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The PuristS
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It was during our PuristS-meeting at the Basel watch fair, when Dr. Frank Müller, then designated president of Glashütte Original, kindly invited the PuristS to visit the newly rebuilt factory at Glashütte. Of course, we gladly accepted that generous offer, and the summer was spent with planning and organizing. 1. Planning For the Glashütte factory it was a very special year, since the huge building, which dates from the Communist era of Eastern Germany, was completely rebuilt. Barely a wall was to be left as it was. What made this task so difficult was the fact that the watch production should be affected as little as possible. Consequently, the watchmakers did their work aside hoards of hammering and drilling machines and workers; tons of dust and debris had to be kept away from the assembly facilities; not the easiest of tasks. However, the difficulties were overcome, and the huge task could be completed within the planned time. The PuristS group should be one of the very first to visit the new factory in October, only a few weeks after its official opening. Aside from this privilege, however, it very soon became clear that Glashütte Original wanted to give us a very special treatment as VIPs: The company's public relations department, with Mr. René Marx being entrusted with coordinating all online activities, put together a program with the intention not only to present the watch manufactory itself, but above all the country. It was Saxony's history and cultural tradition, which shaped society and economy. Consequently, the modern Glashütte watch industry mirrors its country. Instead of presenting an isolated company, Glashütte Original wanted to help its visitors understand the development and philosophy behind. Consequently, the visit's schedule stretched over two full days, which were tightly packed and organized with typical German accuracy. It was clear that this visit would not allow hanging around lazily. For me as the forum moderator and "group coordinator" (I love important titles!), not much work was left. All I had to do was to report the important data and dates to the participants, and hope that all would arrive in Dresden safely. This first point already shows the particular situation of the Glashütte region: Throughout history, Saxony orientated itself towards the East, not the West. Consequently, the traffic infrastructure necessitates some complicated city hopping for anybody arriving from overseas. The small town of Glashütte is not prepared to welcome larger numbers of visitors: There is no hotel, and only a few small restaurants. The nearest larger city is Dresden, some forty kilometres away. This world-famous historical city, however, more than compensates for Glashütte's lack of tourist facilities. 2. Meeting Consequently, our group was accommodated in Dresden. The hotel we had rooms reserved in was not simply a hotel, but an institution: the "Hotel Kempinski Taschenbergpalais", one of Germany's most luxurious hotels.
Waiting for us in the rooms, was a nice welcome message, personally signed by Glashütte Original's president, Dr. Frank Müller, and some fine chocolates. While the former was an honour, the latter certainly was better apt to satisfy our more primitive needs.
Since the official program was to begin early next morning, I had planned to meet with all our participants, and spend some time getting to know each other. It is a typical phenomenon of our globalised online world, that one gets to know so many people from all around the world. One is spending a lot of time with them, knowing so much of them, without ever getting an idea of what they actually look like! Therefore, it was once again funny to stumble through the hotel's lobby, which was our meeting point, trying to recognize the group's members: "Could this be...? No, ... would not wear such informal clothes, or be so young!" Finally, the introductions were made, and we spent most the evening - and a considerable part of the night as well - chatting and laughing. 3. Day 1
The next day began at 9 am, when we met with GO's Mr. Marx, who welcomed us on behalf of the company. The first surprise awaited us outside: Instead of a bus, a line of several "Phaetons", Volkswagen's new luxury sedan, designed to compete with Mercedes' prestigious S-class, stood ready to bring us to Glashütte. Seated with all comfort, the drive was even a bit too short!
a) Glashütte Original factory visit After about half an hour, we finally reached the small town of Glashütte. The weather was not very friendly, especially to our friends who arrived from warmer climates: Snow had fallen the night before, temperature was well below zero (Celsius), and an icy wind drove us quickly into the manufacturer building.
Inside, we were stunned by the magnificent atrium, the spectacular highlight of the factory rebuild: 23 metres height, lit by daylight passing through 220 square metres of glass wall, and 300 square metres of glass roof. All this atrium contains is the reception desk and a line of exhibition cases, showing the best of GO watches. Here we were welcomed by the company's president, Dr. Frank Müller.
