Glashütte Original

Fine Saxon Craftsmanship

Glashütte Original is a name that has represented traditional German watchmaking of the highest quality for over 100 years. Glashütter Uhrenbetrieb GmbH, the company responsible for this brand, is a member of the Swatch Group. It continues a tradition begun by Ferdinand Adolph Lange in the small Saxon town of Glashütte in the mid-19th century.

Glashütte Original watches are aimed primarily at connoisseurs of high-quality mechanical timepieces with a timeless, classic design. Almost all the movements used in the brand’s models are made in-house and offer complications such as tourbillons, perpetual calendars, and a flyback chronograph. The calibers are finished with the finest polishing, perlage, and engravings, as is customary in Glashütte. Similarly exquisite are the detailed dials. The dials are manufactured in the company’s own dial factory in Pforzheim, Germany. Glashütte Original cases are usually made of platinum, rose gold, or white gold, but stainless steel models are also available.

The extensive catalog of this luxury watch manufacturer also includes watches with a sporty character and those with a retro feel. These watches appeal to a more youthful audience that values modern design and premium quality. What's more, Glashütte Original also has an entire collection dedicated to women's watches.

Reasons to Buy a Glashütte Original

• Ornately finished in-house calibers
• Complications such as tourbillons, perpetual calendars, and a flyback chronograph
• Gold, platinum, or stainless steel cases
• Classic, retro, and modern designs
• Comprehensive collection of diamond-studded women's watches

Prices at a Glance: Glashütte Original

How much does a watch from Glashütte Original cost?

Prices for current Glashütte Original watches on Chrono24 start at around 4,300 USD for ladies’ models and approximately 5,800 USD for men’s models. This level of investment gets you a simple three-hand stainless steel model, including the option of a quartz caliber.

If you’d prefer a stainless steel watch with a panorama date or moon phase display, expect to spend between 7,300 and 11,200 USD. A corresponding variant in 18-karat gold will set you back between 12,300 USD and 18,000 USD. When diamonds come into play, the price jumps another 2,250 to 3,400 USD.

You can buy models with a chronograph function starting at around 7,700 USD. If the chronograph comes with a flyback function, the price climbs to between 13,500 and 19,000 USD.

Top-of-the-line models, which are finely decorated and usually made of gold, tend to be more expensive. One of these will set you back between 22,400 and 44,800 USD. For the most elaborate creations, prices can climb well over 100,000 USD.

Vintage Glashütte Original Prices

Neo-vintage Glashütte Original watches from the 1990s and early 2000s change hands on Chrono24 for between 1,900 USD and 3,400 USD in good condition.

Watches from Germany’s pre-reunification era, when the company produced watches in East Germany under the name “VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe GUB,” can be purchased for as little as a few hundred dollars. These include classics like the Spezimatic, Spezichron, and Q1.

The Senator Collection – From the Simple to the Complex

The Senator collection represents the more classic and traditional side of the Glashütte Original catalog. Characteristic features include poire or feuille hands, tidy dials with Breguet-style railroad minute markers, and Roman or Arabic numerals. Watch cases are available in platinum, rose gold, white gold, or stainless steel.. When it comes to straps, Glashütte Original primarily relies on high-quality leather.

There is a wide range of model variants to choose from. These range from simple three-hand timepieces to watches with a second time zone to skeletonized models and highly complicated watches with a perpetual calendars and tourbillons. The collection is also home to chronographs and regulators.

Overview: Glashütte Original Senator

• Sizes: 40 to 48 mm
• Materials: white gold, rose gold, stainless steel, platinum
• Dials: white, silver, black, anthracite, blue, gray
• Complications: outsized date, chronograph, perpetual calendar, second time zone, moon phase, tourbillon
• Price range (approx.): 8,500 to 139,000 USD

Pano: Complicated and Asymmetrical

The Pano collection is a blend of traditional design and contemporary elegance. Watches in the collection are characterized by an asymmetrical dial layout and the eponymous “panorama date.” The left hemisphere of the dial is dominated by the time display, which usually consists of a subdial for hours and minutes and a small seconds dial. On the right-hand side, you'll find the panorama date and – depending on the model – other complications such as the moon phase display, stop minutes, or power reserve indicator. Perhaps the most famous model in the line is the PanoMaticLunar.

Inverse models like the !{model.1893,PanoMaticInverse} are particularly striking. Instead of a conventional dial, these watches feature a meticulously decorated three-quarter plate and a balance wheel equipped with a duplex swan neck regulator that would otherwise be hidden inside the watch.

Other highlights in the collection include the PanoGraph with a chronograph function, the PanoMaticCalendar with an annual calendar, and the PanoMaticTourbillon with a flying tourbillon.

Overview: The Pano Collection

• Sizes: 40 to 42 mm
• Materials: Stainless steel, platinum, rose gold, white gold
• Dials: Blue, green, white, silver, gold, black
• Complications: Annual calendar, outsized date, moon phase, chronograph, tourbillon
• Price range (approx.): 10,000 to 94,000 USD

The Sixties Collection – A Watch For Retro Fans

Models in the Vintage collection are aimed at lovers of watches with a retro design. The collection is based on the Spezimatic watches manufactured in Glashütte during the GDR era. The Sixties lines draws on designs from the 1960s. The dials in this series shine in silver white or graphite black, shimmering blue, rich green, or vibrant red and orange. They also feature the Arabic numerals typical of many Spezimatic models, located at 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock, depending on the version.

