Moritz Grossman is a brand we don’t cover here a whole lot on WWR. Not because they don’t make nice watches, or nice-looking watches, but because they generally fall outside of our mission statement of covering interesting and affordable watches. Long-time readers will know that we will deviate from the affordable part now and again if there’s something that’s just-plain cool that comes along. And, well, the Moritz Grossmann ATUM Hamatic flips that switch.
This is a watch that was introduced at BaselWorld 2018 as a prototype, but there are indeed plans to produce the watch, and it should be available later this year. This is the first automatic watch that the brand has produced, and the Moritz Grossmann ATUM Hamatic does things a bit differently than you might expect.
You see, rather than a rotating weight, or rotor, they’re using a pendulum mass, or what they’re calling a hammer mechanism – hence the ‘ham’ part of the Moritz Grossmann ATUM Hamatic name. This hammer, as it oscillates, can be seen through the caseback, and through the cutouts on the dial as well.
Frankly, the movement is the star of the show here, and looks mightily impressive. For the rest of the watch, it’s very much a dressier piece, both with the 41mm precious metal case and the silver dial. Pair in a classic handset, narrow Roman numbers, and a larger subseconds dial, and yeah, this is not a watch you’d be taking out in the field.
As a dressier piece, though, I like the Moritz Grossmann ATUM Hamatic. And with the new movement, it’s sure to appeal to watch geeks as well. Given these new steps for the brand, it’s not too surprising to see the 37,600 EUR (approx. $46,547) price tag on the piece. Suffice to say, we won’t be getting a loaner in to test out, but nevertheless, it’s still quite a stunner, is it not? grossmann-uhren.com
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Brand & Model: Moritz Grossmann ATUM Hamatic
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Price: $46,547
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Who we think it might be for: You want a luxury German dress watch, one with a unique approach to an automatic movement
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Would I buy one for myself based on what I’ve seen? That’s simply not in the cards for this watch writer
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If I could make one design suggestion, it would be: The dial cutouts feel almost like an afterthought in the design. I get wanting to see the hammer, but they’re just not working for me.
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What spoke to me the most about this watch: That movement, of course!
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Movement: Manufacture calibre 106.0, manually wound, adjusted in five positions
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No. of parts: 324
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No. of jewels: 39, of which 3 in screwed gold chatons
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Escapement: Lever escapement
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Oscillator: Shock-resistant Grossmann balance with 4 inertia and 2 poising screws, Nivarox 1 balance spring with No. 80 Breguet terminal curve, Gerstenberger geometry
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Balance: Diameter 10.0 mm, frequency 21,600 semi-oscillations/hour
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Power reserve: 72 hours when fully wound
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Functions: Hours and minutes, subsidiary seconds with stop seconds
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Operating elements: Crown for winding the watch, and setting the time
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Case dimensions:
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Diameter: 41.0 mm
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Height: 11.35 mm
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Movement dimensions
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Diameter: 31.6 mm
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Height 4.1 mm
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Case: Three-part, precious metal
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Dial: Solid silver, white, with printed Roman numerals
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Hands: Manually crafted, steel, annealed to a brown-violet hue
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Crystal and display back: Sapphire crystal, antireflective coating on one side
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Strap: Hand-stitched alligator strap with prong buckle in precious metal
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Special features
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Grossmann balance
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Click pawl in the reduction gear train
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Adjustment with Grossmann micrometer screw on a cantilevered balance cock
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Pillar movement with 2/3 plate and frame pillars in untreated German silver, 2/3 plate and balance cock hand-engraved
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Broad horizontal Glashütte ribbing, 2-band snailing on the mainspring barrel
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Raised gold chatons with pan-head screws
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Separately removable clutch winding mechanism
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Stop seconds on the balance rim for handsetting
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Self-winding with oscillating hammer, bidirectionally acting click wheels
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Idler with pawl clicks, manual yoke winder
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Optimised mainspring barrel bearings on a separate barrel axis
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