WEMPE INVESTED CONSIDERABLE SUMS RESTORING THE OBSERVATORY AND ADDING BUILDINGS THAT PROVIDE THE COMPANY’ S WORKERS WITH MODERN, LIGHT-FILLED WORK SPACE.
WEMPE INVESTED CONSIDERABLE SUMS RESTORING THE OBSERVATORY AND ADDING BUILDINGS THAT PROVIDE THE COMPANY’ S WORKERS WITH MODERN, LIGHT-FILLED WORK SPACE.
Wempe invested considerable sums restoring the observatory and adding buildings that provide the company’ s workers with modern, light-filled work space. It serves as an excellent trademark for the brand, and today the observatory is once again a key player in the watch business. Wempe not only assembles and decorates watches there, but also puts them through their paces according to Germany’ s tough industrial norms( DIN 8319). For fifteen days, the assembled and encased watches are tested in five positions( crown right, up, and left, at different temperatures( 8, 23, and 38 ° C.) and in about 50 % ambient humidity. The watches must not deviate by more than- 4 and + 6 seconds per day. It’ s also the place where aspiring watchmakers come to train, thus ensuring a crop of experts for the next generation of watch fans.
TWO TIMERS When building up its watch division, Wempe opted for a global strategy covering the upper and medium market segments. The more affordable line is called Zeitmeister. These robust timepieces run on reliable Swiss ETA movements that are extensively decorated and reworked at the Wempe workshop in Glashütte. The casebacks are always full metal and screwed down, and embossed with a depiction of the company’ s observatory. Several of the models in the series have won prizes for their classic looks and robust workmanship. In 2008, for example, the Zeitmeister Full Calendar Moon Phase picked up one of Germany’ s top awards, the“ Goldener Unruh”( Golden Balance).
The Zeitmeisters also include stylish, quartz-driven watches for women, like the classic, 31mm, round, gold-plated Zeitmeister Wempe reference that won the Ladies’ Watch of the Year prize in 2007. In 2011, Wempe launched the Manchette collection of sleek rectangular watches that tidily follow the lines of the metal bracelet or leather straps they come on.
The division’ s tenth anniversary was celebrated with two of the most complicated watches the company ever made. We are not talking Urwerk or, say, or on the level with the Franck Muller Aeternitas Mega 4, but complicated for a tenyear-old company that makes quintessential dress watches.
The Zeitmeister Annual Calendar( right) combines an ETA 2892-A2 base with a Dubois Dépraz module and an in-house balance cock with fine regulation system for easy date correction. The day, month and date have been tucked away in subdials at 9, 12, and 3 o’ clock respectively. A fourth subdial at 6 o’ clock exhibits a moon phase to complete the calendar functions.
The second anniversary Zeitmeister is a fitting extension of the line’ s sporty models, which in the past included a ceramic aviator watch with chrono function. The 2016 Sports Diver Chronograph DLC is a virile, black DLC-treated automatic diving watch with a chronograph. The engine inside is an ETA Valjoux 7750, also featuring stop seconds, an in-house balance cock and fine adjustment. The unidirectional bezel is of ceramic, making it a real diving tool that will resist the wear and tear of an active lifestyle. The two models are limited to 100 pieces each.
50 | INTERNATIONAL WATCH | WINTER 2018