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GLASHUTTE ORIGINAL - HANDMADE IN GERMANY!
.......Just Like the Audi R8
May I have the pleasure to share with you a 30 minute short film revealing insights into the Glashutte Original Manufacture.
The video is hosted on Youtube and comes in 5 parts.
The video gives a detailed in-depth view into the Glashutte Manufacture.
[video links are at the end of this article]
Time that allows itself the luxury of moving forward slowly, deliberately - this is the time that is created in a little german watchmaking town. Which each year that passes: each horological work of art that is produced writes yet another chapter of that history. With each year at the 24hours of LeMans, yet another trophy is lifted on the top podium by the present day incarnation of the most successful Le Mans Prototype of all time, the Audi R8 LMP (LeMans Prototype).
Glashütte Original (GO) looks back on more than 160 years of continuous watchmaking history. It is the only watch manufacturer that has existed in Glashütte prior to the German reunification. Every Glashütte Original is an original made by hand
– manu factum (latin for made by hand).
Glashutte Original's goal is to do justice to the demanding legacy of the traditional art of watchmaking. Thus, tradition and innovation have merged together in the quest for the utmost precision from the filigree skills of the craftsman's hand to produce masterpieces of timeless value. While Glashutte's watchmakers attempt to create a piece of eternity with every new timepiece, the Audi engineers and team are equally busy striving for the same qualities that have swept the Circuit de la Sarthe with a tour de force showcase of technologies that have kept the team victorious.
The demands of the title of "Manufactory" is only partially valid today....well at least in watchmaking. The appellation in its modern use is solely used in conjunction with watchmaking companies that design and manufacture their own movements. Glashutte Original is one of these few companies and they are also able to create their own movements and corresponding customized tools for the manufacture of these components totally in-house.
The modern manufacture is does not necessarily make everything by hand. Modern methods employing cutting edge production methods are infused into the process and this produces individual components with incredible hair splitting precision that would astound the inventor of the original dixieme gauge (measuring instrument invented by watchmaker Adoph Lange in 1800s).
Take a walk into a modern day manufactory and you will find spark erosion machines churning out miniscule parts to a a few thousands of a millimeter precision. If you took a stroll in the Audi factory, you will see an amazing parallel universe. Audi employs state of the art patented processes like the production of car doors using adhesive that sets when a magnetic field is applied.
Made by Hand masterpieces all employing the genius of today's epitome in science and technology for the never ending quest of perfection. After all, the owners of such objects would settle for nothing less.
Many similarities of two German brands are immediately apparent in a variety of areas such as:
origin, quality craftsmanship, tight quality control, in-house innovation, and product features.
The Glashutte is born under the reign of tight tolerances to near thousands of an millimeter. before the tiny components can even be assembled by a highly trained watchmaker they undergo extensive quality control checks at every stage. Individual parts are delicately finished, lavisly engraved and galvanically treated, after which they are assembled into functional subgroups. After passing thru many sets of skilled hands they arrive at the actual assembly watchmaker who assembles them patiently and with great precision. Step by step, hour after hour, until a timepiece has been created.
This process is no different on the R8 production line. At each assembly station different parts lying neatly sorted on a mobile cart, the so-called "shopping trolley". A couple of metres away from the production line are the fresh supplies. Production managers call this area the “supermarket” because the staff take the goods they need from full shelves and fill up their "shopping trolleys". The difference is that what goes in the trolley is not decided by personal taste, but rather by the production process and the individual desires of the customer that ordered the R8.
The Audi R8 assembly undergoes similar scrutiny, for example in chassis manufacturing the tolerance is to 0.1mm and 100% eye checks are mandatory for the hand welded Audi Space Frame (ASF) Chassis. [Your Lamborghini Gallardo ASF chassis is made in this same factory also and then shipped to Italy for assembly]
Horological talent is not something that can be learned overnight. Enormous patience and a steady hand are just as important as knowledge of the fine details of traditional mechanical watchmaking. Similarly Audi harnesses experience potential of older employees in the production of the new Audi R8. A work cycle in the R8 assembly last several times as long as a work cycle in volume production. This process is characterised by great calm. Hectic movements are as few and far between as the noise of machines or shouting. The body shells hang in height-adjustable frames that move on a few metres every three quarters of an hour. Whether the half-finished R8 is at knee level or at eye level depends on whether it is the windscreen wipers or the brakes that are being fitted.
