hand, featuring the brand’s Double-G logo at one end, enunciates the running seconds. A chemin de fer encircles the display, making the reading of minutes and seconds eminently simple.
A Panorama Date, the luxury marque’s own take on the large date complication, resides at 4 o’clock. It employs two discs, one for tens and a second for units and displays the prevailing date in a highly legible, widescreen format. While there are other timepieces equipped with large date displays that I find attractive, in my opinion, none surpass the clean look of the Panorama Date. The patented display eschews any form of framework that is usually positioned between each disc. It is only with a very keen eye that you are able to spot a fine, unobtrusive curving line, delineating one disc from the other. Moreover, while rival watches employ two discs with one disc positioned slightly higher than the other, Glashütte Original presents the tens and units on the same horizontal plane.
As the model’s name implies, it also features a moon phase indication. Positioned between 10 and 11 o’clock, the crescent-shaped aperture provides a stylised means of displaying the sunlit portion of the moon as viewed from the earth. Adjacent the aperture, Arabic numerals serve to remind the wearer that each lunar month lasts 29.5 days. The disc at the heart of the moon phase display is formed of German silver and galvanised in blue. It’s adorned with two moons and numerous stars, providing a wonderfully poetic means of imparting information.
Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase – case
Housed in a 40 mm stainless steel case, the scale of the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase should suit a broad array of wearers. Ordinarily, I favour slightly larger watches; however, as my images show, the Glashütte Original looked perfectly at ease on my left arm (wrist circumference 19 cm). The height of the watch is 12.2 mm, offering presence without appearing cumbersome.
While I have long since yearned to own a GO (Glashütte Original) housed in noble metal, I was rather taken with this model’s stainless steel case. It juxtaposes polished and satin-finished surfaces to deliver a seemly aesthetic. Indeed, this is a reoccurring characteristic with the Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase, the presentation of details is eminently tasteful.
Despite incorporating some very traditional design elements, the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase does have a slightly youthful, contemporary character. This can be partly attributed to the embossed dial, but more pertinently the modern fabric strap. Executed in royal blue, the strap would not look out of place on a sports watch, hence the German brand’s decision to pair it with the Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase may sound strange. However, this combination proves inspired, endowing the model with a harmonious appearance.
Nevertheless, for those would-be wearers who prefer a lounge suit to a sports jacket and jeans, Glashütte Original also offers a blue Louisiana alligator strap as well as a stainless steel bracelet.
To the rear of the watch, a pane of sapphire crystal affords sight of the Calibre 36-24 self-winding movement.
Glashütte Original Calibre 36-24
The specification of the Calibre 36-24 is rich in detail and incorporates a number of refined touches; hence I have endeavoured to list some of them below:
Three-quarter plate
On several occasions I have talked of movements resembling a sandwich with the mainplate acting as the base layer, the upper layer being formed of bridges and the filling comprising various components such as the barrel, gear train, keyless works, escapement, regulating organ, etc. It is important that this arrangement is stable and free of flex to ensure precise and reliable operation. Like some rival firms in Saxony, Glashütte Original prefers not to use a series of bridges for the upper layer of the movement, instead favouring the use of a three-quarter plate. This approach endows the movement with superior stability.
Note – the image shows an example of a three-quarter plate and is not specific to this model
So, why don’t all watch brands use three-quarter plates? The main reason is that when a three-quarter plate is used, the assembly is more time-consuming. The vertical play that each pivot has in its respective jewel hole, often termed the ‘endshake’, is very important. Inadequate or excessive endshake can impair performance, increase wear and even prevent the movement from working. When fitting the three-quarter plate, the watchmaker needs to repeatedly check that the endshake of each pivot is correct, an approach that is far more labour intensive than using multiple bridges.
The oscillating mass
The Calibre 36-24 is fitted with an openworked oscillating mass adorned with a stripe finish, sometimes termed ‘Glashütte ribbing’. This decorative motif also features on the three-quarter plate. A 21K gold weight is positioned towards the edge of the oscillating mass and is retained with four thermally blued screws.
Silicon balance spring
Silicon (silicium in French) is a glass-like material that is manufactured in a laboratory-type environment. It is not susceptible to corrosion nor magnetic influence. Its smooth surface is friction-free, lightweight and it can be formed into intricate shapes. By using a silicon balance spring, Glashütte Original is able to achieve an impressive degree of precision. In fact, the brand states that all ‘Senator Excellence models are put through their paces for 24 days by the Saxon manufactory – under conditions that go beyond even the elaborate German chronometer test’.
Image – silicon balance spring. Also shows variable-inertia balance (see below)
Variable-inertia balance
Most watches are fitted with an ‘index-adjusted balance’. With this form of regulation, the balance spring passes between two ‘curb pins’ fitted to the index. Moving the index towards or away from the ‘stud’ (the means of securing the balance spring to the balance cock) alters its effective length, making the watch run faster or slower.
