Sports luxe could be Glashütte Original’s new thing.

Need a dress watch? We’d point you to Glashütte Original in a heartbeat. Even our resident stylist recommends one in his guide to men’s dress watches here. The brand’s classic appeal and penchant for clean simple dials is well-loved and well-known, as clearly seen in its Senator collection, where even the fussiest of their dials offer great legibility. But sports watches? We’re not sure we’d knock on their door right away. Until now.   

Going into the Glashütte Original presentation at Baselworld this year, we were prepared to see more complications like the perpetual calendar (didn’t every other brand roll one out this year?) and we certainly weren’t disappointed. But the one that caught us off guard was this sporty beauty.

 

The first time Glashütte Original introduced its own chronograph movement was back in 2014 with the Calibre 37-01 (below) in the Senator Chronograph Panorama Date. Compact, highly precise and reliable, the column wheel chronograph was presented to great acclaim in gorgeous executions of red gold and platinum.

This year, the new Senator Chronograph Panorama Date retains the elegance of the Senator DNA but looks to have dialled up the sporty aesthetic a few notches. In a departure from the previous models’ elegant white dials, the new version sports (excuse the pun) a jet black dial offset by bright blue Super-LumiNova indexes. The Roman numerals (save for 12 and 6) have also been replaced with baton indexes, giving the watch a more contemporary appeal while the addition of a seconds track adds to the sporty vibe.

It has to be said the timepiece’s chronograph counters aren’t arranged conventionally with the date display located where the 12 hour totaliser would normally be. This gives the date window pride of place which, for a Panorama Date, is completely apt.

You don’t really think much about it, but Glashütte Original’s unmissable date display conceived 20 years ago is something of a technical marvel. The wide open date indicator is composed of two discs that are flushed on the same level, with barely the hint of a line demarcating the two. This gives users the impression of a seamless date display, not unlike a digital counter, and endows any Glashütte Original timepiece with a sense of distinction and practicality.

With the luxury watch market still sluggish, many brands are turning to steel as a more affordable but equally appealing option for customers. In fact, some steel editions are even more highly coveted than their precious metal siblings. We explain why steel is so hot in our story here. So it’s no surprise, really, that Glashütte Original would follow suit with their new Senator Chronograph Panorama Date.  

Of the three strap option available (rubber, leather, bracelet), our favourite execution has to be the one with the rubber strap. It scores for both comfort and style, lending a utilitarian feel to the watch and surprisingly complements the Saxonian marque’s classic appeal very well. And for a collection made up largely of refined dress watches, we think the Senator Chronograph Panorama Date will be the sports watch of choice for dapper gents.

Case	42mm, stainless steel
Dial	Black varnish with Super-LumiNova indexes
Movement	In-house self-winding Calibre 37-01
Strap/Bracelet	Leather, rubber or steel
Functions	Centre hour and minute hands, small seconds hand, stop seconds, Panorama Date, flyback chronograph, 30-minute totaliser, 12-hour totaliser
Power  Reserve	70 hours
Price	S$23,100 (leather/rubber), S$25,400 (steel bracelet)

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