.......Just Like the Audi R8
May I have the pleasure to share with you a 30 minute short film revealing insights into the Glashutte Original Manufacture.
The video is hosted on Youtube and comes in 5 parts.
The video gives a detailed in-depth view into the Glashutte Manufacture.
[video links are at the end of this article]
Time that allows itself the luxury of moving forward slowly, deliberately - this is the time that is created in a little german watchmaking town. Which each year that passes: each horological work of art that is produced writes yet another chapter of that history. With each year at the 24hours of LeMans, yet another trophy is lifted on the top podium by the present day incarnation of the most successful Le Mans Prototype of all time, the Audi R8 LMP (LeMans Prototype).
Glashütte Original (GO) looks back on more than 160 years of continuous watchmaking history. It is the only watch manufacturer that has existed in Glashütte prior to the German reunification. Every Glashütte Original is an original made by hand
– manu factum (latin for made by hand).
Glashutte Original's goal is to do justice to the demanding legacy of the traditional art of watchmaking. Thus, tradition and innovation have merged together in the quest for the utmost precision from the filigree skills of the craftsman's hand to produce masterpieces of timeless value. While Glashutte's watchmakers attempt to create a piece of eternity with every new timepiece, the Audi engineers and team are equally busy striving for the same qualities that have swept the Circuit de la Sarthe with a tour de force showcase of technologies that have kept the team victorious.
The demands of the title of "Manufactory" is only partially valid today....well at least in watchmaking. The appellation in its modern use is solely used in conjunction with watchmaking companies that design and manufacture their own movements. Glashutte Original is one of these few companies and they are also able to create their own movements and corresponding customized tools for the manufacture of these components totally in-house.
The modern manufacture is does not necessarily make everything by hand. Modern methods employing cutting edge production methods are infused into the process and this produces individual components with incredible hair splitting precision that would astound the inventor of the original dixieme gauge (measuring instrument invented by watchmaker Adoph Lange in 1800s).
Take a walk into a modern day manufactory and you will find spark erosion machines churning out miniscule parts to a a few thousands of a millimeter precision. If you took a stroll in the Audi factory, you will see an amazing parallel universe. Audi employs state of the art patented processes like the production of car doors using adhesive that sets when a magnetic field is applied.
Made by Hand masterpieces all employing the genius of today's epitome in science and technology for the never ending quest of perfection. After all, the owners of such objects would settle for nothing less.
Many similarities of two German brands are immediately apparent in a variety of areas such as:
origin, quality craftsmanship, tight quality control, in-house innovation, and product features.
The Glashutte is born under the reign of tight tolerances to near thousands of an millimeter. before the tiny components can even be assembled by a highly trained watchmaker they undergo extensive quality control checks at every stage. Individual parts are delicately finished, lavisly engraved and galvanically treated, after which they are assembled into functional subgroups. After passing thru many sets of skilled hands they arrive at the actual assembly watchmaker who assembles them patiently and with great precision. Step by step, hour after hour, until a timepiece has been created.
This process is no different on the R8 production line. At each assembly station different parts lying neatly sorted on a mobile cart, the so-called "shopping trolley". A couple of metres away from the production line are the fresh supplies. Production managers call this area the “supermarket” because the staff take the goods they need from full shelves and fill up their "shopping trolleys". The difference is that what goes in the trolley is not decided by personal taste, but rather by the production process and the individual desires of the customer that ordered the R8.
The Audi R8 assembly undergoes similar scrutiny, for example in chassis manufacturing the tolerance is to 0.1mm and 100% eye checks are mandatory for the hand welded Audi Space Frame (ASF) Chassis. [Your Lamborghini Gallardo ASF chassis is made in this same factory also and then shipped to Italy for assembly]
Horological talent is not something that can be learned overnight. Enormous patience and a steady hand are just as important as knowledge of the fine details of traditional mechanical watchmaking. Similarly Audi harnesses experience potential of older employees in the production of the new Audi R8. A work cycle in the R8 assembly last several times as long as a work cycle in volume production. This process is characterised by great calm. Hectic movements are as few and far between as the noise of machines or shouting. The body shells hang in height-adjustable frames that move on a few metres every three quarters of an hour. Whether the half-finished R8 is at knee level or at eye level depends on whether it is the windscreen wipers or the brakes that are being fitted.
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