The movement within the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase is fitted with a ‘variable-inertia balance’, sometimes termed a ‘free-sprung balance’. With this type of regulation system, the effective length of the balance spring is fixed. The rate is altered by tightening or loosening screws affixed to the balance wheel. By adjusting the ‘moment of inertia’, the movement will run faster or slower. While this approach is more labour-intensive, it proffers two useful benefits. Firstly, it delivers a higher degree of precision when compared with its index-adjusted counterpart. Secondly, if the watch is subject to a shock, it is less likely to require remedial regulation.
Rate stability
One benefit of an automatic movement is that the mainspring is optimally tensioned most of the time (assuming the wearer is moderately active). If the mainspring is fully tensioned or almost fully tensioned, then the force serving the regulating organ should be relatively consistent, conferring rate stability. In addition, the ‘amplitude’ (the rotation of the balance wheel expressed in degrees) should also remain consistent. If the amplitude is too low, the balance is more likely to be adversely affected by shocks.
There is an array of ‘constant force devices’ such as the remontoir d’egalité, fusée and chain, Geneva stopwork, etc; however, these elaborate mechanisms can prove prohibitively expensive. While the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase does not purport to have a constant force device, the brand’s own data does show very impressive results for the rate and amplitude of the Calibre 36-24.
In the graph below, the lines showing the rate and amplitude are relatively flat for the first 48 hours of the power-reserve. In reality, courtesy of its bi-directional winding, the watch, when worn, will spend most of its time in this optimum range.
Swan neck
Some watches are fitted with a swan neck as a means of altering the rate ie it serves as an index adjuster; however, that is not the case with the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase. The purpose of the swan neck featured on the Calibre 36-24 is to remedy any beat error.
Image – shows the mirror-polished swan neck. Also shows the hand-engraved balance cock
When the balance wheel oscillates to and fro, the angle of rotation should be identical. The term ‘beat error’ describes the difference between the clockwise and counter clockwise swing. In reality, there may be a small negligible difference, typically measured in milliseconds per day; but this should be minuscule otherwise the movement will not be isochronous. If the pallet lever, when at rest, is not equidistant between the banking pins, there will be a beat error.
With some cheaper watches, to achieve ‘anchor symmetry’, the watchmaker has to detach the hairspring and re-pin it to the collet. Superior watches usually have a mobile stud holder that provides a watchmaker with an easier means of adjusting the beat error. In the case of the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase, the movement features a swan neck to fine-tune the anchor symmetry. The horological integrity of the Calibre 36-24 is clear to see.
Impressive power-reserve
Surprisingly, the Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase is fitted with one barrel yet has a prodigious power-reserve of at ‘least 100 hours’. According to the Manufactory, ‘this is made possible by an optimised spring barrel whose enlarged diameter with a smaller spring core has made it possible to lengthen the mainspring and significantly increase its number of windings’. Ordinarily, I would be concerned that using a long mainspring may adversely affect rate stability; however, as stated earlier, this is clearly not an issue with the Calibre 36-24.
Exemplary finishing
The balance cock is hand-engraved, the swan neck is mirror-polished, perlage adorns the mainplate and blued screws abound. The oscillating mass runs in a channel termed a trottoir that has been embellished with colimaçon. Bevelled edges, Glashütte ribbing and ‘fine polish on the gears’ are further highlights. Quite simply, the Calibre 36-24 is beautifully executed with über-refined finishing much in evidence.
Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase – closing remarks
While the watch was in my possession, I spent prolonged periods admiring it at close quarters. It’s handsome, highly legible, comfortable to wear and delivers a high degree of precision. It is clear the Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase is distilled to the nth degree and wonderfully showcases the Manufactory’s near-obsessive attention to the smallest of details. It is a sublime watch that I would dearly love to own one day.
Appraising this watch, the German character, especially the brand’s Saxony origins is palpable. It endows the timepiece with a personality very different from Japanese or Swiss watches. Moreover, there is no escaping that by making a high number of components in-house and being a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Swatch Group, Glashütte Original has delivered an excellent timepiece for a comparatively modest sum. Are luxury and value mutually exclusive? Based on this experience, I would say ‘no’.
Further reading
https://www.glashuette-original.com/
Video
Technical specification
- Model: Glashütte Original Senator Excellence Panorama Date Moon Phase
- Reference: 1-36-24-02-02-64
- Case: stainless steel, diameter 40 mm, height 12.2 mm, water resistance 5 ATM (50 m), sapphire crystal to the front and exhibition case back.
- Functions: hours, minutes, seconds, moon phased, Panorama Date
- Movement: Calibre 36-24, automatic movement, frequency 28,800 vph (4 Hz), power reserve 100 hours
- Strap: blue synthetic fabric strap with steel fold fastener
- Price: £10,700 (RRP as of 8.1.2024)