Before the tour through the factory started, we had a very interesting introduction into the history and tradition of watchmaking in Glashütte.
Of course we were all eager to see the real watch production, so Dr. Müller kept short the theory, leading us directly into the practice: He lead us through the office part to the development department with its CAD-workstations. A speciality of the Glashütter Uhrenbetrieb is the tool-making department, where all the tools for making screws, pinions, bridges and so on are being made.
Afterwards, we were shown the production of smaller and larger movements parts, partially done by spark erosion machines, which cut out tiny parts, such as swan neck regulators, from the raw material plates. Other parts are stamped or milled by CNC-machines.
The machinery itself constitutes an interesting mix of old and hi-tech. Many of the machines, especially those making tiny pinions and screws, still date from the communist era. During that time, the government spent valuable western currencies to purchase machines from Switzerland, which still work today.
It is really difficult to recall every room and every production step we could see. There were so many halls, and aisles we were led through. Additionally, it became increasingly difficult to keep our group together. Everybody seemingly found something different highly interesting, and tried to stay there for some more time. Normally, guided tours offered to the visitors are now following a predetermined path, with large windows separating them from the working staff. This is necessary to keep the disturbance on the production as small as possible. I know what I am speaking about, having thrown down a box full with tiny screws with my big camera bag during my first visit two years ago. Dr. Müller, however, wanted to show us every detail; therefore we roamed happily through all the rooms and talked with the friendly staff. We saw machines in which screws are heat-blued, galvanizing equipment to rhodinize the plates and bridges, saw how the balance wheels got their tiny weight screws, we saw too much to recall every detail. Here are some pictures that offer but a few superficial impressions of what we saw:
There were, however, a few sights that extremely impressed most of us. One of them was the procedure of "black-polishing" certain parts. This term describes a finish so smooth that it perfectly reflects dark spots and looks black. With endless patience, a female employee wiped a part so small that it was barely visible on her fingertip, on a rubber surface: again and again and again. After a thorough inspection of what to us seemed not larger than a fly dropping, she continued her work, apparently not satisfied with what she saw through her loupe. After all the different movement parts were produced and painstakingly inspected, we followed their path through the halls where they received their decorative finish by hand, and finally to the watch making ateliers, where they would be assembled into working watches. While noise and dust dominated throughout the production facilities, now tidiness and silence prevailed.
In a large atelier, the more common GO and Union up to chronograph level were assembled. Here, a certain labour division is exercised: A watchmaker would, for example, assemble the gear train of a GO PanoMatic, then carry the tray with the parts to his neighbour's desk, who would then continue the work. Smaller rooms housed the assembly ateliers for complicated watches. Here, every watch is completely assembled by one watchmaker. It was absolutely fascinating to observe them in their full concentration - only to disturb them with questions ("May I have a close look at this?").
The most interesting conversation for me personally was with a watchmaker busy to check the performance of a newly assembled PanoRetroGraph on a timing device. He was not very satisfied with the + 2 second rate he saw, since this was not consistent enough in different positions. What would he do to improve it, I asked. Fiddle around for one or two days, he answered. And if this would not show the desired result, he would disassemble the escapement and rework some parts. Now I was really astonished: All the high-tech production equipment we saw in the other halls, all the meticulous finishing work, and now he would grind and cut around on these parts himself? He laughed. No, not that bad. But since after the machine production, all parts are treated by hand, and assembled by hand, it is only logical that not two parts are really identical. Therefore, it sometimes is necessary to "calibrate" or "tweak" the combination in order to achieve the high standard of the factory. Sometimes, in rare cases, a part has to be thrown away altogether, and replaced with a new one. How long do you need to regulate such a watch to the accuracy you want? Depends, he answered. Up to five weeks. I was stunned. Never had I awaited the final stage of making a complicated watch lasting that long! I thanked the gentleman and backed off, to relieve him from my disturbing presence.
PanoRetrograph cal. 60 nearing completion. Only the sound spring for the striking mechanism is missing. All three pics © tayshyan
Movement of a PanoMatic Tourbillon; pics © zmxu
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