In the VW Vanagon bus and headed south out of Dresden towards the town of Glashütte to meet up with some other independent watchmakers I was eager to meet.
The morning light leaving Dresden for Glashütte was surreal.
Getting close to Glashütte, we passed this little town that had another early Saxon rulers palace.
The new to me watchmakers, had located their atelier in the center of the town across the street from a specialist supplier, SUG, that Marco uses and where some custom parts in titanium are produced for him. He seemed pleased upon initial inspection.
Raw materials for watchmaking below their company sign.
Their atelier is right on. the main street in Glashütte, with big windows for all to see inside. I was excited to meet the guys and quickly dove into learning more about them and their work. Marco kindly snapped a few pics for me.
Gaining insight into the differential for the power reserve, modeled in a 3D plastic printer. Johannes explains how it works to your truly!
Kallinich and Claeys is a new and exciting independent watchmaking firm of two young men, who previously worked at A. Lange & Sohne. Thibault Claeys is originally from Belgium and his colleague Johannes Kallinich is from Dresden. After honing there skills at A. Lange & Sohne, they teamed up to build what they want to build. It is a work in progress having been designed totally by them and is now in process for the first prototype piece to be built by these two very talented gentleman. I had not done much research prior to meeting them, so was confronted by lot of parts that were in prototype stage, and other parts that were not being used. They had created even a model of the differential for the power reserve system, which was rendered in a 3-D plastic machine, similar to Marco, but in a much greater size, so that I could see how the different wheels interacted with each other.
A close up of the plastic differential, really helpful to handle to gain the appreciation for the real thing, which in reality is tiny!
A semi-assembled prototype movement was on the bench with the balance wheel inside, the barrel and other parts. Clearly there are many parts not in this movement, and it was raw having come straight out out of their homemade CNC machine, that Thibault built himself.
The partially assembled Einser prototype caliber
Close up.
The office and workshop is quite small, relative to other watchmakers, but it seems to give them enough room right now for what they need to do in order to get their first watch built and operating, they had an optical comparator a station.
Close up of an a dial part made by Thibault, with fired enamel.
The kiln or oven for firing enamel dials
Thibault does the enamel by hand for the dials. A Schaublin 70 lathe, their in-house CNC milling machine and here are some of the usual tools found in an independent watchmaker atelier, also a tool for spotting or circular gaining.
Perlage or spotting station
Fine hand finishing of parts done under a microscope
Truly "In-house" CNC milling machine, built by Thibault!
Milling machine from the UK, sits next to their CNC.
A Hauser Optical Comparator.
The two watchmakers in front of their Schaublin 70 lathe.
Johannes (left) and Thibault (right)
I was also shown Johannes Kallinich’s masterpiece watch, that he built himself from scratch in order to gain the master certificate as a Watchmaker. One can clearly one can see the inspiration from his previous employer, and the style is very German and classic. However, this watch is something that he made with his own hands in his own time and it is an impressive piece of work.
Johannes' watch, with added Central running seconds bridge and wheels. Screwed gold chatons for the jewels and lovely anglage.
Based on a ETA 6948 wheel train, this caliber look unlike any 6498! Beautifully hand finished in the Glashütte style.
Yes, it's reminiscent of one of Johannes' favorite ALS models, the Richard Lange central seconds.
I was thrilled to meet these two gentlemen and get to see and hear about what they’re doing in Glashütte. It is a testament to their skill and drive that they are creating watches here in this small town in Germany. The initial watches were presold online when they were released last year within a couple of hours of notifying collectors. Apparently Johannes and Thibault were quite surprised to receive the reaction that they did. I told him that I was not surprised at all given the price point of this watch, and the amount of work and appreciation by collectors. It is my hope is that they did not under sell their first watch. Those collectors who were paying attention and signed up to buy their initial production, will be very happy in my opinion, with the watch when they receive them. It is an excellent example of independent watchmaking with design and features that collectors love with an exciting power reserve display on the side and of high-end style and finishing on the caliber. Their engineering and prodigious watchmaking skills are clear to see and these guys will make waves in the Independent Watchmaking world for sure!
Good times and thank you for sharing your precious time Johannes and Thibault!