The Sixties range consists of simple three-hand watches with a diameter of 39 mm, three-hand 42-mm models with a panorama date, and 42-mm chronographs. Models come in rose gold or stainless steel.

Overview: Glashütte Original Sixties

• Sizes: 39 or 42 mm
• Materials: stainless steel or rose gold
• Dials: White, black, blue, green, orange
• Complications: panorama date, chronograph
• Price range (approx.): 5,700 to 15,200 USD

The Square Seventies Collection

The Seventies series is also part of the Vintage collection. These watches are known for their square shape with rounded corners and integrated bracelets. Here, too, you can choose between a three-hand version with a date display (the Seventies Panorama Date) and a chronograph with a flyback function (the Seventies Chronograph Panorama Date). Dial options include more traditional sunburst dials in white, blue, dark green, or anthracite as well as bright colors with names like “watermelon” or “swimming pool.” Band options include stainless steel, rubber, and leather.

Overview: Glashütte Original Seventies

• Size: 40 mm
• Material: Stainless steel
• Dials: anthracite, white, blue, green, watermelon (dusky pink), swimming pool (turquoise)
• Complications: panorama date, flyback chronograph
• Price range (approx.): 8,000 to 21,600 USD

Women’s Watches With or Without Diamonds

The Glashütte Original Ladies collection is home to the Pavonina, Lady Serenade, and PanoMatic Luna model lines. The Pavonina is available in a number of different versions, from stainless steel to rose gold and two-tone models. The case has a square, rounded shape measuring 31 × 31 mm and is adorned with a variety of diamonds, depending on the version. The Pavonina is the only series in the Glashütte Original catalog that is powered by a quartz movement.

The round case of the Lady Serenade has a diameter of 36 mm and houses the automatic caliber 39. The case comes in stainless steel or rose gold. The use of diamonds enhances the classic and playful design.

If 36 mm seems too big for you, take a look at the Serenade Luna. The Serenade Luna has the same playful character as the Lady Serenade, but is only 32.5 mm in diameter and features a moon phase display.

The PanoMatic Luna is the pimped-up model of the collection. Along with the usual time display, the watch’s automatic caliber 90-12 provides a stop-seconds function, panorama date, and moon phase display. The PanoMatic Luna is also available with diamonds. The stainless steel timepiece is also somewhat larger, measuring 39.4 mm in diameter.

Overview: Glashütte Original Ladies Collection

• PanoMatic Luna: 39.4 mm, stainless steel, diamond-set, panorama date, moon phase
• Lady Serenade: 36 mm, stainless steel or rose gold, diamond-set, date
• Serenade Luna: 32.5 mm, stainless steel or rose gold, diamond-set, moon phase
• Pavonina: 31 mm, stainless steel or rose gold, quartz movement

Glashütte Original SeaQ Diving Watch

Glashütte Original offers a line of professional diving watches under the name SeaQ. The unifying element of these watches is an uncluttered dial with large luminescent numerals and broad luminous hands. The most striking feature of the latter is the watch’s large arrow-shaped minute hand.

The collection consists of a 39.5-mm unisex version with a simple date display, a 43.2-mm model with a panorama date, and a chronograph that also measures 43.2 mm across. Most of the watches are made of stainless steel. Rose gold and two-tone models are also available.

Overview: The Glashütte Original SeaQ

• Sizes: 39.5 or 43.2 mm
• Materials: Stainless steel, rose gold, or two-tone
• Water resistance: 200 m (20 bar, 656 ft) to 300 m (30 bar, 984 ft)
• Dials: White, black, anthracite, blue, green
• Complications: panorama date, chronograph
• Price range (approx.): 8,500 to 24,200 USD

From a State-Owned Enterprise to a Market Economy

The manufacturer of Glashütte Original watches has an eventful history. The company doesn’t have a single founding date, but several. It all began with Ferdinand Adolph Lange, who founded the first watchmaking shop in the small town in Saxony in 1845. Other businesses settled here. The high-quality products produced in Glashütte soon gained a good reputation beyond the borders of Germany. As a result, the Glashütte appellation of origin established itself as a mark of quality that could be used for advertising purposes. The Norwegian Roald Amundsen, who conquered the South Pole, relied on special watches from Glashütte to help him determine his position. One of these watches can be seen today in a museum in Oslo.

In 1916, a certain Karl W. Höhnel had a pendulum clock inscribed with the words “Original Glashütte.” These two words first appeared on the dial of a wristwatch in 1927. After the end of World War II and the founding of the German Democratic Republic (a.k.a. East Germany), the companies in Glashütte were forcibly merged and nationalized in the early 1950s under the name VEB Glashütter Uhrenbetriebe (GUB). GUB produced for the domestic and foreign markets. In 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Glashütte Uhrenbetrieb GmbH emerged as the legal successor to the VEB. In 1994, the new owners Alfred Wallner and Heinz W. Pfeifer began to focus the Glashütte Original brand, which they had founded specifically for this purpose, on luxury watches. Glashütte Uhrenbetrieb GmbH joined the Swatch Group in 2000.

FAQs

Who wears Glashütte Original?

Celebrities seen wearing Glashütte Original watches include American actor Joel McHale and ice skating legend Katarina Witt.

What’s the most expensive Glashütte watch?

One of the most expensive watches in the current Glashütte Original collection is the Senator Chronometer Tourbillon. This platinum watch changes hands on Chrono24 for roughly 139,000 USD.

Is Glashütte Original a luxury watch brand?

Glashütte Original is a manufacturer with a long tradition of producing timepieces for the high-end luxury watch sector. The workmanship, movements, and materials are of the highest quality.