Review Glashütte Original PanoMaticLunar with Forest Green dial in steel – There is a dark side of the Moon, but what is Glashütte Original’s secret? ( Ref. 1-90-02-13-32-66 )

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Glashütte Original

A town full of watchmakers

Glashütte is a German town in lower Saxony with a population of just under 7,000 people. Watchmaking from Glashütte Original goes back all the way to 1845. With the support from the kingdom of Saxony, first independent watchmakers started settling in the area, bringing back prosperity to the formerly struggling region.

Slowly but steadily watches from Glashütte started to build a worldwide reputation. In 1878 the German School of Watchmaking Glashütte was founded, training and educating watchmakers for many generations to come.

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Deutsches Uhrenmuseum Glashütte

During World War II the town was bombed and watchmaking was no longer possible amidst the ruins. When the socialist German Democratic Republic (GDR) got established in 1949, all Glashütte watch manufacturers were nationalized in a so-called “publicly owned enterprise”, a form of state ownership. In German this was called a Volkseigener Betrieb (VEB). Freely translated this meant “the people’s enterprise”.

The Glashütte watch manufacturers were collectivized under VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe, in English this would translate to “publicly owned enterprise Glashütte watch manufacturers”. For over 40 years Germany was divided. Watches from this period had either GUB or Glashütte printed on the dial.

When East and West Germany reunited in 1990, around 8,000 formerly state-owned enterprises got privatized on the free market. Glashütte Original got founded in 1994. Together with the resurrection of other brands like A. Lange & Söhne, this brought fine German watchmaking back to Glashütte.

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vintage-portfolio.com

Now that we know a bit about Glashütte Original’s history, let us have a look at one of their flagship watches: the Pano collection. It has an off-center dial with an overlapping sub-dial for seconds. This leaves some space on the right side for other complications. That is for example a power reserve indicator, a chronograph display or a moon-phase indicator.

The Pano’s Design language

In architecture, photography or design, a designer will always strive for a balanced layout. But what does “balanced” mean? Many designers work with a ⅓ to ⅔ rule in mind. You sometimes hear this expressed as the Golden Ratio. This irrational number equaling to something like 1.618033988749… was even seen as the “divine proportion” by mathematician Luca Pacioli, who lived in the 15^th to 16^th century.

“The Golden Ratio appears in some patterns in nature, including the spiral arrangement of leaves and other parts of vegetation.” Wikipedia

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Bogomil Mihaylov (bogomi) on Unsplash

Not everything designed with this ratio will be aesthetically pleasing, but still it is a nice rule of thumb when approaching designs. Based on this ratio you could draw a blueprint for layouts. Interestingly the Golden Ratio applied to the PanoMaticLunar’s dial gives us the following.

Forest green dial

Around 95 out of 100 components built into a Glashütte Original watch are produced in-house. That is very rare nowadays. Their dials are no exception.

From the creation of the blanks to sanding and polishing and mixing just the right color tone: a total of 40 steps are necessary to produce the PanoMaticLunar dial. The result is a deep green dial that looks like its been directly extracted from the surrounding rich forests around Glashütte.

There is some lume on the hour and minute hands, the indices aren’t lumed. Don’t expect to have excellent legibility in the dark, but this isn’t the pure purpose of this watch.

Moon phase indicator

I don’t have much use for a moon phase indicator, but its nice to look at. And when you know how its made, you’ll love it even more. First, the two moons are milled out. This gives the moons an inward-facing shape. Both moons are then polished.

The stars in the night sky appear through a galvanic treatment. The silver disc has a matt, finely grained finish achieved through sandblasting. The next 29 ½ days can’t go past quick enough so you can admire the entire subdial.

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Glashütte Original

Panorama Date

Since 1997 the Panorama Date is present in almost all model collections of Glashütte Original. The date is placed on two discs which don’t overlap, so there is no bridge in between. The inner disc carries 0–3, the outer disc 0–9. With this all days of the month ranging from 01 to 31 can be displayed.

Steel case

The case has a satinised finish on the sides and is polished on top. The crown has an embossed Glashütte Original logo. The PanoMaticLunar is 40 mm in diameter and 12.7 mm thick. Water resistance is decent with 50 meters. On the front and back you’ll find a sapphire crystal showing the wonderful dial and equally exciting movement. If you want to use a different strap, the lug width is 20 mm.

Buckle

The PanoMaticLunar comes on either a pin buckle or folding clasp made out of steel. I usually have my troubles with folding clasps on a strap, but this one doesn’t build up too high on the wrist and sits very ergonomically.

In-house movement: the Caliber 90-02

Now for the star of this review: the movement behind the PanoMaticLunar. Glashütte Original not only makes its own case components and dials, but also its own movements. The Glashütte Original Calibre 90-02 is the driving force behind the PanoMaticLunar and is finished in the best Glashütte watchmaking tradition.

Blued screws

Blued screws not only look great, but the extra attention also makes them more resistant to corrosion. The screws are first hand-polished and then heated to a temperature of 290 degrees Celsius until they get their desired cornflower blue tone.

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Glashütte Original

Swan-neck adjustment

Movements don’t just run precisely out of the box. Despite highest production standards, each movement will run slightly different and needs to be fine-adjusted. Since 1888 Glashütte Original watches have a Swan-neck adjustment.

This construction changes the effective length of the balance spring through a set of screws. By turning the screws slightly in or out, the watchmaker can influence the beat rate of the watch, making it run faster or slower.

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Glashütte Original

Hand-engraved balance bridge

When looking at the balance bridge under the magnifying glass, this part of the movement might seem a bit unrefined. But it is the touch of an artist. The balance bridges are hand-engraved, making each watch unique. The floral decoration and lines are then filled with gold.

Finishing techniques

Component edges on the Caliber 90-02 are chamfered at a 45 degree angle to reduce sharp edges. The edges are then polished, highlighting the shape of the component.

On the mainplate you’ll find perlage finishing: an attractive pattern of overlapping, brushed circles, almost looking like scales on a fish.

Finally, on the mainspring barrel and the crown wheel, you can find sunburst brushing. Depending on the light, the reflections on the surface appear to move in circles, creating an interesting visual effect.

Operating the movement is flawless. The two-date discs snap into place without effort, winding the movement gives a satisfying feedback. A pleasure to use. The moonphase is adjusted by a pusher button on the outside of the case next to the crown.

Is there a dark side of the Moon?

I never expected how versatile the PanoMaticLunar is. Usually I don’t like dressy watches, stuffed with complications, probably having some kind of defect after riding a bicycle over a bumpy road during rain. A date or power reserve is usually the height of complications for me. This watch looks elegant, but is built for everyday life.

The green dial fits with many styles. You’ll be surprised how well green can be combined with many other colors. It’s also what you’d expect from German manufacturing: not pretentious, solid engineering. Once you understand how much work goes into making the PanoMaticLunar with its moon phase complication, you’ll appreciate it even more. Usually the Moon has a dark side — this watch doesn’t.