The Senator Excellence arrived on my desk straight from Glashütte the day before a Bank Holiday in Geneva. Since the summer weather is extending well into September in Switzerland, I decided to take advantage of the conditions to go for a hike. With the Senator Excellence on my wrist, it was a chance to take both the watch and myself out of our respective comfort zones as I walked up to the Pic de Chaussy at 2380 metres.
Ordinarily, I would not choose such a classic watch for such a hike. I would instead go for a sportier and more resistant model, not wishing to exert any unnecessary pressure on a more classically-style timepiece. But the opportunity to take some photos of the Senator Excellence against some typically Swiss scenery was just too good. Of the three Senator Excellence models launched by Glashütte at Baselworld this year, the version I received is my clear favourite. While the other two models with the white dial, blued-steel hands and Roman numerals are the epitome of classicism, the black-dial version, which is based on the “Observatory” watches, has generously-sized Arabic numerals in SuperLuminova and SuperLuminova filled white-gold hands. The watch is therefore still easy to read when the clouds roll in, even down to the second, thanks to the use on this model of a SuperLuminova-filled arrow-head on the seconds hand, with a tip that is perfectly aligned with the graduations on the railway-style minute track.
As far as exterior styling is concerned, there is little more to say. This is a classic wristwatch in all respects: stainless-steel case, three hands, clear indications, no date and a leather strap with pin buckle. You could have been wearing it just as easily 50 years ago and it will still be recognized as a classic wristwatch 50 years hence. The Senator Excellence does stand out from the norm, however, as regards most of the things that you cannot see. It is the first model to use the company’s new Calibre 36, which had to fulfil a very specific remit to ensure extreme stability, maximum precision and an extended running time. The latter is achieved using a new Elinflex hairspring that is 680mm long and, together with an improved barrel arbour, ensures 100 hours of power reserve from a single barrel. As far as precision is concerned, the Calibre 36 is adjusted to six different positions, rather than the five taken into account for chronometer certification, and is subjected to a 24-day test before being allowed to leave the factory, complete with a certificate guaranteeing its precision. All owners of a Senator Excellence can access a special section of the Glashütte Original website that will give them more information about their watch.
Turn the watch over and you can admire the new Calibre 36 through a transparent sapphire crystal case back, noting in particular the three-quarter plate that is typical of Glashütte, a skeletonized rotor bearing the Glashütte emblem and the gear train for the manual winding system. Turn the crown clockwise (towards you) and you will see the third wheel along from the crown mesh with the fourth wheel and see the spokes on the fifth wheel turn as it winds the barrel – a mechanical dance that takes up most of the upper half of the case back. The bottom half is dominated by the balance assembly with the free-sprung balance wheel and silicon hairspring.
The Glashütte Senator Excellence is available in stainless steel from €8500 and in red gold from €15,500.
Since you may have the ability to see from the photographs, it is often very difficult to make out where the brief hour hand is especially if it’s hovering above parts of this dial which have been cut out. The highly decorated motion doesn’t provide enough contrast to make the flamed-blue hour hand readily distinguishable. Luckily, reading the minutes is a lot easier as the lean flamed-blue second hand extends all the way outside to the second track.The motion here is your Calibre 49-13 and it’s a skeletonized movement that has been heavily and thickly decorated and embellished by hand. Flipping the watch above, you are able to make out what is left of the three-quarters plate that is a tradition of German watchmaking.The remaining bridges have been beveled by hand and contain a lot of hand-engraving. The winding wheels have double sided sunburst decoration and the motion stones sit in screwed gold chatons. Visible screws are either flame-blued or polished.But exactly what I like most about the motion is looking at the big screwed balance wheel. There is a swan-neck fine adjustment mechanism and also the balance cock is engraved in authentic Glashütte tradition. Power reserve of this Calibre 49-13 is roughly 40 hours, which is not too bad considering that its 4Hz defeat rate and that it just has a single mainspring.
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